Why I rooted my Android phone, and why you should too

Rooting my Android phone (an LG Optimus 2x) was the best technology-related decision I’ve made in years. It’s been around three months now, so I thought I’d share my experience with you. Read on for why I think you should root your Android phone too, along with the lessons I’ve learnt.

Why root?

More control. Android is pretty customisable out of the box—especially compared to iOS—but it still locks you out of a number of features. Rooting puts you in control of your phone—free to access its complete file system and to tweak it or mess it up. You can install custom ROMs that modify your manufacturer’s Android implementation for the better, or try out one of the alternative Android operating systems, such as CyanogenMod or MIUI.

Now, you may be wondering: “That sounds great. But what does it actually mean in practice?” The short answer is that it means anything you want it to mean. With a rooted phone, you can get all hax0ry—tweaking memory values and overclocking the CPU, installing alternative kernels, and other techno mumbo jumbo. But you can also alter the appearance and behaviour (without necessarily doing any hacking, thanks to CyanogenMod, MIUI, and apps that do the dirty work for you).

Don’t like your lock screen or its unlock options? Change it—without crawling the Play Store looking for lock screen apps. Want a particular app, or maybe three particular apps, to be accessible direct from the lock screen, perhaps using gestures or special buttons? No problem. Like the idea of your soft button LEDs lighting up when you have unread notifications? That’s an easy one. Don’t like the colour scheme? Wish you could put the status bar at the bottom of the screen, or install apps to the SD card? These are all doable, and are included as features in CyanogenMod and MIUI (with some differences between the two).

CyanogenMod 7 gives you all of these options just for the lock screen.

Most manufacturers, and some carriers, insist on including several bloatware apps preinstalled on the device. These cannot (all) be disabled or uninstalled, and they suck up the limited resources of your phone. LG are particularly bad in this regard; the LG skin is notoriously slow and buggy, even on powerful hardware like the Optimus 2x. By rooting my phone, I could disable or remove the most memory-draining apps and unnecessary services…which brings me to:

Better performance. CyanogenMod and MIUI both come with options to tweak performance, as do many custom builds of the stock (aka "official") version provided with your phone. I didn't touch them—not through fear that I might brick my handset, but rather because I didn't see the need. The difference in my phone's performance with "out of the box" versions of the stock Gingerbread firmware and CyanogenMod 7 was like night and day. It was so fast and the battery life was so improved that I felt like I had a new phone. From reading the forums, I get the impression that you'll get similar results even with the unadventurous decision to run a modified stock ROM.

 

If you want to get really into it, you can experiment with custom kernels (steer clear if you don't know what these are) or change CPU settings. And there are plenty of unofficial CyanogenMod and MIUI versions, which offer hacks and tweaks and extra features (with varying mileage). If you have the patience to experiment until you find the right one, and the persistence to keep checking the developer forums for updates, this will make your phone shine. Faster, more stable, better battery, and awesome features that fit perfectly with the way you use your phone—you can get all of this, if you do the legwork and put up with the hassle of repeated factory resets (required each time you try a completely different, as opposed to merely updated, build).

More updates, faster. Unless you're using a Galaxy Nexus, you won't get updates direct from Google. That means you have to wait until your manufacturer, and possibly also your carrier, gets those changes ready for your device. It takes months or even years, and support could be dropped in favour of a newer model at any moment.

With a rooted phone, you need just one interested developer to ensure ongoing support. If multiple developers are interested, you invariably get multiple versions to choose from. Pick a horse—I picked Temasek's CyanogenMod 7 KANG builds—and stick with it until it dies, then pick another horse. Your phone's life will be extended by this community support.

It's easy. Someone—probably multiple people—will have written an easy-to-follow step-by-step guide for your phone model. Depending on your phone, your computer OS, and the version of Android you have installed, the process may be as simple as running a special program, or it may involve getting dirty on the command line. But nearly all Android phones have noob-friendly guides to rooting on the CyanogenMod wiki or the XDA forums (if not in several other places). If you get stuck, just ask for help. Most people are happy to troubleshoot your problems, so long as you don't get rude.

Better apps. Some apps won't work without a rooted phone; others go from vaguely useful to essential. Titanium Backup can do complete backups of your apps, system, and data. You can block those pesky ads on many free apps. Other apps may let you configure a firewall, customise LED behaviour, alter transition animations, block calls and messages from certain types of numbers, share files stored on your phone's SD or internal storage over a network, and more. Just do a Google Search for rooted Android apps, and you'll see people raving about all the wonderful things apps can do on a rooted phone.

 

Why not root?

Rooting is not all hunky-dory, though; it does have its downsides and risks. First and foremost, your warranty is likely void. If you turn your phone into an expensive brick after rooting, you'll have to fork out the dough for a new one. Some services could be disabled in future for rooted users—there's a precedent for this involving movie rentals in the US http://www.cnet.com.au/google-blocks-rooted-androids-from-movie-rentals-339315561.htm. You also need to be more engaged with the Android community, keeping an eye on new developments and taking extra care not to install any malware—depending on your settings, malicious apps could have more power to wreak havoc and steal your data.

But if you're willing to put in a little extra work to maintaining your Android phone, rooting is well and truly worth it. Even if you only want to freeze those pesky preinstalled apps, you'll get a better, more personalised experience and only need to pay in terms of attention—a vigilant user is a safe user.