Rooting G1

[MMXFlyinSolo]

Im not too into all of the technical stuff of the G1 but i noticed a lot of people have been Rooting their G1. I've been taking it into consideration and im jusst wondering if anyone would recommend it.

[simms22]

You defiately will not be disappointed if you rooted your phone , that's for sure ! There's a good link for rooting your g1 and installing cyanogenmod in my sig :)

[extorian]

Rooting your phone is the term used to describe the method of getting super user access (i.e. root access) on Android. The name comes from the "root" account on Linux, which is the administrator account. Android runs on top of Linux. Hence the term "rooting" meaning "getting super user access".

However, what you mean by this, and what many people mistakenly mean by this is actually "installing a custom Android operating system".

Android does not allow you to install unofficial versions of the operating system normally, so in order to do this you need to "root" your phone first to give you the power to override this protection.

Custom firmwares, like Cyanogen's ROMs, can provide you with features that you can't get with the standard versions of Android. But, the real question is, do you need it?

The vast majority of stuff that used to the main reasons to install a custom firmware (e.g. tethering, multiple desktops, bluetooth file transfer, etc) can now all be achieved with apps on the Market, without needing to install a custom firmware or root your phone. But, in many cases, Cyanogen's firmware probably does it better than most of the apps.

There are also some serious risks and drawbacks to installing a custom firmware, such as:


Never receive an official over the air (OTA) update again, including security updates.
Risk bricking your phone making it completely unresponsive.
Invalidate your warranty (so if it is bricked, you may not be able to get a replacement for free).
Have to reset your phone settings again from scratch as you need to wipe your phone completely.
Run an unapproved firmware that has undergone no official testing, may have serious bugs, and that may not have been designed to run or optimised to run on your specific hardware.
Rely in the developer of the ROM you choose to be aware of, manually hand port, release, and inform you of any security updates.


As best as I have ever seen any reasonable argument for, there are only two genuine reasons that I personally know of to root your phone. There may be more that I'm not bothered about that you may be of course. Anyway, these reasons are:


To allow you to install apps on the SD card, thus freeing internal memory making your phone faster in general.
To allow your speaker to be turned up louder than normal so you can hear your phone ringing better.


Moving apps to SD is a really big deal, and probably the most important reason to install a custom OS.

Most Android phones have a shockingly low amount of application space (70MB or so). It quickly runs out. But, there is still an unresolved issue with installing apps on the SD card. While apps are running they're constantly writing to their installation space to save their state or other data. Apps have no choice but to assume that they're installed on internal memory, which is a specialised type of flash memory that doesn't have this problem... The problem is that this writing to memory is sometimes done many times a second for some apps, but at least once every time the app is ran. Even the best SD cards can be written to only around 1,000,000 times before they fail. When that happens, your SD card dies and at best you'll notice that your phone is crashing a lot and becoming unreliable, but at worst (and this is usually the case) you lose everything on your SD card and it become inaccessible. If you have 15 apps running that write once a second to your SD card, then it will fail within 6 months. Just search on this forum for people with SD card problems and you'll see how common it is.

So, my question to you is this... what do you need from your phone that you think installing a custom firmware will give you? Do you need a louder speaker? Most people like the Apps to SD thing and speed increase this will give you (assuming you JUST HAVE to have more than 100 apps installed on your phone so you have no memory left), but are you happy to lose everything one day without warning and void the warranty of your phone?

It's also worth mentioning here that while both rooting and installing custom firmwares does technically invalidate the warranty of your phone, people have successfully returned their phones afterwards and got replacements - but it's still a real risk.

[djunio]

Rooting your phone is the term used to describe the method of getting super user access (i.e. root access) on Android. The name comes from the "root" account on Linux, which is the administrator account. Android runs on top of Linux. Hence the term "rooting" meaning "getting super user access".

However, what you mean by this, and what many people mistakenly mean by this is actually "installing a custom Android operating system".

Android does not allow you to install unofficial versions of the operating system normally, so in order to do this you need to "root" your phone first to give you the power to override this protection.

Custom firmwares, like Cyanogen's ROMs, can provide you with features that you can't get with the standard versions of Android. But, the real question is, do you need it?

