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Rooting ....necessary?
- Thread starter Madness
- Start date
treefrog20012003
Member
Hey, it can only end up as a paper weight. 
But "WHY THE RUM?!"
But "WHY THE RUM?!"
There are mistakes that you could make to end up with a true Brick. If you were gambling on that with your own money, I'd say go for it if you can afford it. But you would be gambling with your parent's money. And it's not just about the money. There is also your parent's trust to be considered. I'm afraid I say, do not try it.
Good luck and enjoy your phone!!
thinman72069
Member
I'm with bayou. Sound advice.
Sent from my DROIDX using DroidForums App
Sent from my DROIDX using DroidForums App
They aren't "running" and they cause no harm. Here's the best short description of how the android OS manages resources that I've seen (hope you find it useful):
How Android Manages Processes
In Android, processes and Applications are two different things. An app can stay "running" in the background without any processes eating up your phone's resources. Android keeps the app in its memory so it launches more quickly and returns to its prior state. When your phone runs out of memory, Android will automatically start killing tasks on its own, starting with ones that you haven't used in awhile.
The problem is that Android uses RAM differently than, say, Windows. On Android, having your RAM nearly full is a good thing. It means that when you relaunch an app you've previously opened, the app launches quickly and returns to its previous state. So while Android actually uses RAM efficiently, most users see that their RAM is full and assume that's what's slowing down their phone. In reality, your CPU—which is only used by apps that are actually active—is almost always the bottleneck.
How Android Manages Processes
In Android, processes and Applications are two different things. An app can stay "running" in the background without any processes eating up your phone's resources. Android keeps the app in its memory so it launches more quickly and returns to its prior state. When your phone runs out of memory, Android will automatically start killing tasks on its own, starting with ones that you haven't used in awhile.
The problem is that Android uses RAM differently than, say, Windows. On Android, having your RAM nearly full is a good thing. It means that when you relaunch an app you've previously opened, the app launches quickly and returns to its previous state. So while Android actually uses RAM efficiently, most users see that their RAM is full and assume that's what's slowing down their phone. In reality, your CPU—which is only used by apps that are actually active—is almost always the bottleneck.
No. Those apps are simply loaded into the ram waiting to be used. Think of ram like a thumb drive - how much power does it take to keep something loaded on a thumb drive? It takes no power to keep them loaded in ram and they are not actually running unless they have focus (the screen is open with them in it). There are of course a few exceptions - location based apps that will use the gps will in the background, widgets and apps that are set to update some data frequently (email/sms/news/weather/etc.). But otherwise apps that appear to be open by Android are not draining your battery. What will drain your battery and cause other issues is to use a task killer app to close selected apps. The OS will simply open other apps into ram and your closing will have accomplished nothing and you'll have used battery power doing it. Also task killers are notorious for causing other issue that seem to not be related to their functions.
Here's the rest of the article I put in post #7:
Why Task Killers Are (Usually) Bad News
Apps like Advanced Task Killer, the most popular task killer in the Market, act on the incorrect assumption that freeing up memory on an Android device is a good thing. When launched, it presents you with a list of "running" apps and the option to kill as many as you want. You can also hit the Menu button to access a more detailed "Services" view, that lists exactly which parts of each application are "running", how much memory they take up, and how much free memory is available on your phone. This set-up implies that the goal of killing these apps is to free up memory. Nowhere on the list does it mention the number of CPU cycles each app is consuming, only the memory you'll free by killing it. As we've learned, full memory is not a bad thing—we want to watch out for the CPU, the resource that actually slows down your phone and drains your battery life.
Thus, killing all but the essential apps (or telling Android to kill apps more aggressively with the "autokill" feature) is generally unnecessary. Furthermore, it's actually possible that this will worsen your phone's performance and battery life. Whether you're manually killing apps all the time or telling the task killer to aggressively remove apps from your memory, you're actually using CPU cycles when you otherwise wouldn't—killing apps that aren't doing anything in the first place.
In fact, some of the processes related to those apps will actually start right back up, further draining your CPU. If they don't, killing those processes can cause other sorts of problems—alarms don't go off, you don't receive text messages, or other related apps may force close without warning. All in all, you're usually better off letting your phone work as intended—especially if you're more of a casual user. In these instances, a task killer causes more problems than it solves.
What You Should Do Instead
That said, not all apps are created equal. Many of you have used task killers in the past and actually found that after freeing up memory, your phone works a bit better. It's more likely that this is because you've killed a bad app—one that was poorly coded, and (for example) keeps trying to connect to the internet even when it shouldn't. Any performance increase you experience is more likely because you killed the right app, not because you freed up loads of memory (or, in many cases, it's just placebo). Instead of killing all those apps, find out which ones are actually causing the problems. If you really know what you're doing, you may benefit from using a task killer to stop the one or two inefficient-but-loved apps on your phone.
