Rooting an Android Tablet - Is it worth it

[Giorgio Ciotti]

Generally when you root your phone/tablet you do forego the warranty, but the good news is that you can un-root it at anytime. I've changed/upgraded to various versions and when I did need the warranty, I just un-rotted it and put the official stock version back on and sent it to get fixed.

Rooting allows you to have upgrades faster possibly and tweak the phone/tablet more, but I can't say it'd done a lot for me. Only in one instance when the phone battery was overheating I tried several ROMs until I found one that solved or did not create this particular problem.

[dharmabm]

Now I'm no expert on Android , but from the snippets I've read it seems that rooting an Android device offers the owner more options and flexibility .

The computer you are using at the moment has some form of anti-virus protection, maybe a firewall? You only install programs from trusted sources? If you are wise (and on Windows) you only use an account with basic user access rights and only switch to Administrator level access when needed.

Once you have rooted your Tablet or Phone it is assumed that you are much more aware of the vulnerabilities that you might be subjected to when installing a fancy App that you don't really know is doing inside while offering Space Birds or Bar Girl Finder Pro 2.0 on the screen.

With a rooted device it is so much easier for those with malicious intent to achieve their objective at your expense, with the increase in mobile banking Apps and identity-theft you should become an expert first so you are capable of informed consent as to exactly what risks you are subjecting yourself too.

The question is not so much if you can root any device but what are the implications of doing so?

i got such a chuckle from this it brought tears to my eyes! i have been a system administrator and support specialist for some 20 years, and outside of an enterprise environment (and even often within) i can count on one hand (ok, maybe 2 hands, but only because i set it up for them) the number of users i have come across who are NOT running an admin account in windows. most windows users don't even know what that means and a typical store bought machine always comes with a default admin user WITH NO PASSWORD, and no password as well for the built-in administrator account! UAC is not a valid substitute for security when there is no password and all you have to do is click 2 extra buttons to install malicious software. in linux however (for the most part) you are pretty much forced to create passwords and use a non-root account by default. i understand your point and agree with most of your post, but for the most part you realize you are 'speaking to deaf ears' (is that the proper cliche?)

[frankold]

The only reason I rooted mine was due to the best backup app requiring root access to enable a bare metal backup synced to cloud storage, or the nearest thing offered anyways.

The battery life does seem a little worse.

[Cuban]

...i understand your point and agree with most of your post, but for the most part you realize you are 'speaking to deaf ears' (is that the proper cliche?)

I have on a number of occasions in Thailand looked at a user sitting next to me and asked the following: "Do you still have the box this came in and the receipt? We could take it back and get you a nice train set instead."

Indeed I have looked at doing a Knoppix install for some of my less computer aware friends, with the PC being limited to CD boot only and any downloads going to the HDD set to non-boot in BIOS, best way to avoid the "Can you fix my PC phone calls."

I know that most people care little about the process behind a quick Tweet or looking up dodgy porn via a VPN but my hope is that for some with an IQ in double figures that these words stick in their brain somewhere and remember that there is more to understand than just pressing OK to every question the PC offers them during any given situation.

How else does all the tool bars and ad-ware get installed?

[vijer]

You will loose the warranty on any device you root. Also you will make the Android device more vulnerable to Viruses because the kernel can be modified after rooting.

You'll have flash firmware that will allow the device to be easily rooted. which most likely won't come from the manufacturer. The procedure for rooting varies from device to device. You'll have to check with Google to see if there's firmware that works on that device which can be rooted.

IMO by rooting, the disavantages outweighs the advantages.

In theory you might be vulnerable, but in practice if you buy your apps through the Google Play store you won't get any viruses.

The main advantages to rooting is if you want to install a custom ROM which has better features and less bloat wear than the stock ROM. The issue is whether any developer has created a ROM for your device.

My Galaxy S3 was rooted and a custom ROM installed within a week of owning it. I am much happier.

[vijer]

Do you think I would get the same answer if I purchased another brand of tablet , say Samsung , Acer , Asus .

Yes.

You can (usually) un-root (re-root?) a device in the event that you need to seek warranty service/repair.

You should only root a device if you need to run applications which require rooting, in case that wasn't intuitively obvious.

For example, AdAway requires rooting. I couldn't imagine not using this app. so I have to root any/all devices. Same for Titanium Back-up.