The vast majority of stuff that used to the main reasons to install a custom firmware (e.g. tethering, multiple desktops, bluetooth file transfer, etc) can now all be achieved with apps on the Market, without needing to install a custom firmware or root your phone. But, in many cases, Cyanogen's firmware probably does it better than most of the apps.

There are also some serious risks and drawbacks to installing a custom firmware, such as:


Never receive an official over the air (OTA) update again, including security updates.
Risk bricking your phone making it completely unresponsive.
Invalidate your warranty (so if it is bricked, you may not be able to get a replacement for free).
Have to reset your phone settings again from scratch as you need to wipe your phone completely.
Run an unapproved firmware that has undergone no official testing, may have serious bugs, and that may have been designed to run on your specific hardware.
Rely in the developer of the ROM you choose to be aware of, manually hand port, release, and inform you of any security updates.


As best as I have ever seen any reasonable argument for, there are only two genuine reasons that I personally know of to root your phone. There may be more that I'm not bothered about that you may be of course. Anyway, these reasons are:


To allow you to install apps on the SD card, thus freeing internal memory making your phone faster in general.
To allow your speaker to be turned up louder than normal so you can hear your phone ringing better.


Moving apps to SD is a really big deal, and probably the most important reason to install a custom OS.

Most Android phones have a shockingly low amount of application space (70MB or so). It quickly runs out. But, there is still an unresolved issue with installing apps on the SD card. While apps are running they're constantly writing to their installation space to save their state or other data. Apps assume that they're installed in internal memory, which is a very special type of flash memory. This writing is sometimes done many times a second for some apps, but at least once every time the app is ran. Even the SD cards can be written to only around 1,000,000 times before they fail. When that happens, your SD card dies and at best you'll notice that your phone is crashing a lot and becoming unreliable, but at worst (and this is usually the case) you lose everything on your SD card and it become inaccessible. If you have 15 apps running that write once a second to your SD card, then it will fail within 6 months. Just search on this forum for people with SD card problems and you'll see how common it is.

So, my question to you is this... what do you need from your phone that you think installing a custom firmware will give you? Do you need a louder speaker? Most people like the Apps to SD thing and speed increase this will give you (assuming you JUST HAVE to have more than 100 apps installed on your phone so you have no memory left), but are you happy to lose everything one day without warning and void the warranty of your phone?

It's also worth mentioning here that while both rooting and installing custom firmwares does technically invalidate the warranty of your phone, people have successfully returned their phones afterwards and got replacements - but it's still a real risk.

I hope this was a copy and paste lol, thats alot.

[rnee67]

You defiately will not be disappointed if you rooted your phone , that's for sure ! There's a good link for rooting your g1 and installing cyanogenmod in my sig :)

Hello Mr simms22,

I'm considering rooting also, but was hesitant because of fear of bricking my G1. I know this question has been asked dozens of times, but what are the advantages of rooting, and is it reversible in case I mess up. Maybe you could point me to a link on this forum where the benefits of rooting is mentioned.

Also, thanks for having a link on your sig that points us to an easy and unintimidating way to root! Is your info on wiki the most current?

Thanks!

[extorian]

I hope this was a copy and paste lol, thats alot.

Lol - nah - just have too much spare time while my gf watched X Factor.

[djunio]

Lol - nah - just have too much spare time while my gf watched X Factor.

You did a good job on that long a** post, thats some good info.

[extorian]

I'm considering rooting also, but was hesitant because of fear of bricking my G1. I know this question has been asked dozens of times, but what are the advantages of rooting, and is it reversible in case I mess up. Maybe you could point me to a link on this forum where the benefits of rooting is mentioned.


Rooting is relatively easy and safe IF YOU FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS. However, many people seem incapable of following the instructions, and some older instructions don't apply any more. So - follow simms32's links and you should be fine. Read everything carefully. Go through it in your head before actually doing it. Make sure your phone is fully charged too.

I was about to say that you can just install the standard version of your firmware again to reverse the process, but I'm just thinking (someone else can answer this)... Given Cyanogen's firmware re-partitions your internal memory, surely the standard firmware will no longer work? The cache partition is effectively removed altogether and the standard firmwares need this for OTA updates. So what happens? Also what happens with the SPL? Can you revert that back to standard? I'm curious to know myself what the deal is here these days.

