Android Rooting 101

Let me start off by saying that I cannot claim any of this information as my own.  I'm just a guy the researches stuff to death before jumping into anything.

Rooting your Android phone is something you should not take lightly.  Not only will you void your warranty, but if you mess something up you could brick your nice, expensive phone.  Having said that, I need not worry you too much, it's really not that hard.  If you're semi tech-savvy, you can tackle it.  I remember rooting my G1, I had to use an OS venerability to type in  some command line stuff, but not to worry, I'm not going to suggest you do that anymore.  No sir, easy as pie now.

I found great instructions here, if you have an Incredible and want to root it, you can't go wrong following this write up.  Great step by step instructions.  It will basically walk you though a "one-click" root, which basically means unrEVOked does all the work for you.

You may wonder - why root?  Why take the risk?  What's the reward?  Good question, I'll summarize why I did it:

1.  AP Tethering

I've had my eye on Android tablets for a few months now.  I was going to get myself the wifi version of the Galaxy Tab.  I had my hard earned money set aside all ready to hand it over in November when it was supposed to be released.  Unfortunately the wifi Tab was delayed until "after the holiday season".  I couldn't wait, so after some debating I decided to get myself the  Archos 70 internet tablet (more on that later).  Anyhow, since I refuse to pay for a second data plan, I needed a way to use the internet on my tablet while on the go - when I'm not in range of a wifi network.  So... reason to root your Android phone #1 - wifi tethering without paying Verizon!  That's right, having root access on your Android phone will allow you to turn your phone into a router so that other wireless devices can use the 3G connection.  The app is called Wireless Tether and it available for free on the Android market.  Once you have root access, you simply install the app then are one tap away from sharing your data connection for free.  Why pay for that second data plan?

2. Full Backups  

Doesn't sound like a great selling point, but it really is.  Part of the root process will install ClockworkMod Recovery.  It's basically the app that will run when you boot your phone into recovery mode.  ClockworkMod Recovery has a built in tool called nandroid that allows you to backup everything on your phone.  It will backup your OS, settings, apps, app data, etc.  It's basically taking a snapshot of  your phone and you can recover that snapshot at anytime.  Cool huh?

3. Custom ROMs

If you're like me and can't leave your gadgets alone, you may want to try out custom Android ROMs.  These are essentially community built versions of the Android OS.  Each ROM is typically built with something special in mind - some are near duplicates of the factory ROMs with some bloatware removed, some are built with added features in mind, some have better battery life, some are built to move a device to the latest version of Android.  Rooting your phone will allow you to play around with these ROMs - you can switch between them to be on the bleeding edge of development while feeling comfort that your critical app data is safely backed up and there to restore when needed.  Ready for Gingerbread?  The ROM devs will be - how long do you think it will take HTC to release an OTA update (if ever)?

I've already started to play with a few ROMs, I will follow up with future posts about my experiences.