Droid information needed.

[invisibledemon]

I'm an extreme noob to droid.
i recently bought a european version of the american motorola droid: the motorola milestone.

bought it because im on tmobile and the milestone runs on a sim card, unlike most good droid phones in the US.

it fits all my needs, wifi, music, etc.
so far, i love it.

but, it leaves me with a lot of questions in looking up shit about doids.


What is rooting?
why would you want to root?
what about unlocking? is that the same as rooting?

my phone is currently on android 2.1, they havnt released the 2.2 update for the milestone yet, whats the differences? advantages?

just the few that i can think of currently, anything else would be appreciated.

i have looked through other forums, but like most, the search function sucks and the threads i come across with people asking similar questions all have the same "duh, you should know this without asking" type of responses that i would expect from apple forums.

 

[K2e2vin]

-Rooting is simply "Super User" or something like Admin on Windows.
-Modify and/or delete programs or make other changes that are locked(for instance, removing unwanted pre-installed software or running a different OS/kernel)
-Yes, though could also refer to unlocking radio "Security"

The Android website has a detailed list of changes. http://developer.android.com/sdk/android-2.2-highlights.html

 

[Briansol]

rooting is similar to jail breaking. it allows you to root-access your phone. Odds are, you don't need to do this as the droid isn't really locked down like the iFail is. I';ve yet to run across anything I've wanted/needed that required it to be rooted.

unlocking usually refers to a phone being tied to a network, ie verizon. unloacked will work on any provider.

2.2 is neater than 2.1, but i'm still running 2.1 as well. waiting for the OTA (over the air) update to be sent out as a 'patch'. Manually doing it is risky.

 

[invisibledemon]

ok. thanks for that bit.
i was just wondering what kind of stuff would require rooting?

im assuming i have no need to do anything of that sort, it already does what i need it to do. there is an update available for my phone currently, but knowing that its not the 2.2, im hesitant on doing it. i have read about a lot of issues people are having with their alarm randomly going off and the music player randomly playing (have had this issue with mine, but if i kill the music player with the app killer after using it, it doesnt randomly play)

 

[K2e2vin]

I specifically rooted my phone to use SetCPU and JuiceDefender to help save battery; SetCPU underclocks the phone during certain conditions and JuiceDefender manages the radio.

There's also tethering and keyboards.

 

[endlesszeal]

rooting is not the same as unlocking. to unlock, most often you have to root your phone to gain access to deeper parts of the OS. then you can unlock from there.

and as kevin mentioned, its also a nice way to gain speed or lose a little to save battery life. and regarding anything electronics related, dont try to fix it, if it aint broke. also, most often then not, if you update, itll be harder to hack (root, jailbreak, softmod etc) the current version and you will have to find a way to downgrade back to original software before hacking.

anyway, hit up modaco and xdadevelopers. have a wealth of info and very helpful people.

 

[corvetteguy78]

Rooting also allows you to install custom ROMS so you can change the look of your phone, in most cases each Phone has specific ROMS for that particular phone. Like others said it also allows you to remove apps that were preinstalled to free up space, allows you to tether your phone

Also there are some apps on the market that only will work with a phone that is Rooted.

On a side note i wouldn't root until you get on 2.2. i would assume if you don't have 2.2 by now then there is probrably no plans for it for your phone. you may need to get the "leaked" version for your phone from a forum

 

[invisibledemon]

i really dont believe i would benefit a lot from rooting.
the phone already does everything i need it to do.

there are plans, supposed to be, for motorola to release 2.2 for my phone. but for some unknown reason they keep pushing it back. it was supposed to be out the beginning of this month, but wasnt. they said it would be out before the end of the first quarter.

from what i have seen, the milestone is a pretty popular phone in europe and south america, so if 2.2 isnt released, i believe they will have a lot of backlash from it.

 

[hondafreak513]

The 2.2.1 on my phone has been running slow as fuck..

 

[Drake]

i really dont believe i would benefit a lot from rooting.
the phone already does everything i need it to do.

there are plans, supposed to be, for motorola to release 2.2 for my phone. but for some unknown reason they keep pushing it back. it was supposed to be out the beginning of this month, but wasnt. they said it would be out before the end of the first quarter.

from what i have seen, the milestone is a pretty popular phone in europe and south america, so if 2.2 isnt released, i believe they will have a lot of backlash from it.

Unless they take a page out of HP's playbook and bone the shit out of everyone who was promised an update because they would rather have you buy a new handset.

 

[invisibledemon]

ha. fuck them, wouldnt affect me one bit.
so far, im enjoying the phone.
the browser kind of sucks and is slugish, but, i rarely use it enough to give a damn..
the music player is pretty good, sounds nice, and its a huge bonus that i dont have to take out my headphones to take a call.