Everything about Rooting~Explained!

This article is based on everything related to Android Rooting

Disclaimer: Everything I mention
may void your warranty and
potentially ruin your device. I am
not responsible in your decision
making on whether or not to
unlock and root your device.

So you just bought a fancy new
Android device and want to root it,
throw a custom ROM and kernel in
it and be part of the cool crowd,
only you don’t know what any of
that means.  Asking what the
benefits of rooting are is probably
one of the most asked questions
on every major android message
board out there. What I’m gonna
try and do is explain, in layman’s
terms, what root means and what
you can do when you are rooted.
This is not a rooting tutorial, sorry
guys
Lets Begin


So lets look at the definition. Rooting is an act of gaining
access to the system files of your
Android device through a security
weakness in your devices firmware,
there by giving you administrative
control over your device.

OK, what
does that mean? Lets say your
Android phone is like a house you
just bought. Android already lets
you change how the house
looks naively. So you can
rearrange the furniture, change the
carpet, the paint, the landscaping
etc.. What rooting does is allow
you to run applications that
require special permissions. So
back to my house analogy, a
rooted application would be like
remodeling the kitchen or
bathroom. Rooted apps let you go
beyond what your phone originally
allowed. So in this instance, lets
say your kitchen didn’t come with
a dishwasher, a rooted app is like
adding one. It adds function and
control that you couldn’t achieve
normally.
A great example of an app that
requires root access is Titanium
Backup. There’s currently no way
to backup all your system files in
Android without root access. This
app adds that feature. So in short,
root access grants the user more
control by allowing them to install
apps that can affect system files.

So what’s this bootloader I have to
unlock?

First off lets distinguish the
difference between unlocking your
phone and unlocking the
bootloader. When you unlock the
phone that means you are allowed
to take that phone to another cell
phone carrier and use their
services instead. That is not the
same as unlocking the bootloader.
The bootloader is the set of
commands that the device runs to
boot into the operating system.
While Android is an open source
operating system, manufactures
tend to lock the bootloader so that
you are using the system firmware
they want you to use. Unlocking
the bootloader allows you to
install a custom recovery program
like ClockWorkMod or
TeamWinRecovery and change the
system firmware or in other words
install a ROM. If just rooting your device allowed
you to remodel your house,
installing a custom ROM is like
bulldozing it to the ground and
rebuilding it from scratch and
adding a swimming pool. There
are loads of custom ROMs
available and the benefits to
installing them vary. In many
cases they let you run a newer
version of Android that you don’t
have, allow
further customization and have
even more controls available at
your fingertips.
The custom recovery programs
allow you to backup your current
firmware and all apps and data ,
as well as flash or install a custom
ROM or kernel. A kernel is what is
used to to transmit commands
from hardware to software and
vice verse. For example, when you
tap the back button on your
phone, that command is sent from
the hardware of the button to the
software that initiates “going
back”.

 People who install custom
kernels tend to do so for one of
two reasons. Either extend battery
life or overclock the CPU to
improve performance.

What are the dangers?

Anyone searching online about
unlocking and rooting your device
have no doubt come across some
horror stories of people “bricking”
their phones. “Bricking”, for those
that are new, is when you have
done something causes the phone
to either never boot up or never
make it to the boot animation and
you are unable to get into the
phones recovery. In other words,
your phone has stopped working
completely. These instances have
become more and more rare as the
process to unlocking/rooting your
phone have improved. In many
cases, especially with Nexus
devices, unlocking and rooting
your phone can be done in a
matter of minutes with certain
programs available in the
development community. Those
who “brick” their device usually
have not followed the instructions
properly or attempted to flash
something that was not meant for
their device in the first place, like a
custom kernel. Overclocking may
also damage the CPU and must be
done with care.

Should I root my device?

That question depends. What is it
you are trying to do? Are you stuck
on Android 4.0 because your
phone manufacturer or carrier
won’t upgrade you? Do you want
to backup your entire phone just in
case something happens and you
need to replace it? Did you see
someone with the same phone with
a custom ROM and a ton of really
cool features you want? If you
answered yes to these than by all
means go for it. What I will say
though is that if you are happy
with the phone you have as it is,
leave it alone. Too many times
people unlock/root, just so they
can say they did and often times
are the first ones on the message
boards begging for help.

How can I unlock and root my device?

As I stated earlier, this is not a
tutorial. There are too many
phones out there. To try and make
them all would be next to
impossible. Luckily for you there is
a website that has gradually grown
with every new device that has
come out. XDA-Developers is the
absolute best resource for all of
your rooting needs. I have never
seen a group respond so quickly to
problems people have. Their site
has all the tutorials and resources
needed to allow you to unlock/
root, flash recovery, install a ROM
and just about do anything else on
your device.

So that was it guys..
Hope You found this article of mine helpful!
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