There is that plus the key advantage of being able to remove bloat ware and installing a custom ROM. Can't imagine not doing both of those things either. The main reason to get away from Apple is to be able to have YOUR device the way you want it not the way the manufacturer wants it.

The OP should not buy a knock off, saving a couple thousand baht isn't worth it, plus it is very unlikely that any developer has ported the latest Android version to a knock off device.

[vijer]

This web site has a lot of help with Android tablets: http://www.androidtabletpcsupport.com.

The Android OS is a layer that runs on the Linux OS. Tablets come delivered with access to the Android layer, but not to the Linux layer. By rooting the tablet it gives you access to the Linux OS, which is running under the Android OS.

Yes, it opens up more options for backing up data, controlling apps, etc. But, I agree that the disadvantages severely out way the advantages. If you are a Linux techy , then go for it. But if you are a non technical user, do not root your tablet.

Yes, a rooted tablet is no longer supported by any warranty. Yes, you can un-root a tablet, but the un-rooting process is even more risky than the rooting process.

Don't buy a cheap tablet and expect support, if it dies, toss it in the garbage and buy another one.

My advice is to step up and buy a Samsung or ASUS and avoid all the hassles of a cheap made in China tablet.

I don't think the disadvantages out weigh the advantages. Rooting does nothing but give you options and getting a virus is only possible if you start installing apps that don't get from the Google Play Store.

I have to agree, don't waste your money on a knock off cheep tablet (the Thai government did that see how well it worked out for them) you will just be buying a slow piece of junk that you will regret buying.

[vijer]

...i understand your point and agree with most of your post, but for the most part you realize you are 'speaking to deaf ears' (is that the proper cliche?)

I have on a number of occasions in Thailand looked at a user sitting next to me and asked the following: "Do you still have the box this came in and the receipt? We could take it back and get you a nice train set instead."

Indeed I have looked at doing a Knoppix install for some of my less computer aware friends, with the PC being limited to CD boot only and any downloads going to the HDD set to non-boot in BIOS, best way to avoid the "Can you fix my PC phone calls."

I know that most people care little about the process behind a quick Tweet or looking up dodgy porn via a VPN but my hope is that for some with an IQ in double figures that these words stick in their brain somewhere and remember that there is more to understand than just pressing OK to every question the PC offers them during any given situation.

How else does all the tool bars and ad-ware get installed?

I was at a government school and needed to get a document printed (none of the school printers worked) and I had to take my flash drive to the print shop. The clerk took my flash drive and inserted it into the computer then we waited while some software ran and told the clerk my flash drive was clean. With my print job complete and my flash drive in hand I returned to my laptop. I inserted the flash drive into my laptop and immediately Avast antivirus popped up and alerted me to a virus that was now on my flash drive. All the computers in the school had viruses and numerous toolbars in every browser.

That's annoying a message popped up on my screen.

What did it say?

How should I know I don't read I just click buttons until it goes away.

....

Hey my computer is running slow.

I wonder why.........

[ThaiLife]

After reading the interesting comments here Ive decided to buy a well known brand tablet that seems to have a lot of support and dedicated information on the rooting process , reading the above comments and user views it looks like most people seem to be in favor of rooting .

I don't want to pay a lot for the tablet , so this Samsung deal looks a decent offer .

If by chance any one has seen a better deal on this tablet , please let me know

Thanks

█ One thing that has just come into mind is this , if I want to some day root the tablet I first need to make some sort of full back up just in case things go wrong and I need to return the tablet to its original state , but to make a full back up I need to install a back up app that can only be installed on a rooted device , sounds a sort of catch 22 situation or have I got that wrong some where ?

[lomatopo]

I might classify that as a "Phablet"? The screen is a bit lame. And a bit long in the tooth? Do you need 3G?

If your only goal is to back up your device you really don't need to root it. For most, simply drag/drop user-created data from a the device to a PC, then use Google which can back-up/restore contacts, apps./apps. data, etc.

If you want to revert to a stock configuration you would simple re-flash a/the stock ROM, which would also re-root the device.

Again, it might help if you could actually figure out why you want to root the device, which you don't yet have?

Edited July 29, 2013 by lomatopo

[Somtamnication]

Rooting does not kill the warranty, because you can "hide" the root by either unrooting it or reset the counter to 0 or 1 with triangle away app.

