rooting gives you access to your phones system,files all, allows you to install anything you want with cwm recovery which needs root access to work you can flash/install a rom of your choice.basicly root gives you developer level access to your android phone.

oh,and android rocks!

handiest thing with rooting is being able to use CWM recovery to back up and restore, also to flash mods. recovery is essential for flash freaks like myself. then you can always roll back if you flash something you don't like.

handiest thing with rooting is being able to use CWM recovery to back up and restore, also to flash mods. recovery is essential for flash freaks like myself. then you can always roll back if you flash something you don't like.

what rpd said

so how do custom roms and such work? how much does it affect your phone compared to official firmware?

http://www.xda-developers.com/

custom roms usually have a lot of the excess apps and branding removed,, so you dont get all those extra apps that your provider thinks it necessary to add. they run faster and more smoothly than the standard rom, and quite often have more choice for customization. Its also a chance to try out features that may not be available for you phone usually(some phone manufacturers wont release the most recent version of android if they think the phone is too old and slow to handle it. But usually a good developer will be able to get it running well themselves, extending the life of the phone.)

the link in the post above mine is a good place to start, XDA has a great community if developers, modders and testers so you can always find quality roms for you phone. There's guides on how to root your phone as well, it can seem daunting but its worth doing

Your phone manufacturer/carrier only gives you Guest privileges when you purchase your device. As Android is based on Linux kernel, rooting is similar to accessing administrative permissions on Linux/Unix, giving user Superuser/Administrator rights and can essentially change or modify any of the software code on the device OS.

A ROM/Read Only Memory is the software that runs your device. Custom roms can make your Android device look and perform drastically different. Rooting your device allows to fully customize every graphic on your device and load different themes.

what rpd, abott and 3rdrail said.

Kernels which is basically a layer of codes that sits between hardware and software and handles communication between hardware and software. If you are rooted you can tweak the kernel like underclock or overclock processor, undervolt battery and more for added performance and battery life.

Rooting gives you other previlages too like updating the Basebands that controls the radio on your device which will improve both signal and quality of phone calls. If you are rooted you can backup everything. calls, msgs, apps, system apps + data and unlock hidden features like wifi and usb tethering. remove carrier/manufacturer bloatwares.

There are other benefits too. Early versions of android dont allow installing apps to microsd or internal sd and not every android phones comes with huge memory. rooting allows apps to be installed on specifically formated external memory. and you can play with core apps too if you are rooted. you get read/write to rom/system memory previlages if you are rooted. change boot animations and customize ui however you want

thanks for the info guys, think ill try some of these things out just to improve battery life more than anything