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rooting and kernals and general point

so i've bought myself a samsung galaxy s2, or i-9100, supposedly the best phone on the market, but ive only used nokia keypad phones before, and I'm pretty sure i'm not using my new phone to its full potential.
some questions, what is rooting? i get the idea it lets me do whatever i want?
if I root my phone, does that wipe my Operating System (gingerbread 2.3.3?) and all settings and installed things? Does it also wipe user data like texts or photos?
what's a kernel, or kernel version, kernel source code etc...?
I want to get rid of some of the samsung branding software, because i can't see an option to install them. but some features like swype i like, can i "selectively" debrand the phone?
The general point of what I want is I want my new phone to work like my computer, uninstall programs i don't want and install ones i do want. (i've only ever used Windows) But i don't seem to understand almost everything on this forum

Rooting your phone allows you to change roms, boot up themes and will let you remove most apps and allow you to get some you can't have with out root axx, but most roms already remove the carrier bloat ware. It will remove all your apps etc though and txt. Think of it like reinstalling your os on your pc, rooting your phone will make you admin on your phone instead of a normal user.
You can also underclock your phones cpu to save some battery life if you want when it's rooted.
You can just move your photos to your pc/sdcard...
Point is though, rooting your phone is worth it give yourself some time getting use to it maybe read up on it on here there are tons of great tuts to show you and explain things to you.

Like @zookeeper525 said, rooting gives you full access to your phone. The process does not erase data or settings. You can root on a stock ROM, then flash a rooted custom ROM. There are a lot of good ROMs out there, and you can usually get great performance and improved battery life from a custom ROM. Every device is different, so your experience may vary.
A kernal is the core of the Android operating system. Custom ROMs come with a kernal that has usually been tuned for their specific ROM, but there are also custom kernals available that have even more features (overclocking, underclocking, undervolting, etc.).
With any of this, you stand to gain lots of control over your phone, but can also brick it if you're not careful. My advice is read, read, read, then read again before you proceed.
Good luck!

[Q] Is it true that custom ROM's are always less stable than stock ROM's ?

If it's true, why is that? Is it because stock ROM developers are better?
Not being a troll. Honest question.
I'm just curious. I use galaxy Ace, and I would very much like to use a custom ROM to get rid of all the samsung junk apps. But if it's unstable, it may not be worth it.

No. Well made custom roms are usually more stable and faster than stock roms, especially for devices which have unoptimized stock roms, such as the SGS.
You can remove apps from the stock rom by rooting it - Its not necessary to flash a custom one.

Hi 314! Really, I didn't know that. How do I do it safely?

My personal experience is that custom ROMs have been every bit as stable as stock ROMs. I'm quite often running alphas and dailies and impressed with their stability. Of course, doing that, you're bound to run into some gotcha's from time to time but that's part of the fun of dailies, discovering the changes and surprises. I'm on Deck's alpha1 ICS ROM and it's been sweet, but alpha2 hasn't worked for me (wigetsoid seems broken). Shurg. So I restored alpha1, wait for alpha3, and try and get my post count up to give Deck some feedback in his thread.

Thanks mhwarfield. What are dailies? and what is OPS?

"You can remove apps from the stock rom by rooting it - Its not necessary to flash a custom one."
Well i heard this before in some youtube video but exactly not sure how and with which software may be (root manager). Please somebody with experience in this matter give us a full guide how to remove junk apps after rooting. Thanks in advance

rayhan0701 said:
"You can remove apps from the stock rom by rooting it - Its not necessary to flash a custom one."
Well i heard this before in some youtube video but exactly not sure how and with which software may be (root manager). Please somebody with experience in this matter give us a full guide how to remove junk apps after rooting. Thanks in advance
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can do that easy with "Titanium Backup" from the Market after you Rooted your Device. I think you dont need "Titanium Back Pro" to Remove Junk Apps.

rayhan0701 said:
"You can remove apps from the stock rom by rooting it - Its not necessary to flash a custom one."
Well i heard this before in some youtube video but exactly not sure how and with which software may be (root manager). Please somebody with experience in this matter give us a full guide how to remove junk apps after rooting. Thanks in advance
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's really really not difficult.
Android stores all user apps in "/data/app"
all stock apps are stored in "/system/app" (this includes every system app, even the keyboard, camera and the gallery are in here)
this is the place where the junk apps should be ( i never had a bloated phone, but i guess they are in here, because we need root to manipulate files here)
now use a file explorer with root function (i use root explorer, and i definitely recommend it) and browse to this folder.
search the junkApp.apk and delete it.
you're done
EDIT: oh and yes, you can do it with titanium backup too, but i don't know if you need the pro version for it

Once you get custom ROMs out of Alpha/Beta/RC, they're better than stock, in my opinion. "Custom" means they can be designed for extra speed, power, leanness, beauty, or any combination of the above.
I don't mind helping out with betas and contributing to developers. Usually, by the time it gets to beta, most stuff is buttoned up nice and tight--plus I don't demand much from my phone.
Sounds like you got it covered with root and Titanium Backup. But do not fear the custom ROM.