[simms22]

Hello Mr simms22,

I'm considering rooting also, but was hesitant because of fear of bricking my G1. I know this question has been asked dozens of times, but what are the advantages of rooting, and is it reversible in case I mess up. Maybe you could point me to a link on this forum where the benefits of rooting is mentioned.

Also, thanks for having a link on your sig that points us to an easy and unintimidating way to root! Is your info on wiki the most current?

Thanks!

I'm not going to write about the advantages and disadvatages of rooting . They are different for everybody . I'm glad I rooted , even though I feared it at first . It actually was easier than it looked . I love that I can do with my phone as I wish , not what tmo tells me what my phone can do . But in any case , you can always unroot. And that too is easy . There isn't a link that has the benefits of rooting , that you just have to search . Be aware that a g1 is hard to brick , but can done

[extorian]

Some people brick their phones.

Some people have problems afterwards with crashes, etc.

Some people choose to un-root.

Some people have had SD card problems.

But most are happy and are very glad they rooted.

[simms22]

Hello Mr simms22,

I'm considering rooting also, but was hesitant because of fear of bricking my G1. I know this question has been asked dozens of times, but what are the advantages of rooting, and is it reversible in case I mess up. Maybe you could point me to a link on this forum where the benefits of rooting is mentioned.

Also, thanks for having a link on your sig that points us to an easy and unintimidating way to root! Is your info on wiki the most current?

Thanks!

Everything in that link is current but the rom , when rooting check what the current cyanogenmod rom is .

[extorian]

I was about to say that you can just install the standard version of your firmware again to reverse the process, but I'm just thinking (someone else can answer this)... Given Cyanogen's firmware re-partitions your internal memory, surely the standard firmware will no longer work? The cache partition is effectively removed altogether and the standard firmwares need this for OTA updates. So what happens? Also what happens with the SPL? Can you revert that back to standard? I'm curious to know myself what the deal is here these days.

I'll answer my own question with "Yeah - you use the Nandroid backup".

[Hands0n]

Lol - nah - just have too much spare time while my gf watched X Factor.

I hear ya LOL :D

It has been a bit of good fun playing around with the various distributions of Android that are about. I did also try the Hero ROM and it was, for me, a disaster. I couldn't get back to the Google Android OS quickly enough!

Right now I am running CyanogenMod 4.2.5 and it is a superb implementation of Android, possibly the best, certainly so in my own opinion.

I think that all of the points that Extorian made earlier are completely valid. If you're just having a play around, as I am, then okay fair enough. But if you actually rely upon your handset a great deal then you really do need to think carefully about what it is you're setting out to do.

Again, if you're confident with rooting and changing the ROMs then none of this is going to be a challenge or worry. You will know that you can get the handset back to a working condition easily. And so the actual risk behind any of this is much smaller, although not gone completely.

One thing I will stress though - backups. It is absolutely vital that you update the Recovery ROM using either Cyanogen or Amon-Ra to do a Nandroid backup. It makes for a very simple and easy way to get your handset back to a working version. I have a strict regime of backing up the current version immediately before doing any updates. It takes ten minutes more to do but at least once I have rescued my handset from disaster by doing this. Nandroid restores in either of those two Recovery ROMs is a breeze.

Other than that, have a bit of fun and check out what is out there.

[rnee67]

Thank you everyone for the prompt answers. You've been all helpful. I also read somewhere that a rooted phone causes some incompatibility with some of the apps in the market? True or false? If so, which ones, since I've purchased a few.

Again, thanks in advance for all your help and advice!

[extorian]

It's more a case that some apps don't work with specific OS. You get apps that only work with Cupcake (1.5), only work with Donut (1.6), only work with Eclair (2.0), and only work on a given phone (e.g. just the G1, just the Droid, etc), or don't work on a given phone. As most custom firmwares are a mix and mate of the latest version (e.g. 2.0) and a load of stuff that hasn't officially been released yet, there are sometimes compatibility issues. In general, these are very rare though, and in most cases it's people trying to run 1.6 only apps on a 2.0 flavour of a custom firmware, and the same app wouldn't work on the Droid, for example, even though it has the official OS. It just depends on a lot of factors.