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Um, almost all Android phones are rootable and can run custom firmware builds (certainly all HTC's and most Samsungs). Find instructions at http://forum.xda-de

by dotBen 16y ago

Um, almost all Android phones are rootable and can run custom firmware builds (certainly all HTC's and most Samsungs). Find instructions at http://forum.xda-developers.com/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page http://forum.xda-developers.com/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Pa... (Just making the point, you don't HAVE to buy a Nexus line of phone for this)

barake 16y ago
Basically any Android device can be rooted and flashed but how difficult it can be is the problem. The HTC Vision (T-Mobile G2) has a complete copy of it's ROM on board to "restore" if you flash the phone. Motorola has also done a good job of locking bootloaders. It won't be surprising if these "security" measures keep escalating as carriers try to find new ways to extract revenue, such as charging extra for tethering.
- frio 16y ago
  To be fair, I don't believe that was done to stop people from rooting their phones. One of the most common ways for phones to become damaged/bricked is for OTA updates to fail; the HTC Vision/G2/Desire Z method means that if that happens, the phone still works. Which is obviously better for the average user. That said, it's not much of a stretch to believe it was a nefarious attempt to block rooters from rooting either.
- maqr 16y ago
  Not true. It just has write-protection. It only looks like it's "restoring" because linux is caching FS writes, but never gets to flush them. See here for details: http://forum.xda-developers.com/wiki/index.php?title=HTC_Vision http://forum.xda-developers.com/wiki/index.php?title=HTC_Vis...
- commandar 16y ago
  > The HTC Vision (T-Mobile G2) has a complete copy of it's ROM on board to "restore" if you flash the phone. Not true. The Vision was NAND locked like previous HTC phones. What was actually happening was that if you tried to write to internal storage, the Linux kernel would tell you it was making the changes, but never actually committed the writes to storage. That's why the changes 'disappeared' after a reboot.
prodigal_erik 16y ago
Is that policy or merely benign neglect? I keep seeing comments to the effect that a certain HTC model has been rooted, implying it's an accomplishment that was in doubt or at least troublesome. I feel obliged to support the vendor that openly decides to treat me like a tool-using human being pour encourager les autres.
- jmillikin 16y ago
  None of them make it particularly easy, but some manufacturers have a "wink-wink, nudge-nudge" towards rooting. For example, the Samsung Vibrant is trivial to root, and the SIM unlock code is stored unencrypted on the device itself. I'm still going to get a Nexus S, though; Google keeps their software more up-to-date.
rryan 16y ago
Almost all Android phones are rootable in the same sense that the iPhone is rootable -- only by virtue of an accidental security flaw. The Nexus One/S are the only Android phones where root is not a privilege you have to take back from the manufacturer by force.
grav1tas 16y ago
I have an older HTC Sprint Hero, and it is root-able in the sense that rooting the phone is possible. However, doing so requires me to download old firmware for the phone from sources (ie files posted to Mediafire or the like) that I don't trust. While I will contend that Android is more customizable than say, iOS, to say that all, many, or most the phones are root-able and thus the platform is more customizable for this reason doesn't follow for me. You can jump through the hoops and jailbreak your iPhone with probably less trouble than it would take to root my Hero. You can also just root the HP/Palm Pre by following the community steps, but there really aren't any other platforms other than iOS or Android are there :P. For the record, I came to Android from WebOS, and the experience has been very painful. I want my Pre back.

by dotBen 16y ago

barake 16y ago

Basically any Android device can be rooted and flashed but how difficult it can be is the problem. The HTC Vision (T-Mobile G2) has a complete copy of it's ROM on board to "restore" if you flash the phone. Motorola has also done a good job of locking bootloaders. It won't be surprising if these "security" measures keep escalating as carriers try to find new ways to extract revenue, such as charging extra for tethering.

frio 16y ago
To be fair, I don't believe that was done to stop people from rooting their phones. One of the most common ways for phones to become damaged/bricked is for OTA updates to fail; the HTC Vision/G2/Desire Z method means that if that happens, the phone still works. Which is obviously better for the average user. That said, it's not much of a stretch to believe it was a nefarious attempt to block rooters from rooting either.
maqr 16y ago
Not true. It just has write-protection. It only looks like it's "restoring" because linux is caching FS writes, but never gets to flush them. See here for details: http://forum.xda-developers.com/wiki/index.php?title=HTC_Vision http://forum.xda-developers.com/wiki/index.php?title=HTC_Vis...
commandar 16y ago
> The HTC Vision (T-Mobile G2) has a complete copy of it's ROM on board to "restore" if you flash the phone. Not true. The Vision was NAND locked like previous HTC phones. What was actually happening was that if you tried to write to internal storage, the Linux kernel would tell you it was making the changes, but never actually committed the writes to storage. That's why the changes 'disappeared' after a reboot.

prodigal_erik 16y ago

Is that policy or merely benign neglect? I keep seeing comments to the effect that a certain HTC model has been rooted, implying it's an accomplishment that was in doubt or at least troublesome. I feel obliged to support the vendor that openly decides to treat me like a tool-using human being pour encourager les autres.

jmillikin 16y ago
None of them make it particularly easy, but some manufacturers have a "wink-wink, nudge-nudge" towards rooting. For example, the Samsung Vibrant is trivial to root, and the SIM unlock code is stored unencrypted on the device itself. I'm still going to get a Nexus S, though; Google keeps their software more up-to-date.

rryan 16y ago

Almost all Android phones are rootable in the same sense that the iPhone is rootable -- only by virtue of an accidental security flaw. The Nexus One/S are the only Android phones where root is not a privilege you have to take back from the manufacturer by force.

grav1tas 16y ago

I have an older HTC Sprint Hero, and it is root-able in the sense that rooting the phone is possible. However, doing so requires me to download old firmware for the phone from sources (ie files posted to Mediafire or the like) that I don't trust. While I will contend that Android is more customizable than say, iOS, to say that all, many, or most the phones are root-able and thus the platform is more customizable for this reason doesn't follow for me. You can jump through the hoops and jailbreak your iPhone with probably less trouble than it would take to root my Hero. You can also just root the HP/Palm Pre by following the community steps, but there really aren't any other platforms other than iOS or Android are there :P. For the record, I came to Android from WebOS, and the experience has been very painful. I want my Pre back.