Rooting also allows you to disable the incredible amount of crap that Samsung pre loads on their gadgets and the incredible amount of shit that Google pre loads that are constantly communicating with their server (Google+, Talk and others) when not being used by the user.

Some of the most "calling home" intensive apps are the system apps and you can only stop that by rooting the device.

And you can also uninstall those Sammy and Google apps, whereas you cannot do so with a non-rooted phone.

[JakeBKK]

root is your right. and your responsibility what company's like samsung, apple and all the others do - is protect them self. When you grew up your parents protected the electrical outlets, because it is a deadly issue to stick something into it.

Now, you have grown up. And then some stupid company thinks it is a bad idea to not let you do: su pass rm -all yes, this will render your S4 , pad whatsoever into a brick. But it is your choice obviously too many people then scream mum!dad! Oh , Apple , Samsung or whatsoever i mean.

Linus tohrwalt did not really conciser to find his offspring on your smart phone.

So, if you don't know what a shell or man pages are, stay inside your GUI ( guided user interface, it's guided for a reason) And don't root your crap.

If you have to watch a YouTube video how to root, please don't

i edited the post to give it a positive spin, ain't happing. we have too many people around thinking, their electronic items do what they deserve to to do.And they don't.

Edited July 30, 2013 by JakeBKK

[Guest]

Rooting does not kill the warranty, because you can "hide" the root by either unrooting it or reset the counter to 0 or 1 with triangle away app.

Rooting also allows you to disable the incredible amount of crap that Samsung pre loads on their gadgets and the incredible amount of shit that Google pre loads that are constantly communicating with their server (Google+, Talk and others) when not being used by the user.

Some of the most "calling home" intensive apps are the system apps and you can only stop that by rooting the device.

And you can also uninstall those Sammy and Google apps, whereas you cannot do so with a non-rooted phone.

I have Samsung Galaxy Y, which very limited internal memory (256mb), which is occupied with Samsung preloaded applications. This means that the phone can not upgrade some applications as there is not enough space on phone's memory.

I'd like to try rooting the device. Which is preferred method to do so? And after rooting, how can I remove ChatOn, Social Hub, QuickOffice etc software which I don't use from the device?

[Turkleton]

If by chance any one has seen a better deal on this tablet , please let me know

ASUS-FONEPAD might be worth a look.

7400 Baht at IT-City, Pattaya Tukcom

Good tablet/phablet with a really great "battery-life"

Easy to root (XDA-developers), nearly "unbrickable", as you can always flash a new Rom from an external sdcard.

And you will not loose your settings and data, when you install a new Rom.

Edited July 30, 2013 by Turkleton

[Chicog]

stay inside your GUI ( guided user interface, it's guided for a reason)

Congratulations, there was me, and probably billions of others, thinking the "G" always stood for "Graphical".

[JakeBKK]

stay inside your GUI ( guided user interface, it's guided for a reason)

Congratulations, there was me, and probably billions of others, thinking the "G" always stood for "Graphical".

of course you are right, chicog that argument made simply sense on my end. if i don't give you a elevated shell prompt on your start home or whatsoever screen. you will not produce a service incident or occurrences or what ever the term the producer decided to name the issue.cluster_whatsoever would do for me. i make my living with these kind of things. and i know for a fact, if i plaster a full screen on your display: warning ! do you really want to install a virus, trojan or whatsoever:the crowd don't look it's a click with your mouse. they do not care what ever crap is hiding behind it.

Edited July 30, 2013 by JakeBKK

[Chicog]

stay inside your GUI ( guided user interface, it's guided for a reason)

Congratulations, there was me, and probably billions of others, thinking the "G" always stood for "Graphical".

of course you are right, chicog that argument made simply sense on my end. if i don't give you a elevated shell prompt on your start home or whatsoever screen. you will not produce a service incident or occurrences or what ever the term the producer decided to name the issue.cluster_whatsoever would do for me. i make my living with these kind of things. and i know for a fact, if i plaster a full screen on your display: warning ! do you really want to install a virus, trojan or whatsoever:the crowd don't look it's a click with your mouse. they do not care what ever crap is hiding behind it.

Given that stock ROMs allow for sideloading, your argument is moot.

Look at something like MIUI: It's a clean, easy to use ROM and no easier to break than stock.

