What about Tasker? I'll admit I haven't used the program in ages so I don't know if it's really possible to set up something like that(Would think that it is perhaps...) and I do know that some setups doesn't require root?
Overall though, manufacturers really doesn't trust the average person that much to make configurations on devices without messing it up so in order to do most of the fun things you'll need root access, pretty much the same with PCs isn't it? So if you're not prepared to do it....