Intro To Rooting
What is rooting? Today we'll start by asking this question. Most of you may already know but for those who don't, rooting is basically jailbreaking for Android phones. Rooting enables users to dive deeper into an Android phone's fundamentals to revamp the whole device. Examples of the revamp are install unapproved apps be it Google's or the OEM's, updating the phones OS, replacing the firmware or even overclocking( or underclocking ) the processor for those of you who want to go commando on your Android device.
The next thing to ask would be what can you do with a rooted Android phone that you can't usually do with a non-rooted Android phone? The list is pretty long. So, for today we're only going to discuss several. Firstly, a rooted Android phone has the ability to unlock features like getting features from the latest version of Android before an OEM magically 'intervenes' and turn the whole feature upside down. You can do this by referring to guides that are usually uploaded by the good gentlemen over at XDA-Developers Android forums. As mentioned earlier, you can replace the firmware which enable the option switching to custom ROMs such as CyanogenMod, Paranoid Android and AOKP.
More features would be the ability to install the so-called incompatible apps. Such apps are Titanium Backup, SuperUser, SuperSU and Chainfire3D. Usually, most people root their phones for the apps mentioned above because these apps extend the functionality of you Android device. My personal favourite feature is the ability to increase the RAM on your Android device. Now, for those of you who don't know what RAM is no worries, the acronym RAM stands for Random Access Memory and what it does is it enables the running of apps on a smartphone and a PC. The thing to remember here is the more RAM, the faster the opening and closing of apps will be. imagine this, the Android device you own has only about 1GB of RAM like the Galaxy S3 Mini and you're a power user and you ask yourself 'What is the best way to push this device to its limits ?` The answer is to add a Micro SD card into the device ( make sure it has already been rooted ) and download an app called Link2SD and then follow the steps provided and choose the amount of RAM you desire.
The next biggie is the ability the delete bloatware or crapware. What bloatware means is the features, functions and apps pre-installed by a certain OEM that is usually not used by anyone. This features, functions and apps also occupy a huge portion of the internal storage on a device but cannot be removed on a whim. The only way to remove the bloatware is to root your Android device and install an app called system app remover pro ( it is a paid app ). Now, this isn't the only app in fact there are hundreds but, this is the one that has worked the best for me. There is also one thing to remember that is to check which apps can be removed and which apps can't.
The last feature is the ability to install themes. To do this, Your Android device should already have a custom ROM running, The most prominent custom ROM in terms of support for themes has got to be CyanogenMod. There are literally hundreds if not thousands of themes available on the Google Play Store. Some of my favourites are Flux, Nuclear Red, Tigers Eye and Rouge CM12 Theme. I will include a few pictures to showcase these themes.
The next thing to ask would be what can you do with a rooted Android phone that you can't usually do with a non-rooted Android phone? The list is pretty long. So, for today we're only going to discuss several. Firstly, a rooted Android phone has the ability to unlock features like getting features from the latest version of Android before an OEM magically 'intervenes' and turn the whole feature upside down. You can do this by referring to guides that are usually uploaded by the good gentlemen over at XDA-Developers Android forums. As mentioned earlier, you can replace the firmware which enable the option switching to custom ROMs such as CyanogenMod, Paranoid Android and AOKP.
More features would be the ability to install the so-called incompatible apps. Such apps are Titanium Backup, SuperUser, SuperSU and Chainfire3D. Usually, most people root their phones for the apps mentioned above because these apps extend the functionality of you Android device. My personal favourite feature is the ability to increase the RAM on your Android device. Now, for those of you who don't know what RAM is no worries, the acronym RAM stands for Random Access Memory and what it does is it enables the running of apps on a smartphone and a PC. The thing to remember here is the more RAM, the faster the opening and closing of apps will be. imagine this, the Android device you own has only about 1GB of RAM like the Galaxy S3 Mini and you're a power user and you ask yourself 'What is the best way to push this device to its limits ?` The answer is to add a Micro SD card into the device ( make sure it has already been rooted ) and download an app called Link2SD and then follow the steps provided and choose the amount of RAM you desire.
The next biggie is the ability the delete bloatware or crapware. What bloatware means is the features, functions and apps pre-installed by a certain OEM that is usually not used by anyone. This features, functions and apps also occupy a huge portion of the internal storage on a device but cannot be removed on a whim. The only way to remove the bloatware is to root your Android device and install an app called system app remover pro ( it is a paid app ). Now, this isn't the only app in fact there are hundreds but, this is the one that has worked the best for me. There is also one thing to remember that is to check which apps can be removed and which apps can't.
The last feature is the ability to install themes. To do this, Your Android device should already have a custom ROM running, The most prominent custom ROM in terms of support for themes has got to be CyanogenMod. There are literally hundreds if not thousands of themes available on the Google Play Store. Some of my favourites are Flux, Nuclear Red, Tigers Eye and Rouge CM12 Theme. I will include a few pictures to showcase these themes.
Nuclear Red:
Rouge:
Tigers Eye:
Flux:
That is all there is in this article. In the next, we are going to be discussing about 'Best Android Smartphones for 2K15' That's all for now and this is Rish Fabregas signing out.