[Chicog]

stay inside your GUI ( guided user interface, it's guided for a reason)

Congratulations, there was me, and probably billions of others, thinking the "G" always stood for "Graphical".

of course you are right, chicog that argument made simply sense on my end. if i don't give you a elevated shell prompt on your start home or whatsoever screen. you will not produce a service incident or occurrences or what ever the term the producer decided to name the issue.cluster_whatsoever would do for me. i make my living with these kind of things. and i know for a fact, if i plaster a full screen on your display: warning ! do you really want to install a virus, trojan or whatsoever:the crowd don't look it's a click with your mouse. they do not care what ever crap is hiding behind it.

Given that stock ROMs allow for sideloading, your argument is moot.

Look at something like MIUI: It's a clean, easy to use ROM and no easier to break than stock.

[Somtamnication]

Rooting does not kill the warranty, because you can "hide" the root by either unrooting it or reset the counter to 0 or 1 with triangle away app.

Rooting also allows you to disable the incredible amount of crap that Samsung pre loads on their gadgets and the incredible amount of shit that Google pre loads that are constantly communicating with their server (Google+, Talk and others) when not being used by the user.

Some of the most "calling home" intensive apps are the system apps and you can only stop that by rooting the device.

And you can also uninstall those Sammy and Google apps, whereas you cannot do so with a non-rooted phone.

I have Samsung Galaxy Y, which very limited internal memory (256mb), which is occupied with Samsung preloaded applications. This means that the phone can not upgrade some applications as there is not enough space on phone's memory.

I'd like to try rooting the device. Which is preferred method to do so? And after rooting, how can I remove ChatOn, Social Hub, QuickOffice etc software which I don't use from the device?

Try mobile Odin. Install, it downloads a huge file and then you can ask it to root for ya!!!

[Pib]

Try mobile Odin. Install, it downloads a huge file and then you can ask it to root for ya!!!

From looking at the Mobile Odin's description on Google Play, it only runs on a rooted device. However, once you do get it installed on your already rooted device the EverRoot function within Mobile Odin will then root your device when you flash a new ROM since a new ROM may not come pre-rooted. Based on the description it appears you must first get your device rooted to use Mobile Odin...then it will handle future rooting on supported devices.

[JakeBKK]

stay inside your GUI ( guided user interface, it's guided for a reason)

Congratulations, there was me, and probably billions of others, thinking the "G" always stood for "Graphical".

of course you are right, chicog that argument made simply sense on my end. if i don't give you a elevated shell prompt on your start home or whatsoever screen. you will not produce a service incident or occurrences or what ever the term the producer decided to name the issue.cluster_whatsoever would do for me. i make my living with these kind of things. and i know for a fact, if i plaster a full screen on your display: warning ! do you really want to install a virus, trojan or whatsoever:the crowd don't look it's a click with your mouse. they do not care what ever crap is hiding behind it.

Given that stock ROMs allow for sideloading, your argument is moot.

Look at something like MIUI: It's a clean, easy to use ROM and no easier to break than stock.

help me out here, then. the manufactures: HTC, Samsung, APPLE(LOL)

IMOBLE and whatsoever say: you loose the warranty.i wish some times i could put something like a floppy into that gear. disk of my choice. choice of my os. so , if i pass a boot loader or the god forsaken UEFI crap to side load a floppy. This starts to get funny,when you think about it so let me brag on for a minute, kids. So ,in the good days where craftsmanship and handwork counted for living ?

[JakeBKK]

stay inside your GUI ( guided user interface, it's guided for a reason)

Congratulations, there was me, and probably billions of others, thinking the "G" always stood for "Graphical".

of course you are right, chicog that argument made simply sense on my end. if i don't give you a elevated shell prompt on your start home or whatsoever screen. you will not produce a service incident or occurrences or what ever the term the producer decided to name the issue.cluster_whatsoever would do for me. i make my living with these kind of things. and i know for a fact, if i plaster a full screen on your display: warning ! do you really want to install a virus, trojan or whatsoever:the crowd don't look it's a click with your mouse. they do not care what ever crap is hiding behind it.

Given that stock ROMs allow for sideloading, your argument is moot.

