scared to root my phone, Help?

[xChelseaTr0n]

I've been reading on these forums for the passed couple of hours trying to decide if i want to root my phone.

Search is not working for some reason, it just keeps telling me "not found" no matter what i search for.

Anyways, I came across a few guides and some random talk about how awesome it is.

now, I was wondering is this legal?
If i root my phone will it completely void the google TOS?
if i do end up rooting it, can i easily revert back to my former standard non rooted version?

what kinds of things can go wrong during a 'root'?
what kinds of things can go wrong AFTER the root?

is there a list somewhere where i can see ALL of the pro's of rooting my phone and also the cons?

Will it affect the insurance I have on my phone? (currently i have the most expensive one, the 5.99$ a month one.)

as a side note: can anyone give me some tips to make my g1 faster as it is now?(un-rooted/standard) it runs awfully slow, even after deleting numerous apps.
especially when going back to my home screen from an app or the browser. It shows my background but it takes a good 30 seconds before any of my apps/shortcuts/widgets show up. And I've been using a task manager (taskpanel) application to kill any unwanted processes and apps, but it still isn't helping.

also, i'm phone noob.
How easy is it to root?
Meaning,do i need to have extensive knowledge about this or can i just follow a guide?
what do i do AFTER i root my phone?

I hate to ask so many questions, but i'm very attached to my phone, and don't want to mess anything up. I also want to make an educated decision, not just "OH HAY, MULTITOUCH! I CAN HAS IPHONE??? YAY LETS ROOT!".

Thanks in advance. I made an account here just to ask this question(s)!
I'm extremely interested in rooting my phone
i just want to know all the facts first.

[extorian]

now, I was wondering is this legal?

Yes, it's legal. You're simply installing another operating system on your phone. So it's like installing Linux on your PC instead of Windows. In this case, the OS (Android) is open source, so it's legal for people to make their own versions of it.

There was a question some time ago about the legality of shipping Google's own apps with custom versions of their OS. This is illegal. However, you get around this by making a backup of your apps first, then installing the OS without any apps, then restoring the backup of the apps. That way, you've kept your original apps that you had the legal right to own. No worries here, and Google have approved of it.

If i root my phone will it completely void the google TOS?

No. I don't think it would void any of it. Did you have any section in particular that you were worried about?

if i do end up rooting it, can i easily revert back to my former standard non rooted version?

Yes. It's just the same procedure pretty much, but with a different file on your SD card.

what kinds of things can go wrong during a 'root'?

As with any firmware update, you risk "bricking" your phone. If, for some reason, the firmware upload fails mid-load (power failure, error, corrupt file on SD card, etc) then this can result in your phone becoming completely unresponsive.

Similarly, you have to read the instructions carefully. A lot of people end up trying to load the wrong firmware, or wrong radio firmware, for the wrong phone model, wrong network, wrong locale, etc. If you do that you greatly increase the risk of bricking your phone. The wrong radio/firmware combination in the wrong order is the biggest killer here.

what kinds of things can go wrong AFTER the root?

After you root... Firstly, lets define what you mean by "root". What you actually mean is "installing a custom firmware". In order to do this you need SU (super user / administrator) access to your phone so that you can bypass the protection systems put in place which prevent users installing their own unofficial firmwares. This super user account is called the root account. So you need to "root" your phone (i.e. get access to the root account) in order to install a custom firmware.

So, after you root, you'll be running a version of Android that has been modified by someone. You will be putting all of your trust in their ability to make reliable and sensible changes to Android, and trusting them to find and fix all "security" related bugs that Google usually fix themselves. The firmware will have gone through no formal testing, no quality assurance, and comes with no guarantees. To balance this, you may find your firmware runs faster, has features or fixes that are only available in later versions of Android, and customisations that improve the overall experience of the phone (such as being able to install apps on your SD card, freeing up vital memory and hence speeding up your phone).

Most people love their custom firmwares, but there are also lots of people who seem to want to unroot for various reasons.

