rooting - is it worth it?

[runester99]

I hear all the time about the virus risks, is that too?

 

[Dweib]

That depends on whether or not your a risk taker. Your warranty will be null and void. You won't get any more automatic updates. Your carrier will treat you like a rogue pirate and refuse to help you. And you can easily brick your phone if your not careful. But if your a young adventurous type with lots of time and patience to screw around with your phone or a girl with a dragon tattoo, be my quest. It opens up new worlds as far as apps, etc. goes. You can make a lot of changes that simply were not meant for the average consumer. Lots of articles and info about that. But for us older folks that absolutely must rely on our phones day in and day out and simply can't afford to take any chances or lose any functionality and don't really need to be tinkering, don't make the attempt just because your curious. Wound up screwing up my wife's itouch on a curiosity, even though I followed some guy's online instructions to the letter. She lost half her music and her apps wouldn't work right anymore. Boy was she p. o. 'd! Took me two weeks to get it restored to her satisfaction. Now others will come on here for it, claiming it's easy, nothing to it. Ha ha. Choice is yours. Just be super careful and smart about your decision. And if you must, try it on an older spare phone first.

Sent from my Galaxy Blue using Droid Forums

 

[leeshor]

The first thing to ask yourself is Do you have a good reason to root?

 

[94lt1]

Its seemingly getting harder and harder to root, (not compared to the original way you had to root, now there's one click methods) once one way to exploit is found, the carriers(especially vzw) lock it down on the next update.

Then there's always the age old "rooting voids your warranty" argument..which it shouldn't..you buy a corvette or a mustang, you can put a hypertech program to it, and it doesn't void the warranty..why should rooting..(you can see which side I'm on).

But you should definitely know what you're getting in to before you do it.

 

[VirtualCLD]

Then there's always the age old "rooting voids your warranty" argument..which it shouldn't..you buy a corvette or a mustang, you can put a hypertech program to it, and it doesn't void the warranty..why should rooting..(you can see which side I'm on).

Odd, unless "hypertech program" means something else, I would think changing the settings on your Engine/Powertrain Control Module/Unit is EXACTLY the kind of thing that would void the car manufacturer's warranty. I know when I go over the fine print in my car warranty, it prohibits you from doing stuff like that or face voiding the warranty. Heck doing your own car work has the POTENTIAL to void your warranty.
That being said, if you're comfortable with voiding the warranty, which I am when it comes to electronics and cars, then by all means.

 

[leeshor]

You make a great point. I would void my warranty if all I did was install a 3rd party alarm system connected in any way to the electrical system of the vehicle. It's all in the fine print. I tend to read it. :icon_eek:

 

[VirtualCLD]

You make a great point. I would void my warranty if all I did was install a 3rd party alarm system connected in any way to the electrical system of the vehicle. It's all in the fine print. I tend to read it. :icon_eek:

The real issue is whether or not manufacturers decide to use the fine print to get out of a warranty claim. Most vehicle warranty claims that I have dealt with have been fair and reasonable, i.e. if the water pump fails under warranty, they don't blame the third party radio or remote starter install.
To bring this thread back on topic, it would be nice to see phone manufacturer's do the same when something fails that is completely unrelated to rooting and roming. What if a solder connection becomes intermittent or button starts to fail on a rooted phone that would normally still be under warranty? You would like to see them take the phone back regardless of what software you put on it. Sadly that is not the norm, but that is mostly an impression I got from anecdotal evidence online, not from statistics or personal (anecdotal) experience.

For what i's worth, I will probably start tinkering with my Galaxy S3 pretty soon as it's getting old and if for whatever reason something goes horribly wrong, I can just get a newer phone.

 

[94lt1]

Odd, unless "hypertech program" means something else, I would think changing the settings on your Engine/Powertrain Control Module/Unit is EXACTLY the kind of thing that would void the car manufacturer's warranty. I know when I go over the fine print in my car warranty, it prohibits you from doing stuff like that or face voiding the warranty. Heck doing your own car work has the POTENTIAL to void your warranty.
That being said, if you're comfortable with voiding the warranty, which I am when it comes to electronics and cars, then by all means.

Nope it doesn't. If you alter on a fundamental level, settings that are detrimental to the car, yes...if you alter something like fan turn on temp, elevate the shift point.. Stuff like that...no..in fact its considered a flash tune...on the new can3 systems all the way down to obd1, it can be removed easily..its like applying a skin with ported buttons.