Look at something like MIUI: It's a clean, easy to use ROM and no easier to break than stock.

help me out here, then. the manufactures: HTC, Samsung, APPLE(LOL)

IMOBLE and whatsoever say: you loose the warranty.i wish some times i could put something like a floppy into that gear. disk of my choice. choice of my os. so , if i pass a boot loader or the god forsaken UEFI crap to side load a floppy. This starts to get funny,when you think about it so let me brag on for a minute, kids. So ,in the good days where craftsmanship and handwork counted for living ?

[jonsalat]

Rooting a device can definitely offer more options and flexibility...earth shaking options and flexibility?...I don't think so. Improved options and and flexibility...sure depending on the person's needs and desires.

There is not one standard method/set of commands to root a device as it will vary a little from device to device because each device is a little different hardware and firmware-wise. But a "little" makes a big difference when messing with the core operating firmware/functions of a device.

Does it void your warranty? Yes, usually it does. But if you can get the original firmware reloaded and the flash counter reset then the service center won't notice it and service your item for free. And having a rooted device allows easy flashing of custom ROMs--and of course each custom ROM is usually hyped as making your device run tens times better--does it really, of course not...at least not ten times better...maybe 1.1 times better. But in certain people's minds that 1.1 times better is magnified to 11 times better. Just something about human nature in wanting to tweak things which is a good thing for the human race as a whole.

Will you device continue to automatically update to OTA firmware upgrades from the manufacturer...probably not because the OTA sees you don't have an official firmware release from the manufacturer. Well, this may not bother many folks if they know an updated custom ROM will be released soon. And a lot depends on how popular your particular model is...popular models usually have plenty of custom ROMs being developed by many people; other less popular models (but still very good models) may have no to little custom ROM support unless you want to install the custom ROM developed by some unknown (and maybe shady) person.

One definitely nice thing about having a rooted device is being able to remove system level bloatware, especially if it's a Chinese model that comes with a lot of Apps installed as "system level" Apps that are Chinese language specific versus just being installed as a non-system level App which can be simply removed by pressing the Uninstall button.

Lot's of Apps out there that only fully work on rooted devices, but many are usually just doing maintenance or monitoring tasks which you can't do with other Apps. Like the thousands upon thousands of apps out there for non-rooted devices that really don't do much other than reduce some steps you can do just using the Android setup menus. Don't get me wrong many of the Apps that only work on rooted devices are nice to have/use depending on the person.

I've got an Onda V971 tablet that came pre-rooted from the factory so I've got to play a good amount with Apps that only work on rooted devices. And I've flashed various custom ROMs which said they had integrated some improvements, but mostly it seemed the improvements were just removing the bloatware selected which cam installed with the manufacturer's ROM/firmware or replacing it with their own bloatware/Apps that the custom ROM developer thought was neat. But I'll be the first to admit that I expect custom ROMs do offer significant improvement for some models. After playing with the rooted Onda V971 for around 8 months now with various custom ROMs and Apps that work on rooted devices only, the thrill has departed. I'm just as happy using my Samsung tablet and smartphones which do not come rooted nor have I wanted to root (at least not yet). But hey, that just me...others like to root (or load a custom ROM) their new device on day one if possible...that fine...to each his own.

Yes, yes to the folks who "have to have a rooted device"--it's a good thing for you...it meets your needs and/or desires. But if the device was not rooted your tablet/smartphone life would continue on just fine (I think, I could be wrong...I'm good at being wrong).

Amazing answer. I salute you. Years ago I thought I was pretty much up with technology, but you put me to shame..............Age tells!!

[dr_lucas]

I agree that the disadvantages severely out way the advantages. If you are a Linux techy , then go for it. But if you are a non technical user, do not root your tablet.

Yes, you can un-root a tablet, but the un-rooting process is even more risky than the rooting process.

My only advice is that if you want to avoid BS advice like the above quoted one and instead get real professional tips then don't use TV forums! Better go straight to XDA Developers forums, where the real pros are.

P.S. Always remember that there are many professionals on MBK's 4th floor who can and will easily and cheaply restore most Android phones/tablets (especially the well known Samsung, HTC, Sony, Asus models) back to factory settings with no trace of the it ever been rooted, just in case you need the warranty again and don't know how to DIY.

[Keesters]

Anybody know who in Pattaya can root my m72_nand_P2000 tablet. I want to increase internal memory by using SD card.