Top 10 things you should know before rooting your Android phone

"Android" has turned out to be the latest addition to most of the languages. It is that much popular and that much common. Once it is that much matured, there comes the new terms. "Rooting" is one of the terms that has tightly coupled with the Android. It doesn't matter if you are a new user or an experienced user of the Android platform, "Rooting" is a new term that will give you some challenges. This post will help you to face those challenges.

What is "Rooting"?

It is the method by which you take the total control of your Android device. In other words, It will allow you to become the super user (or Administrator in your PC) of your device.

OK. Now you know what is Rooting. Is that so? Do you know about rooting? I bet you don't. Keep reading.

Advantages of "Rooting" your Android device

1. It allows you to install custom operating system versions (Custom ROMs) to your android device. That will allow you to do change the look and feel of your device for your preferences. There are so many custom ROMs available for free, that will give you a really fascinating experience.
2. It gives you the ability  to backup all the data and applications of your device in to an external storage card. This will help you to restore your system if you experience any system failures.
3. It allows you to install thousands of great applications which are not in the Google Play store.
4. It give you the ability to underlock the processor to save the battery of your device. Since most of the Android devices are highly power consuming, this make your life easier.
5. It allows you to install applications on an external storage card instead of taking the internal memory. This will give more memory to run your system and will increase the responsiveness (or speed) of your device.

That's great. I think now you are waiting for the "HOW". But wait a moment and continue reading.

Challenges you will face with the "Rooting" process

1. If the rooting process "FAILS", sometimes you may lost your device totally or you may need to pay some money for repair. But that is far less probable since this process has been well matured.
2. It will make your warranty card useless. Anyway these warranty cards are 99% useless.
3. It makes your phone disqualified for getting OS updates Over The Air (OTA). This will not be a major issue, since there are so many updates going with your custom ROMs.
4. It will make your device "Not so Stable", since these custom ROMs are not hugely tested as the original OS updates. But that's why we say it as a "Challenge".

Have you changed your mind? If not, continue reading and look for the "HOW". 5+4 is 9. Here is the last one.

10. How to root your Android device?

Can I unlock my Android mobile (locked by the operator) by rooting the device

No you cannot unlock a network lock by rooting. They are two different things.

A network lock is quite complex, it can be lock in a combination of ways...

1) Mobile country code (locked to a country's mobile network)
2) Mobile network code (locked to a mobile phone provider's network)
3) Mobile station identification number (SIM lock to a specific phone)

Most common is a mobile network code used by AT&T to lock iPhones users to their AT&T network. And mobile station identification number used by Verizon - to lock user of WCDMA/CDMA phones to their network. In this case the SIM card is enclosed in the phone so you don't have access to it.

Rooting an android phone is a different animal altogether. Rooting gives you administrative user level access to the software of the android phone. It is similar to jailbreaking on Apple iDevices.

With administrative user access to your android phone you can...

1) delete applications that have been installed on your phone by your network provider that you don't want to use (usually adware/bloatware/trialware).
2) back up your phone operating software including all the applications that you have installed to your SD card (usually xRecovery or Titanium Backup)
3) install custom ROMs specifically designed to run on your android phone - for example Cyanogen 2.3 Gingerbread ROM for Xperia X8.
4) use applications that require root access, for example tethering applications to create wifi hotspot using your phone's 3G network so you can surf the internet with your laptop.