Although I am sure there are about 100,000 other sites out there right now that are talking about this, I finally got around to rooting my droid. In the past, this used to be a pretty involved process and required a ton of scary loading, step by step instructions, and potentially hazardous things to your phone. Now, there are a set of tools out there that makes it easy as cake and the benefits are well worth the risk!
Disclaimer: You can seriously damage your Droid by rooting it, over clocking it, or doing any other such nonsense that is not otherwise supported by the manufacturer. Also, you will void you warranty if you follow these steps.
The Root Process
The best way I found to root my droid was by using the Sholes Mod. In fact, this process is pretty much a point-n-click scenario. If you want to support their project, you can download the SM Updater App from the Marketplace for 5 bucks (its worth supporting them w/ this!) or you can be cheap download it for free by visiting the Sholes website.
Once you install the app, it will walk you through the process of setting up your droid. Basically there are 3 main steps:
- Rooting your droid (basically enabling it to be modified)
- Downloading + backing up your OS Rom
- Installing the Rom itself
Throughout the process you will receive a TON of very scary messages that say “DO NOT do this unless you are prepared to suffer the consequences.” If you are a reckless gadget fool such as I, continue! Once you have walked through the process you will have a rooted droid w/ the Sholds Mod 2.0.3 software.
Why Would You Want to Root?
Basically, its all about the features and the performance. Although I don’t want to go into too much depth on each one, here are the few things that I am totally jazzed about:
- Voice To Text Everything – That’s right, you can now text while driving to a slightly safer degree. The voice recognition software is pretty accurate and it just makes texting much easier.
- New Interface – Did you like the look of the Nexus? Well, you can have just that look for the droid. This include 5 (not just 3) panels for you app, a snazzy new Home screen, and some nice gradient / shader effects to boot.
- Over-clockable CPU – This feature does not require Sholes Mod, but it does require rooting. My droid has the capability of running at 1000 MHz, though 800 MHz is probably currently the recommendation. If you use the Set CPU app, you can not only up your processor, but also create bursting settings as well as power profiles dependant upon the phone’s state.
- Droid = Wifi Access Point – My favorite feature. You can now create a teathered access point out of your droid that allows you to use it as a Wifi access point. This means no bluetooth, no wires, no data package, etc. You simply enable the mode on your phone and then add it as a wifi spot on your pc. Also, you can view who is using your access point by IP, Mac, and name to keep those nasty leechers off your back.
Set CPU interface.
All in all, I am very satisfied w/ my rooted Droid. The new abilities (only some of which are listed above) as well as the faster processor makes a huge difference in the usage of my phone. So far, the only ill effect that I have found is that I cannot use OTA updates, which means that I am on the root path, unless I decide to go back to the default OS. Since the root path is usually far ahead of the OTA updates, I am perfectly fine w/ this limitation.
Awesome!