Now Turtle, you need to explain what root is and why you would have to pull roots on a phone.
Basically, if someone doesn't know what rooting the phone means, they have no business rooting their phone.
root is the user name or account that by default has privileged control and
access to all commands and files on a Linus or other Unix-like operating system. It is also referred to as the
root account,
root user and the
superuser (kinda like Lawrence on EO). With Android you get full access and control of the Linux subsystem, cimilar to jailbreaking an iPhone, and allows you to overcome limitations that the carriers and manufacturers put on these phones.
Ever said to yourself, "I wish my phone would do this or that?" When
rooted, you can pretty much do anything you want to with your phone, including all the stuff your carrier doesn't want you to do.
A
root user can delete unwanted files like the Corporate Email and other native applications that drive you crazy. You can install custom ROMs (modified operating system replacements) that can give the phone an entirely new look and feel. There are ROMs that can make your phone just fly, by replacing the kernel with hyper-optimized versions or even overclocking the CPU (at the expense of battery life, of course).
You can run, for example, Android-WiFi-Tether or Barnacle WiFi-Tethering under root for tethering the phone, either of which are better than similar apps, such as PDANet or EasyTether, because you don’t have to run special clients on your computer and servers on your phone and you can share a single connection between multiple devices easier than any other method. You can also do
complete backups, same as cloning a hard drive on a computer. You can run apps and widgets from other ROMs, mix and match, and you can also run applications that require
root access, like ShootMe, a killer screen grabber, and other nifty utilities.
But, the
root user also has the ability to truly FUBAR the computer, phone or other device they have
root access to. You can run commands that will destroy the software or delete files necessary to the operating system or necessary for certain apps to run. Things can go wrong, not the least of which is your phone app stops working, or you brick the device (won't boot, won't turn on, won't do nothing, acts like a brick), and unless you know how to quickly recover from a disaster, you're a little FUBAR'd yourself until you go buy another phone at retail list.
There are apps and procedures that make rooting your phone almost a no-brainer, where anyone who doesn't know what they are doing can root the phone. However, unless you are already intimately familiar with Unix or Linux, and fully understand that the Android operating system is a sotware stack consisting of Java applications running on a Java based object-oriented application framework on top of Java core librariesrunning on a Dalvik virtual machine featuring JIT compilation, then you have some serious self-education to do before using even a no-brainer rooter.
I understand all this, know Unix like the back of my hand, and know how to recover from a disaster, but my phone is not rooted. Despite all the things the Droid can do, and all the benefits of rooting the thing, first and foremost I need a phone, and do not want to be without it even for the few hours it can take for a recovery. I have decided to leave this one in stock condition, so that if any problems do arise, I can take the more expedient remedy of going to a Verizon store and simply exchanging the phone for a new one, without having to say, "Yes, it's rooted, but that didn't cause the problem." Because you will not get a warranty replacement for a rooted phone (unless it's bricked).
