Droid X apps

[firemedic]

Pardon my ignorance, but what the hell is "rooting a phone"

Thanks

[Tee]

Pardon my ignorance, but what the hell is "rooting a phone"

Thanks

Its the shit. Its pretty much "hacking" into the system and making your phone do whatever the hell you want it to. The thunderbolt rooted is better than my laptop.

[Bub]

Pardon my ignorance, but what the hell is "rooting a phone"

Thanks

Android is a unix based operating system. Unix systems rely heavily on permissions to do certain things on the OS. The master account (root) is locked and cannot be used to protect the phone / networks / manufacturer wallets.

"Rooting" a phone basically gives you access to the root account to be able to use apps that normally wouldn't be allowed. This gives you the ability to overclock, run new roms (graphical user interface), and use programs like wireless tether and others. It gives you the ability to remove the crapware that comes on the phone and make it run more efficiently.

The downside is, some phones can be tricky to root and you will never get an over the air update again to the phone software. There is a possibility that you could brick the phone. That said, I rooted my phone (Droid1) in Dec 2009 and I have been ahead of the curb for software (rom) and gotten a much more responsive device since mine is overclocked to 1GHz instead of the defaul 550MHz.

[BigBrother]

Now see, this thread just got useful again.

I suppose this "rooting" needs to be done by a pro?

[Simple Man]

Nerds.

[Tee]

Now see, this thread just got useful again.

I suppose this "rooting" needs to be done by a pro?

I rooted mine simply by following directions on the Intra web. My Droid1 was pretty easy. The Thunderbolt on the other hand was a little more difficult.

[Bub]

I suppose this "rooting" needs to be done by a pro?

There are plenty of guides depending on your phone. You'll want to research before attempting anything crazy.

http://androidforums.com/ Go here, find your phone down the list and head to the subsection "All things root." There's plenty to read there to keep you entertained.

Let me know if you have more questions. I don't mind trying to answer them.

[millero]

Chuck, delete the thread as this is going no where. You all are being extremely childish especially those calling names. You men are ridiculous!!

didnt he do that already?

[Bride~of~Chucky]

Yes Millero it was deleted but it was undeleted for some reason.

[murraywader]

Exams are over, guess I'll get back to rootin'.

[cusportsman]

Bub, what is the scoop on the new thing coming out about tracking rooted users?

I don't have a smartphone yet, but the cell companies are a bunch of crooks for charging a tethering fee on top of the data plan. Essentially charging twice for the same service.

[CLEMSONDUCKHUNTER]

Pandora....the end of all music apps

[Bub]

Bub, what is the scoop on the new thing coming out about tracking rooted users?

I don't have a smartphone yet, but the cell companies are a bunch of crooks for charging a tethering fee on top of the data plan. Essentially charging twice for the same service.

I haven't heard anything about this and I'm not sure how they could distinguish between a rooted/non-rooted phone. I've always heard that using tethering softwares always has the possibility of getting tracked and you getting billed for it. This has not happened to me or anyone I know.

I personally think carriers can't really track it (can't prove it) so their way of combating the tethering is putting a cap on data plans provided. Like Verizon has a 5GB/mo limit and you're billed for usage after that.

[cusportsman]

http://www.scducks.com/forum/showthread.php?t=69275

This is where I saw it.

I'd be fine with a cap on the usage. The average person couldn't use up 5GB/mo if they tried. I just think it is ridiculous to pay twice for a service. I guess they are doing it because sales on their wireless cards must have gone down since people can tether off their phone for "free".

[Bub]

Interesting read.

There will always be ways to tether your computer to your phone. You don't have to be rooted to do it now (see PDAnet). Root really just gains you wireless tethering. They very well could be tracking rooted phones. Tracking which phones do not accept OTA updates seems logical.

I wish our cell carrier were more like some european and asian carriers in that the end user pays full price for the phone and can do whatever they want with it. The carrier only supplies bandwidth/voice calls and doesn't touch their phones. The problem is, noone wants to pay for that $500+ smartphone. Plans should be cheaper as well as they are not including the price of the device.

Edit: Just noticed this article as well: http://phandroid.com/2011/04/29/carr...-applications/

[Redleg Camo]

i read something about the carriers doing OTA updates and using that to find out how many rooted phones there were. They will find out. They know everything else.

What kind of speeds are you getting with your phone tethered to your PC or laptop?

[Bub]

You get 3g speeds so around 1mb/s down and .3mb/s up. It's not impressive but it's plenty good for simple web browsing.

[BOOMSTICK069]

The wireless tether is nice. I run my wifes Kindle off of my X with no issues and it downloads books plenty fast. Rooting your phone is the way to go. Once you own a rooted phone you will never want another one.

[Calibogue]

My limited understanding is they will log all those users not accepting the OTA updates such as myself then monitor their data usage and tethering acticity. The amount I tether is so limited and I don't even come close to using all my monthly allowable data....its BS!

[millero]

i tether and have never had a problem. i can be a pretty big user and have never reached the threshold for bandwidth, either.