Advantages And Disadvantages Of Rooting Your Android Phone
The Android operating system was designed for both commercial and private use. Out of the box, the operating system comes with some features disabled, either for future use or to prevent the average user from unwittingly causing permanent damage to the OS.
Rooting is the process in which a user gains full access to the previously restricted features, settings, and performance levels. In other words, the user gets access to the ‘root’ of the operating system and can make fundamental changes.
Disadvantages of Rooting – Let’s start off with the disadvantages as most users often don’t need to root their phone. Most users are primarily driven by the thrill of getting the forbidden fruit and not that they need the abilities that come with rooting. Soon, realize they did not need to root their device in the first place; albeit it is already too late. These are some of the disadvantages of rooting your Android phone:
It voids your Phone’s Warranty – Once you root your phone, the manufacturer’s warranty becomes void. Should any problem develop, even if not caused by the rooting, it will be a waste of time trying to claim warranty cover for the damages.
Increased likelihood of ‘bricking’ the phone – A ‘bricked’ phone means a dead phone and is the same as carrying around a brick in your pocket.
Poor Performance – Some users experience reduced performance after rooting their phones. Despite the fact that increasing the device performance is what drove them into rooting in the first place. You should remember that by rooting your phone, you are making changes to the stock operating system.
Higher vulnerability to Viruses – By now you should know your smartphone is a target of viruses, malware, adware and all sorts of crapware, just like your PC. When you root your phone, you can also flash the device’s ROM using custom programs. Making such changes to the code of a software increases the likelihood of introducing a virus.
Advantages of Rooting – As a rule of thumb, root your phone if you really need to. But never out of a mere curiosity. So assuming you know what you are doing, the following are some of the advantages that come with rooting your Android phone.
Running special Apps – More often than not, users root their phone in order to use app that would not run in ‘un-rooted’ phones. Take, for instance, Superuser app; this will allow you to take control of which apps can access the root system. Once you root your phone, you will be able to tether your PC to your Android phone. Enabling you to connect to the internet on your PC using the phone’s data connection.
Free up Memory – On a ‘un-rooted’ phone, whenever you install an app, it gets stored on the phone’s internal memory. By rooting, you will be able to move installed apps to the SD Card, and thus free up the system memory for more app or files storage.
Custom ROM’s – Perhaps the best feature of a ‘rooted’ phone. Once rooted you can have one of the hundreds of custom ROMs available that will allow them to do a wide variety of functions. Including speeding up the processor and giving the phone a completely new and different feel.
However, you should really think twice if not thrice about rooting your phone. Don’t be lured by the possibilities of having a rooted phone. Sure an unlocked phone can be a very powerful device. But if things go south, it will become bricked.