It really depends. Some developers are EXTREMELY aggressive and throw a ton of crap into their kernel/ROM without much testing so they can "get ahead" - but often this leads to instability.
Others carefully fix issues one by one, with the exception of initially doing "standard" mods (like extended power menu on Android).
Some ROMs will often see releases coming out multiple times a week, often with lots of changes and reverting back and forth, and ALWAYS rebasing on the latest and greatest stock base, even before it's proven. This approach can sometimes pay off, but the risk of screwing up is high. Most such ROMs turn out to be crap.
Other ROMs take the most stable known base available, and fix whatever remaining known issues exist, and make a few standard tweaks. These are the ROMs that you still see people using more than three months after the last update. An example of this is VillainROM over in I9100-land. I only know of two issues with it - one has a one-time-after-install workaround, and the other is specific to trying to run that ROM on a device it wasn't designed for (I777).

benefits of rooting

Hello all.
A newbie here, with a newbie question.
I followed this excellent tutorial for getting ICS in my P6210: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1777003. Everything is working perfectly (although I've been playing for only a few hours), I already like ICS.
Anyway, I stop where the rooting process start. I'm not worry about breaking it, but them I'm just curious: what are the other benefits of rooting? What things I can do when the device is rooted that I can not do now?
I know about using other ROMs, but since I'm happy with ICS and there are no many mature ROMs for our device, I'm don't think that I will need it for now.
Thanks a lot for your answers.

Rooting your device will allow you to customize your UI, colors, icons, fonts, sound effects and other features. Also, some apps require root to perform certain tasks or to function at all. If you are not interested in customizing your device or don't use apps which require root access, then you shouldn't worry about it. Usually apps in the Play Store/Market or other app sources will have notices that will specifically say if root is required for certain functionality or to function at all.

Best part I loved after rooting is the adaway I enjoy browsing without adverts. Go ahead and root your device and you won't regret it. it may void your warranty though, u can always unroot before claiming warranty. Good luck:thumbup:
Sent from my GT-P6200

Rooting, apart from what has been previously mentioned, will enable you to get rid of all those absolutely useless but totally annoying stupid system applications, whose only purpose seems to make your device slow.
Once you will have removed 30, 40, 50 or even more, such apks, you will see that your Tab has became a Formula 1!!
But, before you start to remove those system apks you'll have to make a copy of them, in case you erase one that was useful (coz some are). Many people use titanium backup for their back ups, personally I use ghost commander, it s more simple, you just have to go in the /system/app folder, copy the whole folder to your sd and here you have your back up...
Be careful about which apks you erase, apks like settings, tw framework and the like should not be removed.
All the samsung bloatware, the sns account blah blah should be removed mercilessly and ruthlessly)
One of these days when I have time I ll make a list of removable apks (on my tab I have only 31 system apks left and it feels very light compared to the over weighted original version).
Another benefit of rooting is that it will enable you, through apks like rom toolbox or privacy blocker or lbe or permissions denied or etc., to revoke intrusive and spying apks' authorizations.
So you see, the benefits of rooting are multiple and once one has tried one can t use a non rooted device anymore, it s like day and night, really.

If you are a noob, don't root it. When you pass the initial noob stage, you will got the reasons for root as they will become your necessities.
Enviado de meu GT-P6210 usando o Tapatalk 2

[Q] Benefits of just rooting?

Hey guys, sorry for the question, but what are the benefits of just rooting?? (since i dont think i want to unlock the bootloader, and im a bit confused bout which goodies come with rooting, and which come from unlocking )
Thanks
Coldsun15

coldsun15 said:
Hey guys, sorry for the question, but what are the benefits of just rooting?? (since i dont think i want to unlock the bootloader, and im a bit confused bout which goodies come with rooting, and which come from unlocking )
Thanks
Coldsun15
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well a lot of really great applications need to be run on a rooted device.
For instance some RAM boost apps, certain security apps, antivirus apps.
A few games like rooted devices also.
...etc.
Others will chime in here shortly with better answers...

and ad block apps that usually block ads in other apps too

Root gives you full control over everything in /data and /system. So you can backup and restore all your apps and data (e.g. using Titanium Backup) or add/delete/replace system apps (at the cost of losing ability to do OTA upgrades, except if you keep a backup of the original files and restore them before doing the upgrade). You can run Browser2RAM and other nice hacks and customize your system while it is running.
What you cannot do with root only: custom recovery or custom kernels. No custom recovery means no easy way to modify or repair the system from "outside", the only thing you can do with the stock recovery is restore the complete system ROM. No custom kernel means no advanced modifications, e.g. DPI changes, over/underclocking, or driver-level stuff.

Setting your DPI lower than stock. 180 is so sweet.

No it's not working anymore since JB.
Sent from my ASUS Transformer Pad TF700T using xda app-developers app

Thanks guys! I have a rooted and unlockedhtc desire z, and im able to install kernels nstuff, but i wasnt sure which things i was being able to do due to being unlocked.
Thanks for the answers!

Ghorin said:
No it's not working anymore since JB.
Sent from my ASUS Transformer Pad TF700T using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm going to wait a bit longer too see if anyone has a solution. Then I'll unlock and install clean Rom. Then dpi change will be possible.

