My rooted Android phone and how it came

This is the official English translation of a post. The original post in bahasa Indonesia can be found here: Pengalaman menggunakan ponsel root, beserta alasannya.
Note: You can always translate any article using Google Translate tool on the upper right corner (or lower part for mobile view) of this blog.

Hello, welcome back to Isamu no Heya. This is another Experience post. Usually I would share my travel journey in this type of category. But this time, I will share my experience while using rooted phones instead.

Why should you root your phone?

Android

Since the first time I got my Android phone, I always use phones that have been rooted. And, it continues until now. You might be wondering why. I also got this kind of questions several times, in person. Mostly from coworkers, since both of us are currently working in a financial services company which releases apps that usually also cannot be used on rooted phones. A little contradictory indeed.

In the end, I still keep my phones rooted. It seems that the phones cannot be used optimally, otherwise. So, that's the reason why. Moreover, throughout all this time I spent with my rooted phones, I have found that rooting has more advantages than its disadvantages.

Well, I won't teach you how to root your phone in this post, because there are already so many tutorials out there, and even the ones with specific steps for each device model. However, I will share the benefits that I have got so far.

What will you get by rooting certain phones?

Let's begin with the specific reasons first. I will tell you why I rooted each and every phone that I have. Since the benefits I mentioned here are specific to certain models only, I hoped that you can do further research to find out whether they can be applied to your devices or not.

• Removing the boot animation
  I used this technique to my first Android phone, a phone which was marketed by one of the CDMA operators at that time. This phone will display an animation of that operator logo long enough every time you turn on the phone. Of course, also accompanied with maximum screen brightness and sound volume, even though the phone was previously turned off in silent mode. With root, I managed to get rid of it, so the phone can boot faster.
  
  
• Unlocking the operator limitation
  Unlike the previous one, my second Android phone this time not only supports CDMA, but already has Dual SIM feature: slot 1 for CDMA, and slot 2 for GSM. But apparently, the GSM will only work if RUIM (SIM) from a certain operator is installed on the CDMA slot. Well, this is where root comes back in. With the help of some tutorials on the Internet, I was able to unlock it.
  
  
• Removing the shutter sound
  Still on the same phone. Every time you capture a photo, this phone will produce a shutter sound. Just like the first point, this behavior is ignoring the silent mode state. Many said that this feature was made for privacy reasons, so the users cannot take photos silently without permission from the subject. This behavior is often found on Korean brand mobile phones. However, with root, this limitation can be removed.
  
  
• Unlocking the 4G network because of TKDN
  Now let's move on to my latest phone which I still use today. This phone also has a Dual SIM feature, but it is more open. Not only it supports CDMA-GSM, but any combination of them like CDMA-CDMA, GSM-GSM, or GSM-CDMA. The only drawback is that it turns out that this phone did not pass Domestic Component Level (TKDN). It means that when used with Indonesian operators, the phone can only use the 3G network at best. So I did another rooting to be able to use its 4G feature.
  
  

What are the general benefits of rooting then?

We already discussed the specific benefits I got for each of my phones before, now I will share the benefits of rooting in general. This time you surely can get these benefits, no matter what devices you are using.

• Removing unwanted applications
  Android phones usually came with various Google apps by default, which unfortunately cannot be uninstalled. Of course, not all of them are apps that you'll need or use later. Anyway, you can tell me in the comments section below which default apps that you don't use.
  
  I personally don't use these apps on my mobile phones: Google Chrome (I use Firefox), GMail (I use Yahoo! Mail even to log in to Google services such as PlayStore, YouTube, and Blogger — Before GMail launched, any email can be used to register), Drive and Photos (I use OneDrive), Play Music and News Stand. Now, with root, you can remove them!
  
  
• Deleting unnecessary factory reset backup
  If you pay enough attention, you probably notice that every time there is an app update, actually the old versions (usually at least the one version from the latest operating system update) will not be deleted. This is the one that makes the older the phone, the less storage space left it has, even if you never added large files into it before.
  
  The purpose of this feature is for enabling the phone to be reseted to default settings (factory reset) or to a previously made restore point (system restore) if in case something unexpected happens. Well, for those who are willing to exchange the risk of not being able to restore those apps to the pre-installed version (settings can still be restored) with the remaining storage space, you can make it by integrating every apps update to the system by using root. Then, you will have more space available for your favorite apps and games, or large files like photo 360 in the earlier post.
  
  
• Backing up apps with no synchronization
  Although many applications use online synchronization to store their user data, in fact not all of them do so. To name a few, we can look at the apps that don't require an Internet connection to be working, such as Clock or Calculator, and games that are intentionally made offline. Data from these apps cannot be moved to a new device, and of course also will be gone when we uninstall the apps.
  
  With root, you can back up any apps, whether they're pre-installed on the system or installed by yourself. No need to hesitate anymore when you want to delete a game (in case you start getting bored with it). No more mess too when you want to replace your phone. When you want to use it again, whether it's on an old or new device, you just need to restore the backup you previously made. The game will continue right at the moment when you leave it, without having to start over. The app will already use settings and customizations you have made, without having to reconfigure.
  
  

So, are there any disadvantages from rooting?

Automatic Response/"UAC"
settings screen on
Magisk Manager apps

More or less, that's about the benefits you can get by rooting your phones and also the reason why I did it to my own phones. Quite a lot, right? But beyond those various benefits, you might also be wondering are there any disadvantages from it also. Moreover, it seems quite a lot of people don't recommend it.

Actually root is similar to the "Run as administrator" feature on Windows. Applications with granted access can change, add, or even remove anything, from system settings to other applications data, which originally cannot be accessed by them.

Just like "User Account Control" (UAC) on Windows, you can set whether manual confirmation (prompt) is required every time the apps are trying to make changes or not. If not enabled, any application, including those with malicious intent, will always have granted access. Sounds a bit dangerous right? Therefore, I recommend you only install trusted apps on rooted phones.

Besides the greater risk from "bad" apps when the phone has been rooted mentioned earlier, other disadvantages can also arise from "good" apps. As I mentioned before, some apps (usually banking related) prohibit usage on rooted phones for security reasons. Actually this can be tricked, but I'll save the discussion first for another Isamu no Heya post.

Final words,

That's all for this time post. For those of you who haven't tried root before, have you become interested after knowing all of these? Don't forget to share your opinions in the comments below. As for those who have doubts, I hope this post can give some insights and make your doubts cleared. Finally, for those who have already tried, what feature from root that you are using now? Please share your experience in the comments below.

See you in the next post!

See also

• How to use banking apps on rooted phones