Posted by Anthony Checchia on Mon, May 21, 2012
Maybe you’ve heard someone say that they rooted their Android device and you wondered what that even means. Well Android runs on top of the Linux kernel, and in Linux root access means to have administrative rights on the system. This is similar to administrator accounts in Windows. What this means for Android is that by gaining root access you are then able to control certain system level functions through the use of applications. A word of warning though by rooting your Android device you will be VOIDING THE WARRANTY on it. The reason behind this is that the phone companies cannot support the phone if system level changes have been made to it that they are unaware or untrained on. An additional risk is “bricking” the phone. If in the process of rooting the phone a step is not completed correctly you can risk doing irreparable damage to the software in such a way that the device cannot even boot. At that point the device will be nothing more than an expensive paper weight.
Now that the term rooting has been explained as well as the risks of rooting your Android device you might be wondering why people even bother with it in the first place. Well some people do it simply because they can. Others like having the capability of controlling the system more such as placing a software governor on the processor. By doing this you can underclock the processor thus improving battery life or you can overclock the processor which will speed the device up but reduce the battery life. Lastly some people like to flash new roms on their device. Since Android is open source people have created their own versions of Android which contain new features or tweaks to existing features.
I do have to reiterate though that by performing these functions on any Android device you are voiding the warranty and have the potential to break the device beyond repair. This article is not a recommendation to root your device it is merely information on what rooting is and what it can do. If while reading this you have any questions about what smart phones can do for your company then contact us and let us assist you.
