Why do people root their phones?

[zahc]

I'm considering drinking more Verizon coolaid by upping my contract for another 2 years and getting an Samsung Galaxy SIII for $50.

From what I have been told, the Galaxy SIII normally comes with an unlocked bootloader, but the Verizon version is locked down. It can be hacked around, but maybe I should consider switching carriers since Verizon's phones area always crippled in some way.

Why should I care? What exactly do people do that requires an unlocked bootloader and root privileges? I honestly don't know since I'm new to the smartphone thing.

[Hawkmoon]

I have an S3 and so far I've used it to make and receive a few phone calls.

It does something more than that?

[Boomhauer]

There are apps the carriers don't want you to be able to run, or features they don't want you to be able to use.

When I was with Verizon, my only Smartphone with them was an iphone for two years. I didn't need to do anything outside of what they allowed, so there was no need for me to jailbreak it (Apple version of rooting).

Now when I switched to Sprint I wanted to do some things with my phone, such as tethering or mobile hotspotting, that they lock down. I was able to get an app to work around that issue but I would have had to root the phone if a working app was not available.

[AJ Dual]

I admit there's lots of geeky stuff that's at least semi-cosmetic that rooting gets you. And a big part of it is "just because" and "sticking it to the man" for sure. 

However, there are some very pragmatic reasons to root your phone too.

You can install Cerberus into your ROM and keep the phone more or less permanently lojacked even if the thief wipes or factory resets the phone.   

You can overclock the phone for more performance.

You can get rid of the carriers shovelware apps. 

You can run some incredibly useful or time-saving apps that require root access, like:

Titanium Backup. Full system and app backups to the SD card.

SSH secure VPN tunnels.

Adblock Plus.

DriveDroid, turns your phone into a smarter more interactive version of a Linux Boot USB drive for PC's.

Call master which will block unwanted, hidden or spoofed Caller-ID calls. (EXTREMELY difficult to do on most carriers even though some claim to allow some call filtering)

SetDNS allows you to select context-specific DNS servers for name resolution for internet connectivity which can speed up internet use greatly. Pick different DNS servers depending if connecting on 3 & 4G or WiFi, when you know depending on the network which DNS server is "closer" to you.

That's just some of the benefits off the top of my head.

You can install a completely different Android OS like Cyanogenmod, which can give you much more piece of mind that there's no more "whatever" the carrier wants to have spying on you hidden in the stock phone's OS. 

[Marnoot]

You can get rid of the carriers shovelware apps.  :

This is the big reason I root our devices. I root it, then find the barest Android ROM that will work on my device and put that on. I hate the extra crap the carriers put on there.

[Brad Johnson]

I am on Verizon. I have an S3. I haven't rooted it. Works fine.

Brad

[zahc]

I would probably leave mine stock too, but there's a chance I will find some killer app and want to root it. Has anyone successfully rooted the Verizon version? I'm at the end of my contract now, so if there's a time to switch carriers, it would be now.

My friend says I should buy a Nexus on the open market and put my Verizon SIM in it. However, I thought that even if phones used SIM cards, you still have to buy a phone compatible with your carrier's radio infrastructure. The Verizon S3 uses a SIM, but I don't think I can take that phone and take it to another carrier, because the radio is wrong. Is this correct? Does the Nexus have some kind of universal radio?

[Zardozimo Oprah Bannedalas]

If you want to travel overseas, but don't want to pay AT&T or whoever's ridiculous international rates, rooting is good. A lot of times you can pick up a prepaid sim card for little of nothing at foreign locales.

[AJ Dual]

The biggest reason probably is philosophical. Someone who is even partially PC literate would NEVER accept the limitations or control the carrier has over your smartphone.

Imagine if your internet provider demanded you could only buy the PC from them, it could only have the OS they loaded, had shovelware apps you couldn't even remove, you couldn't connect it to another ISP, and you can't upgrade the OS when you want, or load just any app you wanted.

And these days we probably rely on our phones and use then more than our PC's.

Another analogy is how (their unworkability aside) smart guns piss us off/freak us out...

But unlike PC's, people never had the opportunity to grow up with relatively open-source/independent smart phones, so life on the plantation/reservation seems "normal" to most people.

[bedlamite]

You will also find that once you get rid of all the crap the carrier has running in the background that the the apps you use run smoother and faster.

XDA isn't really noob friendly, but all the info is there if you do the research.

http://forum.xda-developers.com/forumdisplay.php?f=1708

[never_retreat]

I really can't speak about the phone in particular, I sure if you give up Verizon and don't live in nyc you realize you will never have a call last more than 2 miles without dropping.

[InfidelSerf]

I'll second the forum.xda-developers.com link for all your smartphone needs.
And yes unless you know your stuff it's best used as a read only forum.

[roo_ster]

All the above.

[KD5NRH]

You can install Cerberus into your ROM and keep the phone more or less permanently lojacked even if the thief wipes or factory resets the phone.   
You can overclock the phone for more performance.
You can get rid of the carriers shovelware apps. 
You can run some incredibly useful or time-saving apps that require root access, like:
Titanium Backup. Full system and app backups to the SD card.
SSH secure VPN tunnels.
Adblock Plus.
DriveDroid, turns your phone into a smarter more interactive version of a Linux Boot USB drive for PC's.
Call master which will block unwanted, hidden or spoofed Caller-ID calls. (EXTREMELY difficult to do on most carriers even though some claim to allow some call filtering)
SetDNS allows you to select context-specific DNS servers for name resolution for internet connectivity which can speed up internet use greatly. Pick different DNS servers depending if connecting on 3 & 4G or WiFi, when you know depending on the network which DNS server is "closer" to you.

You forgot Link2SD and other apps to get around the screwy memory management and internal memory limits of some Android versions.

Don't recall if Orbot (Tor browser for Android) requires root or not, but that's another handy app to have.

[zahc]

My situation changed somewhat since i got a free iphone 4. I'm typing on it now, via wifi, but it's a sprint device. I don't see any BYOP sprint plans that are any cheaper than verizon plans with subsidized phones, t-mobile is GSM and this phone is pretty much a paperweight. It makes more sense to get a cheap dumbphone and carry that around to make calls with, than to get service turned on.

[GigaBuist]

My friend says I should buy a Nexus on the open market and put my Verizon SIM in it. However, I thought that even if phones used SIM cards, you still have to buy a phone compatible with your carrier's radio infrastructure. The Verizon S3 uses a SIM, but I don't think I can take that phone and take it to another carrier, because the radio is wrong. Is this correct? Does the Nexus have some kind of universal radio?

There's two radio systems used in the US. CDMA (Verizon/Nextel/Sprint) and GSM (AT&T/T-Mobile).  You can move a handset from one system to another but it has to be of the same radio type.  So your AT&T handset can't go to Verizon but your Verizon one can be moved to Sprint.  If you've got root/jailbroken it.

If you want to travel overseas, but don't want to pay AT&T or whoever's ridiculous international rates, rooting is good. A lot of times you can pick up a prepaid sim card for little of nothing at foreign locales.

Most of Europe, if not all of it, is on GSM.  So your CDMA phones from Verizon won't work over there.  As I understand it you can buy international handsets that do both CDMA and GSM but that's not something I've looked into personally.

[zahc]

Word on the tubes is that the iPhone 4s has both GSM and cdma radios.

However, my 4 is CDMA-only. It would work on Verizon, but verizon wont authorize it. Sprint will also not activate Verizon phones even though there's no technical reason.