Now, you could take that as a pun or otherwise. In layman's language, Rooting allows you to crack open the hood to access the different parts of your phone's operating system which was deliberately locked by your phone's manufacturer coz he din want you to mess them up. Technically, its all about giving you full administrative access to the phone's “root” directory, to the lowest level of Android's Linux subsystems.
It's all kinda easy...
Imagine your fathers pc:
You can log in as a user, your father may have allowed you to install stuff. but hey the c:/windows/ folder is locked and you can't screw up the computer.
Android works on Linux.
Linux has the following system:
a) user
B) admin user
c) super user
As a regular android user you are an "admin user". you can install stuff, update, make the screen shiny and just work on it.
Super users can screw up the kernel, over clock the processors (and overheat them by accident), get more sound from the speakers by "over clocking" that to, replace the system with another one, etc.
Imagine your fathers pc:
You can log in as a user, your father may have allowed you to install stuff. but hey the c:/windows/ folder is locked and you can't screw up the computer.
Android works on Linux.
Linux has the following system:
a) user
B) admin user
c) super user
As a regular android user you are an "admin user". you can install stuff, update, make the screen shiny and just work on it.
Super users can screw up the kernel, over clock the processors (and overheat them by accident), get more sound from the speakers by "over clocking" that to, replace the system with another one, etc.
If you want to make your apps run faster on the phone, remove some pre installed apps, games, etc.to free up the memory space, access flash memory chip, Turn your slow 1G( if you are probably owning an old model) into 3G/4G Wifi hotspot without that extra pocket pinch “Rooting” is just apt for u.
Rooting has something to do with the security of the phone and the security of specific folders (with the most important folder called "ROOT") as well.
Like the android milestone is protected in two ways:
1. The phone's "bios" (protects the phone from weird changes and combines all devices in your phone to a working system)
2. The phones ROOT (contains all info on how the phone should work).
The bios must be cracked to make changes in the system (like ROOTing) some nerds do this and post "backups" of this system to XDA-developers.
Hackers/programmers make changes to specific files to remove the lock on SU (superuser) and post these in this backups.
SU-access allows you to do things that are not supposed to work like sharing your 3G-connection to Wifi. This is blocked till 2.1 because phone carriers didn't like that. Now with the 2.2 update it becomes legal). Or change the folder where your apps are installed from phone memory to the SD card(once again in the 2.2 update they fixed this).
But, as you can think with your brains. Rooted systems can be broken by the most stupidest terminal commands (since you can just command the phone to blow itself literally), or even when you delete a file from the ROOT folder by accident. Bricking the phone becomes very easy. that's why phone sellers won't help you as soon as they notice you were using a ROOTED phone.
you can test if your phone is rooted by downloading a small app called "terminal emulator" and filling in the code:
SU: This (SuperUser) command, means that you tell the terminal that you want to start changing important stuff and you need all access possible.
Hackers/programmers make changes to specific files to remove the lock on SU (superuser) and post these in this backups.
SU-access allows you to do things that are not supposed to work like sharing your 3G-connection to Wifi. This is blocked till 2.1 because phone carriers didn't like that. Now with the 2.2 update it becomes legal). Or change the folder where your apps are installed from phone memory to the SD card(once again in the 2.2 update they fixed this).
But, as you can think with your brains. Rooted systems can be broken by the most stupidest terminal commands (since you can just command the phone to blow itself literally), or even when you delete a file from the ROOT folder by accident. Bricking the phone becomes very easy. that's why phone sellers won't help you as soon as they notice you were using a ROOTED phone.
you can test if your phone is rooted by downloading a small app called "terminal emulator" and filling in the code:
SU: This (SuperUser) command, means that you tell the terminal that you want to start changing important stuff and you need all access possible.
Now, why you should root your Android?
EXTRA APPS:
Folks at XDA-Developers have created a wonderful application, SetCPU, which allows easy overclocking of various Android CPUs. However, due to the permissions required for such level of operation, a superuser access is necessary, and that can come only from a root access. This is just one example. The internet is flooded with many such applications that remain useless unless you have rooted your Phone.WIFI AND Bluetooth Tethering
After having rooted your device, you can also use WiFi or Bluetooth tether to share your cellular data connection with your laptop or PC. The application works with ad hoc connections and will get you up and running online on your laptop in no time. Similarly, tethering can also be achieved over a Bluetooth connection. You may check out the app in question here , but remember, rooted-phones only!PERFORMANCE UPDATE :
There are just too many flavors of Android in the market, with every OEM or carrier adding their own personalization and customization to devices. While they may appeal to some, they do not let the device take full advantage of what the hardware is capable of. With root access, you can actually tweak the OS to behave entirely differently, and with infamous developers like Cyanogen working on custom ROMs and mods, people have actually reported performance boosts.
APPS2Sd :
One of the most talked-about feature (or disadvantage) of any Android device is the limitation where you can install applications only in the phone’s internal memory and not the SD card. While Google may reason that SD cards are slower in general and cannot run apps as effectively as internal memory, fact of the matter is that most Android devices do not come with massive internal storage spaces, and hence greatly limit the number of applications that can be installed at a time. With rooted devices, you can use Apps2SD, which will copy ALL your applications to a ext2/3/4 formatted SD card an will also store future builds in card. Freedom to choose!
If you are perfectly happy with your Droid, is there is no point rooting it. But if you are a tinkerer and perfectly aware of the chances of “potentially destroying” your phone you might want to root it. Deciding to root your phone should not be a split second decision. But ultimately its your phone. You own it. You decide what to do with it!! Rooting is cool for people who build their own systems, want to be their 1G phone (very old phone) a bit faster, or just want to prank to their friends on how they ruined their phones (and how much money they have to buy a new one). ;) :P Finally, a good thinking (wo)man wouln't concider rooting for even a second! :D