Just my two cents
coldsun15 said:
Hey guys, sorry for the question, but what are the benefits of just rooting?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There are a lot of great "lowlevel" networking apps like dSplot http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1914699 (there are a bunch of others, zanti, facesniff, etc, google is your buddy) which if you're into those type of things, are REALLY handy danddy.
The adblocking can't be praised enough, whenever I come across an unrooted-unadblocked device it makes my head spins.
Certain file manager apps (Total Commander, Beta Explorer to name a few) arguably takes advantage of root to squeeze better performance or features (personally, I didn't notice anything faster nor slower, but I dig it when total commander says it's being granted root access when I move files, it make me feel special like that).
Browser2ram is super-freaking-amazing (check this: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1923285)
If you're a linux fly guy, having busybox around makes this tablet way more handy and powerful (I'm ssh'ing into it, doing all bunch of thingies)
You can use somewhat more sophisticated VPN-alike routing like ssh-tunneling from your tablet through your home (or amazon EC2, like in my case) on a per-app or device-wide basis (e.g: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.sshtunnel&hl=en there are others)
Various app-backing things (yes, titanium is fine, I meant along the line of DataSync: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.quintstoffers.DataSync&hl=en)
IF YOU KNOW WHAT YOU'RE DOING you can tweak and play with various scripts and config files lying around though I'd be extremely careful with that as it can brick your device, prevent you from OTAing or punch a hole through the universe, ymmv (I personnaly had some issues with build.props which the fine gentlemen here on xda helped me resolve)
There are plenty of other reasons, rooting really makes android in general, and this device specifically, shine like a crazy diamond.
Cheers.

Should I root? What are the perks of it for the S8+ (what have you used root for)?

I've come back to Android after being on iOS for the past 2 or so years. Bought an S8+. With the S8 and S8+ rooted, I'm wondering if I should go about it. I don't like the 80% battery max that comes with it, or that there is no official Xposed support. Im mainly looking for a system wide adblock (which I dont believe I can do without Xposed(?)). Is there any reason you guys would recommend rooting, other than debloat? What else am I missing/forgetting?

Nope, you don't need root if you don't want to mod your system; ad blocker is available without root, just google "adhell 2". This is the 1st phone that I don't have rooted since I don't need it - I can do 90% of the stuff without root. I.e. you can't turn data off from Tasker without root. One of the things I miss. Also, find Knox very usefull - which is lost after root. Just my opinion though.

pr0necr0 said:
I've come back to Android after being on iOS for the past 2 or so years. Bought an S8+. With the S8 and S8+ rooted, I'm wondering if I should go about it. I don't like the 80% battery max that comes with it, or that there is no official Xposed support. Im mainly looking for a system wide adblock (which I dont believe I can do without Xposed(?)). Is there any reason you guys would recommend rooting, other than debloat? What else am I missing/forgetting?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can get adblocking with "AdHell" or "Disconnect for samsung browser" from plays store.
You can theme you device with Substratum or from this thread https://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s8+/themes/substratum-inversion-ui-overlay-overlays-t3604341 or the inbuilt theme store.
You disable any system app you like with Package Disabler Pro.
You can get Xposed-like tweaks from this thread: https://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s8+/themes/mods-small-collection-tweaks-t3657119.
Really no point in rooting these days!

My S8+ is rooted right now, and I'm on the fence about going back to non-root. If ad blocking is your main concert there are SEVERAL no-root options. I used Disconnect for Samsung (google it, you'll find an APK somewhere) that is a system wide ad block that does allow some ad's... Other ad block methods are Ad Hell, AdGuard, Block This - and I'm sure there are many others... they essentially create a VPN on the device and route all traffic through the VPN and block the things you wouldn't want.
The issue with the bootloader locked rooting methods is they are based on the ENG BOOT kernel which is designed for debugging/testing/repair etc... so you ABSOLUTELY get a performance hit... and a battery hit. The S8+ is so fast the performance hit isn't nearly as bad as it was on the S7E, the battery hit is another story... 80% and I don't think it "stops" charging at 80 - maybe just me? but my phone is warm in the morning charging wired or wirelessly. Again, could be just me. YMMV.
Not to take anything away from the guys who worked hard on getting the root method released. They are awesome and have done a great job - they deserve all the praise in the community they can get. But without TWRP and custom roms, and the ability to create those types or rom's - root isn't quite the same.... AGAIN THAT COULD BE JUST ME! YMMV!

Can rooting boost protection and security?
I have a question about rooting.
All my previous 5 - 6 android smartphones were rooted by me.
The main reason for rooting was to improve security and confidence in the phone - good firewall, de -bloating, control of privilegies
But now with S8+ I am having second thought about if rooting really protects vs exposes.
1) Lots of original protection features will be gone after rooting, like DM-verity
2) Automated system updates and therefore related security patches will be gone too. I am not a big fan of regular manual downloads and updates. So my once rooted system will become dated soon.
Am I taking it right?
Do a good firewall and control of priviligies outweigth the new risks that rooting could bring?
I do a lot of important things on my phone, so the protection is number the #1 thing for me.
Thanks for you thoughts