Rooting Comes to the Magic

As an Australian, that title just doesn’t sound right at all. Fortunately it doesn’t mean what Aussies might think it does. Want full access to your HTC Magic/G2? Then it’s time to root your phone. No, it still doesn’t sound right, but here’s the lowdown anyway.

For those of you that already have an idea of what root access means to you, then by all means, skip on through to the instructions kindly posted here. Cleverly invented by the ‘droid genius Haykuro.

Now, the rest of you. Care to know why you’d bother with all those complicated instructions listed in the link above? What is this “rooting” business?
In a nutshell, it’s the difference between using your phone, and owning your phone. Android, as wonderful and open as it is, remains closed off to users in a few ways – nobody knows what nefarious reasons might be behind this, presumably it’s to protect you from accidentally doing silly things to your phone.

Admittedly, if you root your Magic (or your G1/Dream) then yes, you can end up wreaking havoc throughout the Android OS – which wouldn’t be fun. However, steps against this are easily taken. Just think carefully before you make any large changes, and if you’re not ready for the responsibility then hey, just don’t root your phone.
If you do intend to go ahead though, understand that rooting the Magic will erase all the data on it, including your SD card. Make sure you back-up everything important before stepping up to the plate.
You’ll also lose over the air updating, but you’ll still be able to grab updates from the ‘net. So don’t stress about that.

Alright, warnings aside, what’re the benefits? How about the satisfaction of getting around all those pesky rules and restrictions? Why don’t we be a little more concrete, there’s more to it than that.

Full Access to Your Phone – In this writer’s opinion this is the number one reason, though it has already been mentioned. No one should shut you out of something you’ve paid good money for.

The Power to Install Your Applications to Your SD Card – This means you can have now have as many apps as you have space/SD cards for, potentially unlimited. Take that iPhone.

Back-Up the Current State of Your Phone – Like your phone the way it is? Worried some change you have planned, or app you download could muck up your perfect setup? Don’t be frightened. Back it up!

Use a Tether Application – After what may have been a bit of bullying by various service providers, Google pulled tether applications from the market, but trust me, they’re still out there for you to download and install, and most (if not all) of them require root access.

Take Screenshots on Your Phone – It’s all there on the left, do exactly that. Feel like showing off your customised Android desktop? Well, do it.

Install a Linux Distro – Neat huh? Definitely for the people out there who love to tinker, and love their Linux. There has been talk going around about running Debian on the Android devices, and guess what, you need root access.

The reasons for root access are expanding, and developing all the time. So, if you’re feeling brave, get in there. I’ll let you know how it works out for me when I do it, not if, when.