Rooting gives super user access to your device. You will now be the person with the final say – you decide any app to delete – even if it’s your phone dialler (not a wise idea, I assure you). You can increase the performance of your device CPU (ironically, this drains your battery quicker. Sigh). You can install some really awesome apps that require root access to function e.g. avast antivirus has an option for rooted device where the app can be written as part of the device so that when somebody steals your device and restores the factory settings, the app will still be there hiding on your phone enabling you to still track the phone. Cool, right? Well, it only gets cooler.
And the best reason for rooting is custom ROMs! Custom ROMs replace the sluggish stock ROM that comes with your phone and gives you wide range of ROMs to choose from. ROMs are the OS of your phone by the way. OS’s are the software that run your phone by the way. So as I was saying, you can put up any ROM you want to put in your phone (as far as it is compatible o. Compatible. I haff tell you). This way, even when Google wants to be stingy and refuses to release the latest Android upgrade to your device, some dude at CyanogenMod will make one for your device (If your device is popular enough). CyanogenMod is a place where you will find the most custom ROMs! Random geeks from all over the planet just show up and be submitting awesome ROMs for free, I mean who does that?! Geeks, the answer is geeks. Well, my point is that your phone will never look or feel boring again. If you love your phone like I do mine, you’ll want it to look sexy.
Now, here are some apps that make an Android device plain awesome (and sometimes necessary for a rooted phone).
CPU Tuner : This app is used for overclocking your device CPU. As I mentioned earlier, you can make your beautiful rooted device to perform faster which drains more battery though. That’s what overclocking is. You can also do the reverse – underclock it – which extends battery but reduces performances. If you’re thinking of underclocking your device, please stop reading this. I can’t fathom why a techie would want a slow device. That’s sacrilege! Anyway, let’s move on
ROM Manager : I mentioned CyanogenMod earlier where a lot of Custom ROMs are released regularly. ROM Manager makes it easy to install new ROMs simply by going to an option in the app and checking if there are new ROMs. You can also make a full backup of your phone system settings including every tiny bitty setting. It’s so awesome that I don’t fear wiping my phone any moment. I know I’ll get everything back down to the last whatsapp message. This is called a nAndroid backup. This app also easily puts your phone in Recovery mode. I’m too lazy to cover the whole recovery mode thing in this article but it has to do with when installing a new ROM. You’ll see more about it on my next article on how to root your device. Normally, you can put your phone in Recovery mode by holding Volume Up+Volume Down+Home button+Power button. Long thing I assure you. With this app, clicking a button simply does the job.
Titanium Backup : Remember what I said about deleting those pesky bloatware? This is the guy for it. You can delete any app; convert a normal app to system app and system apps to user apps. It also freezes apps. What freezing does is that it renders an app inactive till you want to use it. Let me give you an example – the Facebook app. The Facebook app uses much of your CPU even when it’s closed. It keeps running in the background and for an app that runs in the background it consumes way too much resource. So you can freeze it, and when you want to see what’s happening with your so called friends, you simply unfreeze it and check what’s happening. Also, it can back up all your apps plus their files and settings. If you change phones, you can simply put all your apps back with their respective info. Tell me this isn’t cool!
Avast Antivirus. Now avast has one feature that makes it way cooler than any antivirus on mobile. For starters, most antivirus will charge you for cleaning your device, avast won’t. But more importantly, it has an option for rooted device where the app can be written (kinda) permanently to the device. Now let me tell you why this is important. Say your phone gets stolen. Even the dumbest criminal will first of all factory reset the phone, it’s standard procedure Well, maybe you were feeling like a sharp guy and you’d installed a tracking app or an antivirus with a tracker (p.s. I’ve been there) and once the phone is formatted, your tracker goes. Now, when you use this avast rooting function, even if the thief factory wipes your phone, avast will still be there. What’s better, it will even be hidden (forming as if it has been deleted!). It can turn on the GPS of the phone (without indicating) and track it once there’s network connection. It’s like I can’t wait for my phone to be stolen again sef!
Root Browser. This app is a must have. You may need to tweak something on your device sooner or later. You may want to change the logo that shows on your device when it starts up (yup, you can do that too) this will involve changing some boot animation zips. This root browser allows you to access all the hidden part of your device memory. There is nowhere that is out of bounds for you. Use with caution though. I once deleted my eps folder which contains the IMEI of my phone. What that caused was that my phone could not receive network, spent a whole week figuring out how to fix that!
There are lots of cool apps but let me not overwhelm you. Start with these ones and see how you like it. As for rooting itself, the things you can do with a rooted phone are inexhaustible. Don’t be surprised by anything geeks will do to a rooted phone. Just be like me and wait for them to risk their devices, then follow suit if it is worth it.
Hope you enjoyed reading this.
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