Database Users

I'm new to this rooting business, couple of questions.

First and foremost, I don't really need my Hero to do anything it doesn't already do. It's just, I'm very picky about aesthetics and I'm not a fan of the way the icons look on the stock ROM.
By the way I'm in the US with Sprint.
1. Do I have to root my Hero to change the theme/icons?
2. If I root my Hero can my phone become vulnerable to hackers? (Read this somewhere ... Had to do with SSH or something)
3. Will I be able to get rid of all the bundled apps like Nascar and NFL without rooting my Hero?
Thanks in advance.

Before you get all excited about rooting your phone, keep in mind, HTC should be releasing the Android 2.x early next year (as per online rumors ). If you really must have root access, tethering, or the removal of stock apps, then rooting is the way to go. The first and most important thing you must do is to install a recovery image (like RA-heroc-v1.5.2) and back up your current ROM via Nand.
1. there are some apps (at home) in the marketplace that'll allow you to change the theme and icons without rooting your phone.
2. Unless your phone is constantly connected to something like telnet (highly unlikely), you shouldn't get hacked. If you're worried, just turn off your 3G and leave your phone offline when not in use.
3. To get rid of Sprint apps, your phone will have to be rooted.
Btw, I have a GSM Hero, so there are numerous differences on what you'll get/not get on your CDMA Hero.
Go to the CDMA section and read, read, read. Don't take shortcuts, you need to be 100% sure of what you're about to do. Remember, there is a possibility that you can brick your expensive phone.
Also, read the What Can I Do With Root - INFO.

Didn't really get the telnet reference. I just want to know ... Does rooting the Hero make it easier for people to maliciously obtain personal info from the device?
If so ... Is there a step in the rooting process that prevents this? If i recall correctly, jailbroken iPhones became vulnerable to said exploits. Why would it be any different with the Hero?

i dont think so.. if you dont pay attention to the apps you download then you might get fooled.. you know.. you download a game and it asks to be allowed to view your contacts..

akin_t said:
If so ... Is there a step in the rooting process that prevents this? If i recall correctly, jailbroken iPhones became vulnerable to said exploits. Why would it be any different with the Hero?
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why would it be different? these security mechanisms were not implemented just for fun...
nevertheless you can also execute malicious apps without root. in fact i'd think that there are more approaches out there that don't need root, as they have the broader "audience".
but honestly: if you don't know what you are doing don't do it. it seems to me that you don't have a clue what rooting means, so IMHO you should read up on that topic a little more. this is not meant to sound condescending or anything, this is just a warning that you most likely will crash a few times if you dive into it head first.

Very, very true.
Don't risk making that phone of yours an expensive piece of paper-weight.
There's already loads of threads that explain the rooting process and benefits throughout this forum.

kendong2 said:
why would it be different? these security mechanisms were not implemented just for fun...
nevertheless you can also execute malicious apps without root. in fact i'd think that there are more approaches out there that don't need root, as they have the broader "audience".
but honestly: if you don't know what you are doing don't do it. it seems to me that you don't have a clue what rooting means, so IMHO you should read up on that topic a little more. this is not meant to sound condescending or anything, this is just a warning that you most likely will crash a few times if you dive into it head first.
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Click to collapse
Oh I know what it means now, matter of fact I rooted it the other night. Read up on it and still don't understand why HTC/Sprint would deny users access to the root folder but yeah, not a problem for me anymore.

To root or not to root?

I know most people are gonna tell me I should root my phone, but just hear me out really quickly...
I just got my Samsung Vibrant and I truly love the phone. It's a huge upgrade from my G1 in pretty much every way I can think of. I had my G1 rooted since like the second week I had it. I started off with JesusFreke's ROMs and then made my way to Cyanogen's ROMs with a few others that I tried here and there. I tried a bunch of different themes and I used quite a few root apps. I know my way around the rooted Android scene (or at least the rooted G1 scene) pretty well, but I'm not entirely sure if I want to root my Vibrant and here's why:
I'm afraid of voiding my warranty.
There's not really anything that I want to do with the phone that it can't already do (for example, it has plenty of space for apps without the need for A2SD).
I don't want to risk losing things like my text messages over and over again from switching to different ROMs (this happened to me quite a bit with my G1).
My G1's battery and overall performance were much much worse than my friends' G1s which were not rooted. I don't want this happening with my Vibrant.
Some people will think that these reasons are either unimportant or nonexistent, but I disagree. Again, before people start saying "these are the risks of rooting, deal with it or leave," I want to stress that I'm not a newbie at this.
Anyway, the main reason that I DO want to root the phone, regardless of the fact that I told myself I wouldn't, is because of all this junkware that T-Mobile preinstalled the phone. I didn't know the phone came with this crap (like GoGo, TeleNav GPS, Slacker, etc.). We all know that you can't remove this stuff without rooting...I've counted 11 apps that I want to remove from the phone because they're effectively advertisements and I don't want them. So before I make a decision, I'd like to ask some questions...
Would you root the phone if you were ME?
Is it possible to root the Vibrant, remove the apps, and then unroot it, thus leaving the apps gone?
If not ^^, then is it possible to root the Vibrant and keep the stock ROM? I really don't want any custom ROMs...I just want to remove the junkware.
I'm sorry if similar questions have been asked before, but I feel like my specific needs and concerns probably aren't shared by most of the XDA community so I created my own post...
Thanks,
Gerard