Note, however, that this is still a contested notion. A lot of developers (including ROM builder extraordinaire, Cyanogen) will not even look at your bug reports if you're using a task killer. In this humble blogger's opinion, your best bet is to stay away from regular task killer usage entirely. If you absolutely have to have that one battery-killing app on your phone, though, kill away—just be aware that when you experience a recurring Android bug later on, the task killer may be at fault. Of course, you can just stop using it to determine whether that is or isn't the case.
Here's the rest of the article I put in post #7:
Why Task Killers Are (Usually) Bad News
Apps like Advanced Task Killer, the most popular task killer in the Market, act on the incorrect assumption that freeing up memory on an Android device is a good thing. When launched, it presents you with a list of "running" apps and the option to kill as many as you want. You can also hit the Menu button to access a more detailed "Services" view, that lists exactly which parts of each application are "running", how much memory they take up, and how much free memory is available on your phone. This set-up implies that the goal of killing these apps is to free up memory. Nowhere on the list does it mention the number of CPU cycles each app is consuming, only the memory you'll free by killing it. As we've learned, full memory is not a bad thing—we want to watch out for the CPU, the resource that actually slows down your phone and drains your battery life.
Thus, killing all but the essential apps (or telling Android to kill apps more aggressively with the "autokill" feature) is generally unnecessary. Furthermore, it's actually possible that this will worsen your phone's performance and battery life. Whether you're manually killing apps all the time or telling the task killer to aggressively remove apps from your memory, you're actually using CPU cycles when you otherwise wouldn't—killing apps that aren't doing anything in the first place.
In fact, some of the processes related to those apps will actually start right back up, further draining your CPU. If they don't, killing those processes can cause other sorts of problems—alarms don't go off, you don't receive text messages, or other related apps may force close without warning. All in all, you're usually better off letting your phone work as intended—especially if you're more of a casual user. In these instances, a task killer causes more problems than it solves.
What You Should Do Instead
That said, not all apps are created equal. Many of you have used task killers in the past and actually found that after freeing up memory, your phone works a bit better. It's more likely that this is because you've killed a bad app—one that was poorly coded, and (for example) keeps trying to connect to the internet even when it shouldn't. Any performance increase you experience is more likely because you killed the right app, not because you freed up loads of memory (or, in many cases, it's just placebo). Instead of killing all those apps, find out which ones are actually causing the problems. If you really know what you're doing, you may benefit from using a task killer to stop the one or two inefficient-but-loved apps on your phone.
Note, however, that this is still a contested notion. A lot of developers (including ROM builder extraordinaire, Cyanogen) will not even look at your bug reports if you're using a task killer. In this humble blogger's opinion, your best bet is to stay away from regular task killer usage entirely. If you absolutely have to have that one battery-killing app on your phone, though, kill away—just be aware that when you experience a recurring Android bug later on, the task killer may be at fault. Of course, you can just stop using it to determine whether that is or isn't the case.
Check out the launcher apps in the market: Launcher Pro, ADW, Go Launcher and Zeam. They are all highly customizable and cool. They work better that stock too.
Also, check out apps such as Folder Organizer and Bettercut (sp?). These apps, as will some of the launchers, will let you use custom icons for your on-screen apps. You can find themed apps in the market for almost any interest you have - just search icons, icon packs, etc.
Also, check out apps such as Folder Organizer and Bettercut (sp?). These apps, as will some of the launchers, will let you use custom icons for your on-screen apps. You can find themed apps in the market for almost any interest you have - just search icons, icon packs, etc.
diverbelow
Member
I recently got a Droid X, and I rooted to install adfree to remove the ads, and remove certain bloatware. I have not overclocked, since it is snappy for me. I used the Z4 Root and worked like a charm.
You have to weigh the pros and cons.
Rooting with z4root is about the best way, especially since you have the option to unroot. Just be careful if you decide to root, most issues can be avoided by following directions to the t, but from time to time things go wrong.
My advise, if your gonna root download rsdlite 4.8 or higher, the latest Motorola drivers, and the full 2.3.340 sbf to your computer and read up on how to flash the sbf file in the event something goes wrong.
Sent from my DROIDX using DroidForums App
My advise, if your gonna root download rsdlite 4.8 or higher, the latest Motorola drivers, and the full 2.3.340 sbf to your computer and read up on how to flash the sbf file in the event something goes wrong.
Sent from my DROIDX using DroidForums App
03snakenvtn
New Member
As long as you do your research, you'll be fine rooting your phone, and even loading a new rom, but you must be absolutely sure you're doing it right. Z4 root is about as easy as it gets, and Droid X Bootstrapper to create full backups and load roms. If you decide to do it, read everything you can, watch youtube vids of how to root a DX, everything you can get your hands on. I've rooted and loaded Darkslide without ever even connecting my phone to a computer.