 The versatility of Android makes it a popular choice in the world of smartphones today. Led by Google as an open source project, users have a ton of options for customizing their smartphone and really making it their own.
If you could make your car go faster, shine brighter and surprise you with new options every day, you’d do it right? If you could slap another story on your house, put in a pool and make the whole thing hover over the rest of the neighborhood, you wouldn’t hesitate at all.
Android makes it possible to root your phone, giving you access to all the files that were previously invisible and untouchable. Rooting is a method of unlocking the Android operating system to allow programs deeper access than is allowed out of the box. Once you’ve rooted your phone, the sky is the limit. Don’t want those built-in apps taking up precious memory space? Get rid of them! Granted, rooting your phone will void the warranty but if your relationship with your phone needs to go to the next level, it’s worth the risk. You can also un-root your phone at any time, but who would do that once they’ve explored the freedom of superuser access?
With a custom Read-Only Memory (ROM) you can give your phone a whole new operating system. Custom ROMs are just that – developed outside the control of a manufacturer or carrier. Want to really blow people’s minds? A Near Field Communication (NFC) chip combined with Google Wallet lets you make purchases straight from your phone. With an NFC chip your smartphone can establish radio communication with other devices in close proximity. How awesome would it be to pay for a Red Bull by simply waving your phone over the card reader device?
Worst case scenario would be bricking your phone. When you’ve tinkered with the operating system and something goes terribly wrong, your phone could end up getting bricked. This would make your phone as good as an expensive brick…or a heavy paperweight. Rarely does that happen with Android though. Make sure your backup is stored on the SD memory card, and you can easily travel back to a time before you decided to get brave and muck things up.
For more information on rooting, go here: http://goo.gl/9UmwO
Original Article by Mark LaFlamme, bPlus SunJournal, Root? Flash? Brick? Put your fears aside and master your smartphone
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