* * Your warranty is now void. * * We are not responsible for bricked devices, dead SD cards, * thermonuclear war, or you getting fired because the alarm app failed. Please * do some research if you have any concerns about features included in this ROM * before flashing it! YOU are choosing to make these modifications, and if * you point the finger at us for messing up your device, we will laugh at you. * */
So why risk it? What are the rewards? Do I get free apps?!
No you don't get free apps and I don't understand why that is the first question everybody asks. You can get apps free (on Android) without rooting, its called sideloading. Regardless this isn't for free apps, I pay for all mine because I believe in supporting the developers.
So why root? I root because I like to customize my phone. The Android rooting community brought us heads up notifications, lockscreen notifications (actually Apple did but ROM devs did it on Android first), and a whole lot more that has all been added to Android in the spirit of open source and sharing ideas and features. Take a look at the features that have come to Lollipop.
-Battery Saver Mode - Introduced by CyanogenMod around 4.2
-Heads Up Notifications - Introduced by Paranoid Android in 4.4
-Ambient Display - Pioneered by Motorola however baked into AOSP ROMs by ChameleonOS team in 4.4
-Lockscreen Notifications - Introduced by ROM devs in Android 4.2
-Full Screen Immersion (when the status and nav bars both hide and have to be swiped in to show, introduced by Google in 4.4) - Introduced in 4.3 by Paranoid Android.
This isn't copying either, it is the opposite. This is what open source is all about, this is why an open platform will advance faster than a closed one. Google finds a way to bake these features into Android to enhance everybody's experience and ROM devs are not dumb, they know Google is using their idea but it is an honor to know that you impacted the platform. Sure that dev or team won't see a dime from Google for it but that's okay because Google gave them the free Android software to build their ROM on in the first place.
I personally like to be able to control certain aspects of my phone that I wouldn't be able to otherwise.Titanium Backup to backup all my apps in the exact state they were in before. Titanium Backup also allows me too freeze or "debloat" apps without uninstalling them in case something goes wrong and I can thaw it out. On my old SIII I installed SlimKat which is basically a very barebones version of Android that trims all the fat out. I haven't chosen what I am going to do with it yet, but I basically wanted to optimize because I don't need the phone features anymore, its in tablet mode.
Such as changing the dpi of my device so that my screen can fit more and looks sharper. Some other features such as Active Display, which started as a Moto X feature and was brought to all other devices with limited functionality but over the same idea. When my battery is draining I can use battery stat apps to better view the drainage. I can also clean off files that are no longer needed in the system folders. Rooting allows me to better maintain my device and squeeze all the features out of it I can. The best thing in my opinion is the ability to use
Themes have now become a big part of the rooting experience. First there were the flashable themes and they were nice and all but didn't always come out right and updating them was a pain. Then came Xposed Framework which is another article on its own. Basically it allowed you to theme without having to flash the theme and possibly break something, Xposed doesn't replace system files, it modifies them before they are executed from memory, the same way jailbroken iOS devices work. Now we have CM Themes which allow users to install the theme like an app from the Play Store and apply it from the Theme app. You can even choose what elements you want from theme packs, like wallpaper, nav bar style, icons, UI colors, etc. You can mix and match themes all you want it is very cool. The newest member of the theme community is Layers. I haven't used it yet but I've heard lots of exciting things about it. From what I can tell it gives you 100% control over the themes, however, that kind of control comes a lot of potential problems and it takes a long time to configure. I'm not knocking it because its harder to use, as a matter of face the harder it is to use the more you can do with it where CM themes doesn't give you the same level of control. It is still new and I'm sure one day it'll have features for less experienced users and advanced features for people who want it. Theming is very cool and very fun, I use a blackout theme which basically makes all the backgrounds on my phone pitch black. The interesting thing about this though is that is also saves me battery because my screen doesn't have to light up those pixels. On my old SIII I would only get 2.5 of screen on time before my battery was dead but one day I had to use the calculator for probably 4 or 5 hours straight for my accounting class and it made it with battery to spare because the calculator was blacked out on that ROM. It made a huge difference!
There are more reasons that I'll feature in a future article but take a look at the links and maybe you'll want to root too. Anybody who is trying to root should visit the XDA Forums and check out the page for their device, look through the steps to do it and don't be afraid to ask questions, just make sure you ask in the right place (Q&A for each device is its own section). As always leave me any comments and +1 and share if you liked this.
-Battery Saver Mode - Introduced by CyanogenMod around 4.2
-Heads Up Notifications - Introduced by Paranoid Android in 4.4
-Ambient Display - Pioneered by Motorola however baked into AOSP ROMs by ChameleonOS team in 4.4
-Lockscreen Notifications - Introduced by ROM devs in Android 4.2
-Full Screen Immersion (when the status and nav bars both hide and have to be swiped in to show, introduced by Google in 4.4) - Introduced in 4.3 by Paranoid Android.
This isn't copying either, it is the opposite. This is what open source is all about, this is why an open platform will advance faster than a closed one. Google finds a way to bake these features into Android to enhance everybody's experience and ROM devs are not dumb, they know Google is using their idea but it is an honor to know that you impacted the platform. Sure that dev or team won't see a dime from Google for it but that's okay because Google gave them the free Android software to build their ROM on in the first place.
I personally like to be able to control certain aspects of my phone that I wouldn't be able to otherwise.Titanium Backup to backup all my apps in the exact state they were in before. Titanium Backup also allows me too freeze or "debloat" apps without uninstalling them in case something goes wrong and I can thaw it out. On my old SIII I installed SlimKat which is basically a very barebones version of Android that trims all the fat out. I haven't chosen what I am going to do with it yet, but I basically wanted to optimize because I don't need the phone features anymore, its in tablet mode.
Themes have now become a big part of the rooting experience. First there were the flashable themes and they were nice and all but didn't always come out right and updating them was a pain. Then came Xposed Framework which is another article on its own. Basically it allowed you to theme without having to flash the theme and possibly break something, Xposed doesn't replace system files, it modifies them before they are executed from memory, the same way jailbroken iOS devices work. Now we have CM Themes which allow users to install the theme like an app from the Play Store and apply it from the Theme app. You can even choose what elements you want from theme packs, like wallpaper, nav bar style, icons, UI colors, etc. You can mix and match themes all you want it is very cool. The newest member of the theme community is Layers. I haven't used it yet but I've heard lots of exciting things about it. From what I can tell it gives you 100% control over the themes, however, that kind of control comes a lot of potential problems and it takes a long time to configure. I'm not knocking it because its harder to use, as a matter of face the harder it is to use the more you can do with it where CM themes doesn't give you the same level of control. It is still new and I'm sure one day it'll have features for less experienced users and advanced features for people who want it. Theming is very cool and very fun, I use a blackout theme which basically makes all the backgrounds on my phone pitch black. The interesting thing about this though is that is also saves me battery because my screen doesn't have to light up those pixels. On my old SIII I would only get 2.5 of screen on time before my battery was dead but one day I had to use the calculator for probably 4 or 5 hours straight for my accounting class and it made it with battery to spare because the calculator was blacked out on that ROM. It made a huge difference!
 |
| Regular Theme |
 |
| Blacked Out |
There are more reasons that I'll feature in a future article but take a look at the links and maybe you'll want to root too. Anybody who is trying to root should visit the XDA Forums and check out the page for their device, look through the steps to do it and don't be afraid to ask questions, just make sure you ask in the right place (Q&A for each device is its own section). As always leave me any comments and +1 and share if you liked this.
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