Installing a custom firmware will invalidate your warranty, and possibly any insurance. Some people have kept quiet about this and managed to return their phones, some haven't. It's a real risk.

You will also never get any official updates sent to your phone while you have a custom firmware installed. Your phone will be at risk from any security holes (that become public knowledge when they're patched) until whoever made your custom firmware gets around to finding the fix, implementing it, releasing it, and you update your phone to the new version.

is there a list somewhere where i can see ALL of the pro's of rooting my phone and also the cons?

If the Android Community site search isn't working, try a google search like this: http://lmgtfy.com/?q=%2Bsite%3Aandro...+%2Badvantages

Will it affect the insurance I have on my phone? (currently i have the most expensive one, the 5.99$ a month one.)

You'd have to check with them. It does affect some insurances.

as a side note: can anyone give me some tips to make my g1 faster as it is now?(un-rooted/standard) it runs awfully slow, even after deleting numerous apps.
especially when going back to my home screen from an app or the browser. It shows my background but it takes a good 30 seconds before any of my apps/shortcuts/widgets show up. And I've been using a task manager (taskpanel) application to kill any unwanted processes and apps, but it still isn't helping.

Widgets are the biggest killer to loading your home screen. Remove as many as you can. Icons and folders are the next biggest killers - remove as many of those too.

When using a task killer - make sure you don't kill any system processes or any other user processes that will simply reload when you kill them - all this does is slow stuff down.

Try and keep at least 20MB of free internal memory.

also, i'm phone noob.
How easy is it to root?
Meaning,do i need to have extensive knowledge about this or can i just follow a guide?
what do i do AFTER i root my phone?

The easiest way to root a G1 can be found here: http://wiki.cyanogenmod.com/index.ph...to_CyanogenMod

Just follow the guide. Read it CAREFULLY. If you are unsure about anything then come back here and ask someone. Follow all the instructions to the letter. Read the entire guide first before trying it so you don't get surprised by anything. If something doesn't make sense then ask here first for clarification - it's possible it doesn't make sense because something is not right.

I hate to ask so many questions, but i'm very attached to my phone, and don't want to mess anything up. I also want to make an educated decision, not just "OH HAY, MULTITOUCH! I CAN HAS IPHONE??? YAY LETS ROOT!".

For the record, even a rooted G1 won't have multi-touch. Its screen doesn't support it. There are only a couple of Android phones who's screen can support true multi-touch.

There is, however, a poor-man's-multi-touch that all Android phones can do. But it can only make a guess at where two fingers are placed on the screen, allowing for pinch-zooming. It can't, for example, figure out where three or four fingers are being pressed like the iPhone can.

[rakeem]

I read everything went through the process to downgrade to RC29, downloaded the Telnet, typed in telnetd opened up the app now when I type "flash image recovery /sdcard/cm-recovery-1.4.img" it keeps saying "flash:not found. I tried to remount my sd card and that still didn't help. Can any one assist me please? I downloaded cm recovery file listed on: http://wiki.cyanogenmod.com/index.ph...to_CyanogenMod

[extorian]

It's "flash_image" not "flash image".

[da12ius]

This is an awesome Q&A post! Clear and straight forward. Thanks extorian!

[Vikingisson]

so did ya?
What phone and what did you upgrade to?

You know that multipage TOS with a typface so small that only a child could read it (and not understand) but nobody reads? Yeah, I didn't read it either. Safe to say it is like all the others, you have no rights and anything you do might void your warranty. yawn.

That doesn't mean that everyone should root their phone, there has to be a reason or it is just a risky pleasure, like skydiving. I've done both. I rooted and upgraded because I wanted better and my provider has already abandoned their android phones like all their phones going back decades. I skydive for the pleasure. But I do both with caution.

[xChelseaTr0n]

Thank you so much extorian!

I really appreciate all your help.
You made it 10 times easier to understand.

Thanks!