[Q] Going to buy Captivate.. Few questions

[NeoXer0]

Ok, so after having a long battle in my head about whether I should buy the iPhone 4 or the Captivate, I decided to go on ahead and buy the captivate.

I recently found out about something called "rooting" and have been reading up about it for the past few days.
I learned that people like to root especially for tethering and installing android rom updates that have not been released yet by their carriers. However, I would probably NOT use tethering because I am planning to get the $15 per month, 200mb per month, data plan.

I have installed custom Roms before on my Sony Xperia X1, so I know the general risks of installing them. However, I am new to android, and I have a few questions about rooting.

What exactly does rooting allow you to do?

I remember reading that you must root your phone in order to sideload apps (install non-market apps, right?). This was the main reason I wanted to root. However, I found this : http[:]//www[.]androidcentral[.]com/sideload-android-apps-all-you-want-sideload-wonder-machine (sorry, can't post links yet)
This program seems to solve that problem.

Next, I want to be able to install themes, like Launcher Pro especially. Is it possible to do this without rooting by sideloading the app or must I root my phone?

Third, I know that another great advantage of rooting your phone is that you can overclock to 1.2 GHZ. Does this feature really give you that much of a power boost? Also, does it, in any way, decrease your device's lifespan? If so, is it worth it?

I don't really mind the at&t bloatware, and their censorship of the market is easily passed by turning on wifi and putting your phone in airplane mode (I think).

Now, let's say that I DO decide to root my phone. If I do, I would use the "1 click to root" program, in order to minimize the risk of bricking.
Once I root my phone, I would probably go ahead and install this : http[:]//forum.xda-developers[.]com/showthread.php?t=751934

However, there are two things I am confused about: How do I make a nandroid backup so that I may restore my phone to stock and then unroot it after installing a custom rom? Also, what the hell is "odin"?

Thanks in advance, guys.

 

[Dani897]

Root is a linux term, or a unix term. On older systems the root user is like the admin in windows. On some modern distributions you can't log in as root but can use the root permissions with use of a root password and a sudo command (super user do). so the term super user and root are interchangeable.

To root your phone grants you root permissions via an app that grants or denies permissions to individual apps, no password required. By adding a terminal interface you can do nearly anything that can be done on a pc with linux. It is needed for many mods and having it and knowing what to do with it can be very satisfying.

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[Dani897]

Odin is a computer application to re flash your phone. Most mods can be done on a captivate without it but get it just in case you do something stupid! I did!

The overclock is pretty safe. It doesn't really hinder battery life much because if it goes to full speed it gets the task done faster so its back to being throttled sooner. Its stock voltage and there is likely more to come with over and under voltages. The hummingbird has a bit more potential than that. That said the phone runs great without it.

I believe a nandroid backup can be done in clockwork recovery. And my phone didn't need to side loss launcher pro. I was already rooted but I don't think root is needed either. The search on the marker doesn't always find it. Also try adw. And do the lag fix. To see what your phone can really do in quadrant.

I used the over clock with unleash the beast and the lag fix, then I set a replacement lockscreen wrong and locked up my phone, I decided to reflash it. Now I use SRE and the lag fix. But it doesn't include the wireless teather app that comes with unleash the beast.


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[alphadog00]

Ok, so after having a long battle in my head about whether I should buy the iPhone 4 or the Captivate, I decided to go on ahead and buy the captivate.

I recently found out about something called "rooting" and have been reading up about it for the past few days.
I learned that people like to root especially for tethering and installing android rom updates that have not been released yet by their carriers. However, I would probably NOT use tethering because I am planning to get the $15 per month, 200mb per month, data plan.

I have installed custom Roms before on my Sony Xperia X1, so I know the general risks of installing them. However, I am new to android, and I have a few questions about rooting.

What exactly does rooting allow you to do?

I remember reading that you must root your phone in order to sideload apps (install non-market apps, right?). This was the main reason I wanted to root. However, I found this : http[:]//www[.]androidcentral[.]com/sideload-android-apps-all-you-want-sideload-wonder-machine (sorry, can't post links yet)
This program seems to solve that problem.

Next, I want to be able to install themes, like Launcher Pro especially. Is it possible to do this without rooting by sideloading the app or must I root my phone?

Third, I know that another great advantage of rooting your phone is that you can overclock to 1.2 GHZ. Does this feature really give you that much of a power boost? Also, does it, in any way, decrease your device's lifespan? If so, is it worth it?

