pittsoccer33 wrote:knives of ice wrote:rooting an android phone in almost every case is so insanely easy and there are so many benefits i have no idea why everyone doesn't do it.
what do you really gain from it?
i am relatively computer savy, I've had the developer preview of Windows 8 and a flavor of Linux called Joli OS on my netbook for a while. But thats a toy. I use my phone all the time. I don't want to have to deal with unexpected problems because I put an unofficial android update on my phone.
whats to gain? well whats to lose? nothing. when you root your phone you can instantly backup your current android stock rom if you ever want to go back to it and your phone will be exactly like it was when you backed it up using a program called rom manager, which is pretty much standard for switching roms. custom roms are light years ahead of what is loaded on your phone in most cases. custom kernals to make your phone quicker via overclocking it and the battery lasting way longer in many cases. complete customization changing any and all icons you would want. easy unlimited tethering. loading the next version of android months and months before the provider comes around with an update. running stock android without the BS themes like sense, motoblur, etc that each phone manufacturer seems to use. truely running android as google intended it to run without the phone manufacture screwing it up. getting rid of any software you don't want. if there are bugs and problems with your phone that the manufactuer or provider aren't fixing 9 times out of 10 the custom rom community will come up with a fix.
youtube cyanogenmod 9 or miui to see some of the most popular versions of android that are usually available to load on most phones and tablets.
there really is no reason to not do it and its usually really easy if you just read on a forum like xda developers.
some of the cool things or problems fixed on android phones i've had through rooting:
hdmi output of any and all screens and bluetooth connectivity of a mouse and keyboard essentially turning the phone into a mini computer, running emulators for all the old nes systems and connecting a wiimote to the phone via bluetooth to control things, having ice creem sandwich working perfectly on my phone for months now and its not offially availble yet, loading a custom prl file to enable 3g roaming in areas its not available, tethering any device i want to my phone while not having a tethering plan, getting about 4 hours extra battery life compared to the stock rom.....just to name a few.