Hi guys,
I am purchasing a new chinese branded mobile with the option to have the mobile firmware rooted by the supplier.
I don't exactly know what this means or what advantages /disadvantages the mobile might have or it's applications. Any help will be appreciated.
.
Thanks.
Rooting allows you to use applications that require access to the root of the file system. (ie mess with settings that would normally be locked).
As a result, it comes with rewards, but also risks (from malicious apps).
On a China mobile, I'd definitely be getting it rooted as it will allow you to easily add/remove apps you don't want/need as well as use some apps that might add important functionality.
Just be sure to read through the app permissions whenever installing something unknown to ensure that it's not likely to be malicious.
Can you provide more information, such as the mobiles model number?
ZOPO ZP600+
Hey Arodes. Can I ask why you've selected that phone? I'm looking at getting a Chinese phone too, but found better options than that phone.
Might be able to suggest a better option as I've been maticiously going through EVERY PHONE available for the last 2-3 months.
Feel free to PM me.
Meticulous advice. That maticious research will make all the difference.
Oh the irony. I thought I was spelling it wrong, but googling didn't help as Maticiously also works because I was removing things from a list. Though Meticulous was the word I was looking for :P
Well rooting a phone is best for power users and tight arses saving you both time and money
Assuming the root is stable, and has no major issues, or disables features of the phone that you might use, as a root is a user created variant of the software that would normally run on your phone. For example the vanilla android 4.1 would always show a taskbar at the bottom. In a particular rooted version you can hide this taskbar by holding the power-button and picking full screen in the menu.
At the average user level. Once your phone is rooted you can backup and restore most apps at any given time. Say you are playing a 500mb game and need extra space because your bought a phone with low storage space. You want to keep your progress. So what you can do is create a backup. Then move that backup to your computer where you can restore it at a later date.
Of course you can always do stuff like restore a backup if something unfavorable happens such in a offline game such as you spun a roulette wheel and didn't like your prize.
On a power user level you have full access to the devices memory,and file systems,so you can do what you like to the running apps memory,or the file system they reside on, have a greater control on the security. With the right apps your device can be more secure than non-rooted devices.
Anyway its still my belief not to do anything critical such as online banking on a rooted device. Your placing your trust on individual(s) rather than the manufacturer though they are likely to have good motives having spent so much time developing an alternative OS.
Thanks guys.
Rooting is really great. Just be sure to read up on XDA forums and other sites about it and specifically what rooting you can do for your phone. There is a risk you can do more damage to your phone if you have no idea what you are doing.
http://gizmodo.com/5982287/reasons-to-root-your-android-devi…
http://lifehacker.com/top-10-reasons-to-root-your-android-ph…
This explains what rooting actually does, and why it's beneficial. YMMV, but some china phones don't need to be rooted as many of them come with fairly stock versions of Android and are mostly clean of any bloatware.
If you get a device that comes with extra chinese apps preinstalled, root access will most likely be needed to remove them.
And a copy pasta from Stack Exchange:
Rooted phones are just as secure as an unrooted phones if you never grant root permission to any apps. The problem is that if you root your phone, you're bound to give root permission (otherwise, why are you rooting your phone in the first place), and applications that you give root permission may turned out to be rogue or leak their permission to allow an untrusted applications to gain root-like permission.
Running rooted phone is safe as long as you know which app to give root access and which are not. Problem is, even assuming that you only pick trustworthy apps they still can leak permissions inadvertantly (in security parlance, this is called confused deputy problem), so you must really be careful when choosing trusted apps.
If you get a device that comes with extra chinese apps preinstalled, root access will most likely be needed to remove them.
This is the main reason why I recommended getting a pre-rooted version. No harm done if there are no Chinese Apps, but easy to remove if there are Chinese Apps. (and no stuffing about trying to follow a guide to root)
Probably head to XDA with details of your mobile model.