[Q] Should I root my samsung captivate?

[xotennisbabexo]

So I've been reading all these articles about rooting the Samsung Captivate and they all seem to say that rooting gives you the equivalent of admin access and basically its really useful.

What I want to know is if it is safe? I'm not really good at these things and I'm afraid that if I root it I might just screw up my phone because I don't understand what I'm doing. Also I've read that rooting your phone can sometimes render your phone unusable...is that a serious issue for the captivate?

I mainly want to just be able to have a complete backup, and be able to download apps from third party websites. (I have AT&T) I think rooting lets you do all that.

Also, I see all this talk about ROM's or something and I really don't understand what that is.

If i root my phone, will it wipe any data I have stored on my phone, like contacts and apps or something? Will I still be able to receive software updates from AT&T?

Please help...Thanks sooo much!!!

 

[l4g4rt0]

Hello there,

In first place, ROMs it's the name we usually call for the OS images that you run in your phone. You have the manufacturer ROM, with (probably) operator stuff in it. You can have a very different OS image, with different layout, more options (there are beautiful things around like CyanogenMod), etc. So, installing new ROMs sometimes is like installing a new Android OS on your phone (not exactly but something like that).

Rooting your phone doesn't clean your data, but it's always a good practice to do an application/data backup. Backup software: Titanium Backup (i use it and i really like it).

By adding an Android Recovery loader, you will have the possibility to make a nandroid backup which really allows you to keep EVERYTHING! (that happens after you root the phone, of course).


Advantages of having a rooted phone:
* removing operator applications you don't like in the standard ROM
* run 'root-only' software
* installing new ROMS
* upgrading the OS version of your phone to higher than supported by the manufacturer (some features may not work in this case)

Disadvantages:
* you may void your warranty
* you may brick your phone
* you can be messing around for a long time before having your phone stable once again (if you are curious to keep trying different ROMS, and app2sd and other add-ons)

Bricking your phone may happen if in the procedure to root your phone you need to flash it. In my case, I have a LG P500 and had the Android 2.2.2 - to root it I had to flash a 2.2 version and that was the risky part (some people say that 1 in every 4 phones get bricked in this procedure which I find very exagerated!)

So read the procedures carefully and have your phone with battery full before doing any rooting procedures. Do things calmly, follow every single step and if your get unsure of something, stop, ask, and after that move forward. You will be really happy when your phone is rooted !!

 

[xotennisbabexo]

thank you!

 

[adt6247]

The previous responder was a little zealous with the warnings. I have a Captivate, which is rooted and running a custom ROM (CyanogenMod 7).

First, rooting will not brick your phone. In theory, you void your warranty by doing so, but it's really easy to restore to factory state.

I don't recommend a custom ROM for someone who has basic questions like you've just asked. I'd reccommend first trying to get root, and run apps like Titanium backup, SGS Tools, etc. Be careful, research what you're doing, and make lots of backups. So long as you can enter download mode, you can flash back to factory.

Sent from my SGH-I897 using XDA Premium App

 

[gio22]

I was right where you are last August. I agree with ADT who says that you should root first and then work with apps that require root. Titanium Backup has been the most valuable for me out of all of those.

The chances of bricking your phone when you only root it is minimal. I guess it's possible, but honestly, I cannot see how. There are 2 files that are required called Bootloaders. Think of these as the AT&T screen and then the Samsung screen in a stock Captivate. If you do anything that changes/replaces these, you stand a great chance of bricking your phone. You don't do this when you root, only when you do something like try a custom ROM.

When you root your phone, you won't really notice anything different at first. However, if you look at your apps you will see a new one called Superuser. It is the app that is needed to run "rooted" apps. Also, once you root your phone, you will be able to take advantage of Amazon's market which has a free app a day.

If you decide to "unroot", it can be done rather easily, and you will lose the ability to do things like run rooted apps and Amazon apps (including any you downloaded).

I would recommend that you read as many posts about rooting as possible before you finally make the plunge. Read, read and read again. Make sure you know what you are doing before you do it and the risk of damage is minimal. I have bricked my phone many times, including the power button not working and was lucky to get it back. I learned the hard way by not knowing to read, read and read again.

Good luck!!

 

[gio22]

One other quick point. If you decide to play with custom ROMs, I recommend you stick with the ones that run Froyo, not Gingerbread. The Gingerbread ROMs are just starting to come out and I believe are not for someone just starting out. The instructions are a bit more complicated and the chance of bricking your phone are much greater.

The Froyo ROMs are much easier to install. However, as said in my last post, I'd get used to rooting your stock phone first before going that way.

 

[gamestorm]

stick with froyo and play with custom roms. To install custom roms just flash the custom rom in the recovery mode.

 

[l4g4rt0]

You're right guys. I mean, changing the bootloader is the risky part of the process, not the rooting itself. But the risky part is flashing a ROM (if that's needed to root the phone)...

In my case I had to downgrade my phone (LG P500) before applying root, so it was risky from the start - anyway, depending on the phone model, rooting / installling bootloader can be more or less risky...

 

[watt9493]

Samsung. Couldnt he always ODIN back?

Sent from my ADR6300