actually I think what most are going to say is search the forum... There are several threads on the topic.
You don't have to add any roms if you're rooted. Yes you can remove the bloatware with root. Yes its easy to take your phone out of root, but with the bloatware missing its not hard to see that you have had root at one point.

I actually did root my phone just to remove the junkware....and then used titanium backup to remove what I didn't want....it took me 3 mins to root compared to the 15 mins it took for my nexus....i say its worth it....you can't even tell its rooted so I'm pretty sure the warehouse will never catch it if a exchange is ever needed.....you ll personally make up ur mind as soon as u see the cyanogen 2.2 rom come out hopefully that will be soon....I SAY GO FOR IT
Sent from my Samsung™ Vibrant using XDA App

I'm not bothering to root while I can still return the phone (1st 30 days) and not all the HW issues are know. Once a decent custom ROM is available I'll start looking into rooting, customer recovery, etc. The only thing I'm missing a bit from not being rooted is my Wifi tethering...

Thanks for the replies, guys (and/or girl(s) it looks like lol). I'm glad I wasn't destroyed by people telling me to search the forums...
I'll probably end up doing root sooner or later with very few modifications (if any). I'll wait it out a bit, though. My questions have been answered.
Thanks again!
Gerard

newbee question

what is rootin and what is the biggest reason for it?
also the ota update does that stop the rebootin problem i want to get this phone it will be my first smart phone n dont want to many problems
thanks in advance

clamman said:
what is rootin and what is the biggest reason for it?
also the ota update does that stop the rebootin problem i want to get this phone it will be my first smart phone n dont want to many problems
thanks in advance
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Rooting means getting full permissions to the Android system. If you don't know what Linux permissions are, don't worry about rooting; it won't have any effect on you. People generally do it to modify their phones like replacing certain software or enabling features that aren't officially supported.
No one really knows what all the OTA update covers. It's suspected it adds two features, but that's about all we know. Nonetheless, I can highly recommend the G2, even as your first smartphone. Keep in mind that most people on these forums are overstating problems, so don't listen to everything that's said here. I think short of the iPhone4, the G2 is the best phone you can buy right now. T-Mobile is definitely better than AT&T, so get the G2!

I had the same question, actually. Coming from a long line of WinMo phones myself (TP2 was my last phone, R.I.P) I get that Hard-SLP unlocking and shopping for custom roms is par the course since it's pretty much essential for the optimal WM experience, but coming over to Android and seeing how everyone is really bummed out that this phone can't Root..or at least, doesn't have one that stick, is really confusing, especially since the added "benefits" I've at least read about isn't all 'that' great...
Please excuse my ignorance on the matter, but coming from a mobile platform where modding/hacking is pretty much called for if you even plan to use the darn thing makes everything I'm experiencing from the stock Android a dream compared to its alternative.
Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using XDA App

ryushe said:
I had the same question, actually. Coming from a long line of WinMo phones myself (TP2 was my last phone, R.I.P) I get that Hard-SLP unlocking and shopping for custom roms is par the course since it's pretty much essential for the optimal WM experience, but coming over to Android and seeing how everyone is really bummed out that this phone can't Root..or at least, doesn't have one that stick, is really confusing, especially since the added "benefits" I've at least read about isn't all 'that' great...
Please excuse my ignorance on the matter, but coming from a mobile platform where modding/hacking is pretty much called for if you even plan to use the darn thing makes everything I'm experiencing from the stock Android a dream compared to its alternative.
Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using XDA App
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Click to collapse
What you have to remember is people will hack anything and everything, even if there's no real benefit to it. Back in the days, when G1 first came out, rooting was a big deal because it provided access to such things as apps on sd card, themes, auto-rotation, multi-touch, etc. At this point - you can get it all on stock android. Of course, there's overclocking (unnecessary on this phone), wi-fi tether (if you need it) and some further mods but it is not as critical as it used to be.
With that said... the moment permanent root is found - I'm going for it with the sole reason is because I can! Well... and because I want black notification bar

Temp root has a nice little perk.. you can restart it and it puts it back to factory if you need to have it fixed or replaced.