Now..if you remove your pcm and go in and tinker with hard settings..and turn off things like egr and so forth, THAT will void your warranty. But if you're doing things that deep...I would think that you know that...applying a flash tune in NO way voids anything..call your dealer and they will say YES it does..but LEGALLY. It doesn't..

 

[94lt1]

You make a great point. I would void my warranty if all I did was install a 3rd party alarm system connected in any way to the electrical system of the vehicle. It's all in the fine print. I tend to read it. :icon_eek:

This again is just not true...installing a better alarm system on your car (if done professionally) is not going to void your warranty. People have after market lighting and stereos installed all the time. Again the dealership wants you to think that it will destroy your warranty. But it doesn't... There is a risk involved...the same as any modification and when you start messing with ANYTHING you're taking a calculated risk...if the place doing the install has idiots working there and they stab a 12 v tester (nit a volt/ohm meter)into a .5v wire..yep..you're gonna have an issue and probably a fried circuit.

And yes, installing third party stuff into your car can cause problems..but if you want to "upgrade" its an inherent risk.

No different than getting referrals for a cosmetic surgery or now days...any surgery..

Let's think about this...changing your oil..cake in some vehicles...not an easy thing on others..what do dealerships want?? They want you to either buy their "service program" or at least come to them to do it...right? Some dealerships are fair on that, others will charge you quite a bit of money..

Let's look at that...oil changes...used to be every 2500- 3500. But oil tech has changed and now vehicles are running 5-15k on a single oil change.. Some manufacturers suggest using synthetic, others say, break it in with regular oil for 20+k then go synthetic...

Car manufacturers are just like vzw..they want you to answer to them for something you own.

Wanna go deeper?? Say the word...:blink:

But yes..definitely yes..everything from the law, to a warranty to your contract at work IS subject to someone's interpretation..

A good lawyer is someone who can manipulate/convince people to see the law his or her way.. And the placement of as is, or if, or any number of modifiers makes everything subject to various degrees of interpretation..even the term "ownership" is subjective now days.

 

[Dweib]

I thought we were talking about our phones here. . my goodness. Anyway the OP wanted to know if a rooted phone was more vulnerable to virus attacks? Will a app Like AVG even work on a rooted phone? What's a good solution to protect a rooted phone from viruses & malware?

Sent from my Galaxy Blue using Droid Forums

 

[94lt1]

I thought we were talking about our phones here. . my goodness. Anyway the OP wanted to know if a rooted phone was more vulnerable to virus attacks? Will a app Like AVG even work on a rooted phone? What's a good solution to protect a rooted phone from viruses & malware?

Sent from my Galaxy Blue using Droid Forums

Discussions go many ways...

Yes those apps do work on a rooted device, however many have found that those apps change the behavior of the phone and can cause crashes, just like using an app killer can cause adverse issues with a phone..I download it, use it and delete it.

Once rooted you can grant root user access to certain apps..and it won't really change the way other apps work. Like facebook ..wouldn't change.. An app like sqlite is an app that requires root level permission(as an example) and won't do anything without root access..

Vzw does include an app now as part of their bloatware (vz protect) that does the job of the other "security" apps.. Scans apps as you download, keeps your browsing steered away from harmful sites...it came stock on my droid maxx, I'm sure it will also be stock on all smart phones going forward.

Obviously with viruses becoming more prevalent, the apps to help protect the devices from them will have to become more aggressive.

 

[94lt1]

Oh...side loading apk's is probably a bigger threat than being rooted..be sure you know your source when doing so..and you don't have to be rooted to sideload apk's

 

[runester99]

haha thanks for all the car talk. Still never answered my question. Is it more vulnerable to virus?

 

[VirtualCLD]

haha thanks for all the car talk. Still never answered my question. Is it more vulnerable to virus?

I think 94lt1 said it perfectly:

Oh...side loading apk's is probably a bigger threat than being rooted..be sure you know your source when doing so..and you don't have to be rooted to sideload apk's

If you're installing apps from a third party source, i.e. not from the Google Play store, then you better be sure where the app comes from and if you trust the source. You might be slightly more vulnerable if you are doing that a lot. If you are just installing apps from the store, you probably have the same risk if you were not rooted. Most virus/malware apps in the Google Play store will harm you with or without root, in fact that may actually be true for third party sources as well. That's because the programmers are exploiting vulnerabilities to give themselves root or bypass the need for root altogether (the latter is far more common).