Non rooters

[simms22]

Sadly in all truth a boulder ran over something of mine a few weeks ago, wasn't my phone, it was my ankle! :[ hahaha that day was hectic.

Sadly , I've been there too . Poor ankle ! I had one bounce off my head also( ok , it was smaller than a boulder ) , and a scar to prove it !

[thefran1996]

And I rest my case... no offense but you need to do a little research. The fact is root > no root. Also its really easy to do, took me 30 mins and I had cupcake weeks before the OTA update for my area......

If that is true then why do most of the people who own a g1dont root?

[kitsunisan]

If that is true then why do most of the people who own a g1dont root?

Either they don't know how or they're too scared to.

[CJ Chitwood]

It boils down to what interests you. Most G1 owners are like most phone users. They want it to dial numbers, receive calls, maybe surf the web and play a few games. Who cares what cupcake is as long as they can get their e-mails and text messages?

The smart ones will take advantage of knowing ahead of time that this phone sports WiFi (where e.g. the Sidekick LX doesn't), has expandable SD storage, can play music, games, run apps...

Only the elite few are bothered enough by it being hackable and yet not hacked to actually mess with hacking it. We are the ones whose interests lie in testing the waters, trying the unknown... We're the ones willing to risk fouling our hardware up beyond use for some small benefit, whether it be (like me) using Hero's mail client to sync with my work Exchange mailbox (without paying $30 for the functionality!!!) or like some other people who simply want bragging rights (cupcake a few weeks early) or still others who, in the true hacker (not to be confused with [safe]cracker) tradition, actually get off on modifying something to do something it wasn't originally designed (or offered) to do.


Then there are the followers who root just because they can. I'm talking about the people who don't really know what the benefits are, they just know there are some, without really knowing if they personally will see the benefit. They root their phones then ask, "now what?" because they don't use Exchange email, or they don't need the extra phone storage that apps-on-SD provides. They "just do".



But why don't most people who own a G1 root it? (and really, learn some grammar there and build a proper sentence, please!) Because out of over a million G1s sold, for the people who bought them, they provide all of the functionality these people need or want. That simple.


Now, I'm going to go read this thread from page one so I can understand where boulders came into the picture...

[CJ Chitwood]

Okay, now that I've read it, I'll add this thought too....


"better than" is usually a statement of opinion, not fact. To say the phone is better with root just because of certain features becoming suddenly available is highly subjective: with these features comes risks, and these risks may be such that the people not rooting don't want to take. In this case, nonrooted is better than rooted (FOR THESE PEOPLE, which happen to be in the majority. WAAAAYY in the majority).

For me, root is better, but at the same time, I'm running Haykuro's Hero build, which on my G1, is slower than monkey snot in February since I don't have some super-high-grade microSD card with which to trick the phone into thinking it has more memory, and since the overall build is just heftier than e.g. cupcake. Cupcake ran GREAT on my rooted G1, but the problem was lack of Exchange in the mail app. So, I went to Hero. Having my work e-mail chime in on my hip as it arrives is just a little too sweet to move back to cupcake. Hero's slow for me, but I need that e-mail more than I need speed. I could clock at 528, and often do, but once I open that Music app and run at 528 MHz, my battery dies in a few hours (even without actually playing any music, and even with the phone "asleep"!).

Either way you look at it, it boils down to this: Most of the time, those who would root, do so because they feel in some way held back by... well, whatever you want to call it... "the man"... "the establishment"... "the institution"... Regardless, these people feel like they're being held back.. being prevented from running some application, or from doing something simple that other phones can do, be it Bluetooth filesharing, WiFi tethering, overclocking... and to them, the risk of fouling the phone up is outweighed by the benefit of added functionality.

It's actually a very basic concept in something called Economics that you probably won't get to until high school, but the concept is called a "cost-benefit analysis". Google it if you don't get it, but I think its name is enough that you can figure out what it means...

[CJ Chitwood]

Oh, and one FINAL thought from my peanut gallery...


A couple of years back, well, maybe 4 or 5, I started looking into replacing my ancient brickphone. I wanted a phone with all these features:
* Phone (of course)
* Internet connectivity (minimum edge, but WiFi preferred)
* Touchscreen AND full QWERTY hard keyboard
* Ability to put my own ringtones on the phone (so as to make my OWN song snippets and install w/o paying for each one)
* Ability to connect to the phone via USB (like I did with my work phone, a Motorola V365, and my wife's Moto PEBL) to hack the files (I had a custom bootup and shutdown screen as well as a little volume customization going on -- low key, but was useful to me)
* GPS and mapping a definite plus
* all the usual PDA stuff like contacts, e-mail, scheduling, etc.

I found lots of phones that met these requirements, but the last one I had was that it be an open platform. I didn't care if it was Linux or something else, as long as the source code was available to the general public. Why? Hacking (and I mean that like "programming", not like breaking into FBI mainframes). I wanted to have a hackable phone since I knew that someone would do something really cool and useful with it even if it meant going through a bunch of crap to do it. And that's what the G1 provided. I knew it would only be a matter of time before someone hacked it to do something better (better for me, maybe not better for you). Once I saw the list of G1's specs, I absolutely jumped on it and ordered as soon as I had the chance. The gamble (although it really wasn't much of one) payed off.

Yeah, big deal. I get e-mail on my hip now. I coulda had a blackberry. POS as they are. Or a WiMo phone. POS as WiMo is. Instead, I got a Linux-based phone on which I feel right at home.


Oh, and for those with ADB, check out the files in /system/media, especially the ones with "boot" in their names. I've already hacked mine.

For me, root was a win-win. For you, only you decide.

Your original question I think was "what's the benefit". It really depends on what you use a phone for. You apparently don't have much use for it aside from what it comes with. I on the other hand actually have a need for WiFi tether, Exchange push support, and customizable lock screens. Hacking my bootup to show my contact information instead of the Android or HTC logos was just icing on the cake. I think next I'll take video of some Star Trek series' opening credits and turn it into an animated GIF complete with sound and make that my bootup.

But you might not see any use in that. Again, it's all subjective.

[Legendary1982]

Not to sound like an ass, but yes it does. Let me put it this way: Would I rather have a phone capable of tethering, running custom roms that increase functionality, different themes that drastically change the appearance, and much greater storage capacity for caches and apps? Absolutely! Those features make rooted phones better than unrooted. None of us would have bothered rooting if there weren't benefits to it. Not to say that the G1 is terrible without being rooted, but the added benefits of rooting make it a much better phone.

Well Played Sir!!!

[alilbitanuthin]

If that is true then why do most of the people who own a g1dont root?

The vast majority of users have no idea what root access means and couldn't care less... they don't join forums like this to stay educated bout developments. I'd we represent less than 10% of all G1 users. Most people are happy with what they have and dont feel a need to change anything, nothing wrong with that. On the other hand, there are a lot of people (like me) who like mess around and fiddle with everything sometimes for no reason... I dont even know how or why this argument is even happening, seems a little stupid because:
Fact: A stock G1 = plenty good
But if you need Tether/Bluetooth file transfer/Overclock/Theme/Custom Rom etc etc etc; you need root.
Therefore,
Fact: Root makes you phone better
Its pretty simple, I dont get what the argument is??

[kitsunisan]

Its pretty simple, I dont get what the argument is??

you know im only 13 and i practically dont understand most of what you say

That .

[thefran1996]

Wasn't this supposed to be a thread about people who aren't rooted?