New To Android (Galaxy S3)

Well, I have been an iphone user for the last few years and finally made the switch. I customize everything, so I'm use to using Cydia and Winterboard. I have no idea if there is anything comparable.
So, my question is... As a beginner on this platform, where do I even start looking besides here to find out what I can do with rooting my phone, creating themes, or custom apps and tweaks.
Like I said, I'm very new too this, and have no idea where to look. I've tried searching, but some of the terms i'm not familiar with yet. The nice thing that I can see right now, is the reason's I jailbroke my iphone, the S3 does already, or I have figured out an easy alternative.
Any help in the right direction would be great! So far, I'm really glad I got rid of the iphone

splxtreme said:
As a beginner on this platform, where do I even start looking besides here to find out what I can do with rooting my phone, creating themes, or custom apps and tweaks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
XDA is probably the best source, but there are certainly plenty of other xda-like sites out there. RootzWiki is probably the biggest, but it seems like a handful of new ones pop up every day.
On top of that, I'd say try the obvious... google it! If you google something like "what can i do with my rooted android phone" you'll find a lot of good suggestions (articles by tech sites, as well as forum threads from people who have asked the same questions as you). Keep in mind though, Android advances pretty fast, and all phones are a little different so not everything you find may be relevant anymore. Example: You may find something that says screenshots are a good reason to root... but that's a standard feature now in ICS, and Samsung phones could do it all along. So just keep that in mind... some things you may find may be out of date.

Hey welcome to android. I too made the switch over a year ago and that's when I became a member here. I spent the better part of that sifting through all this site has to offer. I started with the captivate when the rooms for it were at their prime and I have upgraded to the s3. I don't know all there is to know about this stuff but I have not wrecked my phones yet. So with all that said I would recommend getting yourself familiar by reading the stickies. They some very nice tutorials. Also if your not sure about something qna section is good. Once you get the hang of all this you will see exactly why android is true open source. Jailbreaking for me got boring but rooting and flashing roms is always interesting. This site also has very friendly developers that love doing this stuff so that's also a huge help. Last but not least don't be afraid to ask. It may mean the difference between an awesome phone and nice looking paper weight from Korea
Sent from my SGH-I747M using xda app-developers app

The great thing about Android is because you can do anything on it right out of the box compared to you having to jailbreak an iphone. Id suggest just going through different apps and what not in the app store and see what catches your eye

Honestly, I would recommend that you spend some serious time getting to know android and understanding all of the capabilities of your phone before you even consider rooting it (not to mention flashing a new ROM.
I am a long time Android user that has rooted and flashed many ROM's over the years, but the S3 is so good out of the box (imho) that I personally have no need or desire to even root it at this point. That may change in the future, but that's where I stand right now.
I guess my advice would be ... don't be in a huge hurry to start making massive changes to the device until you understand what you have. No need to risk killing that shiny new toy (yet).
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda app-developers app

Welcome,
Another source to check out is YouTube.
You can finds videos on
How to Root, How to use Odin, How to Flash, How to use apps like Titanium Backup, Root Explorer, etc..
Also I made a reference guide in the S2 forum when I had it that explain some of the lingo around here.
Study it
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1394458
Powered by the SGSIII

Welcome. I think maybe figure out what you'd like to do that you haven't figured out yet and search on xda or even Google. Its possible you may not need to root to achieve it. I root only to restore app plus its data from one android phone to the next. Without root it only restores app so for example with games it won't restore where I left of in the other device.
Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk 2

Need Advice please, i'm a Beginner.

