what does the" rooted phone" mean?

[sobbiesun]

hey guys, i am a newbie here.
i have a question and wanno figure out: what's the 'rooted phone" mean?

[info[]box1]

Wirelessly posted (Htc Arrive: Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; U; Android 2.3.4; en-us; Nexus S 4G Build/GRJ22) AppleWebKit/533.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile Safari/533.1)

Rooted means = Super user access...smartphone is unlocked... ability to load/flash custom software operating system. Etc

[rainfreak]

While there are a number of good reasons for the power user to root their Android devices, it is not for everyone. There really aren't any negatives to rooting, except that most carriers will not service a rooted device if you are having issues. But if that is the case, most times you can unroot and take it in for repair/service.

I recommend that you read through some of the threads about rooting, look at some of the custom ROMs available for your device, and then decide if it is for you. Also, if it is for your Samsung Galaxy Tab, there are not a lot of ROMs available for it, so know that going into it. Though there are some good apps to help with battery and overall performance, which require you to be rooted.

[sobbiesun]

very appreciated!!
thanks for you suggestion~

[sobbiesun]

Before I make a new thread my question seems relevant here:

What does rooting your phone do exactly? I know it allows you more control but control over what? What are the exact benefits? So far I know that when rooted you can change the color of the notification bar on top.... What else? How easy or hard is it to do this stuff? I know I am capable of rooting my droid, buttt I don't know if it will benefit me. I am a simple user who just wants a customized phone for my needs. Can anyone clear this up a bit?

[sobbiesun]

what the difference between a 'rooted phone" and a "flashed phone"
are they the same?
both means that means giving superuser (think...admin) access, giving you access to system files and the ability to change things that normally are marked read only?
i confused the meaning of these two！

[darren.wlsn1]

http://forum.ppcgeeks.com/general-an...oid-101-a.html

also may help.

http://forum.ppcgeeks.com/sprint-epi...lick-root.html

[hceuterpe]

Phones from cell phone providers are not normally granted with a way to give "superuser" privileges, a user that gives unlimited administrator access (i.e. the user in all Linux systems included Android that can basically do anything that's possible). By lacking these privileges, you are enforced to do only certain installs, blocked from unauthorized installs, upgrades, etc. As for rooted phones vs custom flashing, You need one to be able to do the other. Custom flashing also requires root access because otherwise you are only allowed to do authorized upgrades through the Android update services provided on the phone (pushed from cell carriers).

By rooting your phone, you (forcefully) add all this functionality. The tricky thing is a Linux system (e.g. brand new Android phones) that does not have superuser privileges to start with, normally you would need to add it with those privileges, so you run into a "chicken and the egg" situation. This is why rooting phones can be complicated, and takes a bit of R&D and hacking by devs on forums such as these to find ways for particular phones.

Also selling phones not rooted inherently provides quite a bit of idiot protection so less tech savvy users don't bork their phones. This is a rather strong justification for carriers to claim you voided your warranty if you root your phone.

[OMJ]

Originally Posted by sobbiesun

what the difference between a 'rooted phone" and a "flashed phone"
are they the same?
both means that means giving superuser (think...admin) access, giving you access to system files and the ability to change things that normally are marked read only?
i confused the meaning of these two！

no, they are not the same...

rooted phone - has root access permissions

flashed phone - a rooted phone that has been flashed w/ a custom ROM

Most if not all custom ROMs will include Superuser/Root access


bottom line, you need root access to change system files, some apps also require root access to run.....so w/o root, you cannot use those apps.

So even if you don't flash a custom ROM, if you want to change certain things on the phone that involves files in the \system (ie..changing the notification bar), you will need root access

[bluezephyr]

I was given an HTC with the USCellular logo on the back. If I "root" this phone, can I install Android? And can it be made tro work with the Virgin Mobile network?