I don't really mind the at&t bloatware, and their censorship of the market is easily passed by turning on wifi and putting your phone in airplane mode (I think).

Now, let's say that I DO decide to root my phone. If I do, I would use the "1 click to root" program, in order to minimize the risk of bricking.
Once I root my phone, I would probably go ahead and install this : http[:]//forum.xda-developers[.]com/showthread.php?t=751934

However, there are two things I am confused about: How do I make a nandroid backup so that I may restore my phone to stock and then unroot it after installing a custom rom? Also, what the hell is "odin"?

Thanks in advance, guys.

Root if you need to - if nothing you want to do requires root, then don't bother.

You can install (sideload) apps without root. Again, root access is NOT required to sideload. The wondermachine does it by using the Android SDK (they baked it in); but you can just as easily download the Android SDK, unzip it, go to the tools directory and use the ADB tool to install apps. USB Debugging mode is required for this or the wondermachine (it is a checkbox you click on the phone).

Rooting will let you sideload directly on the phone without connecting to a pc, but you need to do more then root, you need to change a db file.

Other launchers are installed without root, so you don't need root for this.

You do need root for nandroid backup, but since it will backup your present state, a restore will still be a rooted phone.

So if you want to restore to factory fresh - the ODIN one click is the way to go. It has the ROM and Odin all in one package. Other version of Odin allows you flash different ROMs.

Nandroid and RomManager are used to switch ROMs and restore all on the phone - so you can install a new ROM, but then rollback to the old with all your configuration intact - this requires root.

 

[daverup]

That 200mb plan is going to be tough to stay within on the Captivate. The background syncing with google and mail app activity will chew up alot more than you think.
Your first concern with this phone will be how to control data, not whether or not to root.
I do think controlling the data use will be easier on the Captivate than it would be on the iPhone4.
For simplicity, I think SRE 1.2.1a does the best job of "remodeling" the phone.

 

[NeoXer0]

Ok, thanks a lot for your answers guys, cleared up a lot of things.
I decided I wanted to root just so that I could make backups and install custom roms.

Also, about the data problem, I plan to have wifi on and 3g off most of the time. I don't really find 3g to be a necessity.

Also, is there a way to roll back to your previous ROM and keep all your apps? Or would you have to reinstall them fresh?

 

[cppc]

Root if you need to - if nothing you want to do requires root, then don't bother.

Well, this is much like there is a sexy girl in your room and people tell you to do nothing!!! People here tells you a lot of cool stuffs with being rooted, that changes "what you want to do"

PS: In my case I decided to wait until the 2.2 comes out. From now on, I just read this forum . However, I did root my phone and flash back to stock using Odin, just to see whether it is like original afterward (and it seems to be!). I believe I still have warranty with the phone then (can anyone confirm about that again for me???)

 

[Dani897]

Ok, thanks a lot for your answers guys, cleared up a lot of things.
I decided I wanted to root just so that I could make backups and install custom roms.

Also, about the data problem, I plan to have wifi on and 3g off most of the time. I don't really find 3g to be a necessity.

Also, is there a way to roll back to your previous ROM and keep all your apps? Or would you have to reinstall them fresh?

Titanium backup, and maybe samsung kies, I know kies works for contacts, and media and synching to outlook. I thought it works for apps but I may be thinking of htc sync, I never really use either.


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[alphadog00]

Well, this is much like there is a sexy girl in your room and people tell you to do nothing!!! People here tells you a lot of cool stuffs with being rooted, that changes "what you want to do"

PS: In my case I decided to wait until the 2.2 comes out. From now on, I just read this forum . However, I did root my phone and flash back to stock using Odin, just to see whether it is like original afterward (and it seems to be!). I believe I still have warranty with the phone then (can anyone confirm about that again for me???)

If you flashed back to stock no one knows you rooted so your warranty is safe.

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[rsmith675]

Ok, thanks a lot for your answers guys, cleared up a lot of things.
I decided I wanted to root just so that I could make backups and install custom roms.

Also, about the data problem, I plan to have wifi on and 3g off most of the time. I don't really find 3g to be a necessity.

Also, is there a way to roll back to your previous ROM and keep all your apps? Or would you have to reinstall them fresh?

Clockwork mod will let you create rom backups along with you app data

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