l

I cannot tell you anything specifically to your phone but I can tell you some things in general.
Some people will probably tell you that it's not worth to root your phone in 2021 but I wouldn't agree. I rooted my first phone in 2013 and I've changed tons of phones from that time never being able to go more than seven days without root. It's a kind of addiction so you will get used to feeling that phone is totally yours due to the fact you can do whatever you want with it.
It doesn't mean that it's totally safe and people who don't know what they are doing can **** the things up. It's not because of the root but it's because of the people. Some people just play with the things they shouldn't play with.
Everything considering your phone and its futures depends on the custom ROM.
You may get a totally different custom ROM which doesn't have to do anything with your current phone or you can make it literally the same one which will be rooted.
"OS" is "ROM".
Everything depends on what you can find. I don't know about every phone on this world so browse the forum and you will see.
I haven't used my phone for anything else other than entertainment so I can't really tell you anything about your work but considering that you work, depending on where you work, it may be a little bit unsafe.

dedq said:
I cannot tell you anything specifically to your phone but I can tell you some things in general.
Some people will probably tell you that it's not worth to root your phone in 2021 but I wouldn't agree. I rooted my first phone in 2013 and I've changed tons of phones from that time never being able to go more than seven days without root. It's a kind of addiction so you will get used to feeling that phone is totally yours due to the fact you can do whatever you want with it.
It doesn't mean that it's totally safe and people who don't know what they are doing can **** the things up. It's not because of the root but it's because of the people. Some people just play with the things they shouldn't play with.
Everything considering your phone and its futures depends on the custom ROM.
You may get a totally different custom ROM which doesn't have to do anything with your current phone or you can make it literally the same one which will be rooted.
"OS" is "ROM".
Everything depends on what you can find. I don't know about every phone on this world so browse the forum and you will see.
I haven't used my phone for anything else other than entertainment so I can't really tell you anything about your work but considering that you work, depending on where you work, it may be a little bit unsafe.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thank you very much for your detailed answer @dedq
so a ROM can be replaced after rooting with something else rather than default "Android" right?
i'm a really cautious person so i wouldn't play with some setting until i know what i'm doing with it first
another thing please, do you mean by unsafe that the ROM could have vulnerability for attackers to acces my phone?
or things may get lost?

Jonsnoww said:
thank you very much for your detailed answer @dedq
so a ROM can be replaced after rooting with something else rather than default "Android" right?
i'm a really cautious person so i wouldn't play with some setting until i know what i'm doing with it first
another thing please, do you mean by unsafe that the ROM could have vulnerability for attackers to acces my phone?
or things may get lost?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
"Default Android" is your current ROM. You have ROM now as well. We have all been very cautious in the beginning with these kinds of things like flashing U systems and those kinds of things but the thing is chances are high that you will **** something up. Everyone did that and you can count on yourself probably going to third-party technician at least two or three times. We have never made those mistakes on purpose but it's very slippery to play with these kinds of things. I suggest you don't change anything if you really need your phone on daily basis because you may lose it for a couple of days. I'm talking from my experience but I hope you won't have negative experiences if you want to try rooting and doing something more.
It is always assumed that your phone is the safest when it's default. That means no root and no flashing anything. Rooting your phone is basically opening it to tons of vulnerabilities.
Don't play with those kinds of things if you work some kind of job where your phone is under constant surveillance.

Jonsnoww said:
Hello,
so i have a Redmi note 7 - Global Version (Lavender) phone, and i have so many questions that concerns me about..
first of all i don't like how things getting very slow with my MIUI and the android 10
i thought of rooting the phone but I'm not sure if it's worth it.. there's so many confusing things on the web and tutorials to choose from.
i don't like how companies collect data and peek on my privacy silently in the background that's why i would like to root if it's going to solve this problem. I'm afraid that i won't be able to find the features i have now if i rooted my phone and installed a new ROM for example, will my phone work properly with all of the existing features in it? what's the downside to voting or choosing a wrong ROM?
and if finally found the best ROM for me, am i obligated to do updates to it manually every time a security patch comes on for example?
i mean the work is not over by just successfully installing a new ROM and rooting?
second what is the best ROM out there? IS OS same as ROM? or the ROM is just representing the UI "for example MIUI" ? or is it replacing " Android"?
any privacy concerns? or attacks? i'll be using my phone for work and very important stuff.. that i can't lose..
please someone enlighten me
and i'm so sorry for very basic questions but i got lost in so much reading articles
thanks in advance
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I’m also of the opinion that rooting is worth the eventual hassle. Except that it’s not that big a hassle on this phone if you use Orangefox and the build in root solution. If you choose not to root but care about privacy take a look at Netguard (Github version).