Are the dangers of rooting an android tablet real and severe?

[yoda313]

I'm tempted, slightly, to root my android tablet to get google play working on it.

However I certainly don't want to brick it.

You can back up the tablet. Since that is the case can you have a full recovery if something goes wrong?

Or is this a total bricking if it doesn't work? I mean no power no nothing?

Anyone have rooting experiences they'd like to share while I think about it?

[yoda313]

hiding root are there out turns

.rooted fully im that now work wont app xfinity the now and, device rooted a on run wont ultraviolet aka flixster. issues anti-rooting into run ive know






guess what? i was already rooted and i didnt even know it!

i got a root checking app and it says i was rooted. so i got some rooting tools and got going.

i finally got google play working!!!

i followed a guide for getting it on a rooted kindle and it wasnt working at first. i cleared the data over and over but no go, until i finally shut down and restarted and it works!


i have to figure out how to use the root hiding app and then ill have a fully functional tablet.


sorry for the odd layout i am still getting used to typing on an androi virtual keyboard, mine doesnt show the full paragrah as i type only one word at a timem

[TreeTops]

And Microsoft expects people to do real work on those tablets? Yoda, your spelling and grammar is getting to the point that we have a really hard time reading your posts. You can blame that all on the tablet but it isn't getting you any cigars.

[TreeTops]

OK, I know what a 'rootkit' is and I do a lot of rooting for my favorite football team but you got me stumped on what the heck a rooting tablet is.

[yoda313]

Yes sorry about the typing. I was using firefox android and I don't know how to see the text box while typing in the quick reply window.

Right now I'm using dolphin and I can see the whole quick reply box while typing.

I did finally get google play to work. I had to get root explorer and supersu installed to do it.

However the xfinity app stopped working and flikster won't play on a rooted tablet. I uninstalled the rooting apps and google play still works and xfinity works again.


Unfortunately flixster still won't work and I tried cinemanow but it won't work on a rooted tablet either.

I think I might quit while I'm ahead. I have google play finally and I can do youtube and xfinity.

Unless somebody can point me to a 100% foolproof way to install a pure ice cream or jellybean os without a trace of rooting I'll stick with what 8 have. Since the tablet came rooted I'll leave it that way but without the su apps so xfinity will work. Unfortunatley hide my root and voodoo didn't work for me.

This is much better I think I'll do my typing with the dolphin browser.

[Noahtuck]

Yep, I have modded, chipped, cracked, hacked, flashed, customized, spoofed, jailbreaking, etc. almost anything & everything made but "rooting" has me stumped as well!!!

LOL!!

[johns0]

What tablet do you have yoda313?Rooting will not brick a tablet,the worse it can do is screw up the sysyem if not done right so it's best to backup your system before trying anything,it's easy enough to get a backup image(rooted or unrooted)and do a repair install if you didn't make a backup.

I got my samsung galaxy tab 2 rooted with 4.1 jellybean(rooted gives you full privileges to do system changes)so you can install any type of game or app that you want.

[Noahtuck]

I got my samsung galaxy tab 2 rooted with 4.1 jellybean(rooted gives you full privileges to do system changes)so you can install any type of game or app that you want.

So it's just another name someone came up with for modding, jailbreaking, etc.
It was obvious that's what it was, I just never heard that term used before.

Like when softmodding an original Xbox, it gives you full control over everything and allows you to install games and programs that you could never do under the M$ dashboard/OS.

Basically turns it into a mini PC Media Center plus some.

[stiltman]

android is a linux variant, linux uses root as the master admin account, as with Unix

rooting comes from root or gaining full access to the OS

[Noahtuck]

android is a linux variant, linux uses root as the master admin account, as with Unix

rooting comes from root or gaining full access to the OS

Yeah, basically what I said

[stiltman]

android is a linux variant, linux uses root as the master admin account, as with Unix

rooting comes from root or gaining full access to the OS

Yeah, basically what I said

Yep

[aedipuss]

i didn't bother rooting my nook hd+. i side load the apps i want using the .apk files and use a secondary loader to run them. works well and with vlc it can play 1080p mkv files with dts audio on it's 1920x1280 screen.

[yoda313]

Side loading?

I am not familiar with that term.

Do you just mean getting the apk from another site and manually loading it? That is what it sounds like you are talking about.

Fyi I can do 720p files for sure on my tablet even though the screen is sd. I don't have any 1080p files to work with. I could try youtube for some trailers or something but just haven't gotten around to it to test it.

[yoda313]

It looks like I can play 1080p on the tablet. Its not a full 1080p but I grabbed a movie trailer that was "full hd" from youtube and put on a sd card and tried it on my tablet. It played flawlessly!

Here are the specs:

General
Complete name : E:\**** (Full HD).mp4
Format : MPEG-4
Format profile : Base Media / Version 2
Codec ID : mp42
File size : 57.9 MiB
Duration : 2mn 15s
Overall bit rate mode : Variable
Overall bit rate : 3 595 Kbps
Encoded date : UTC 2009-11-04 06:40:56
Tagged date : UTC 2009-11-04 06:40:56
gsst : 0
gstd : 135720
gssd : BD075E128MM1357176237398898
gshh : r5---sn-jvhj5nu-p5ql.c.youtube.com

Video
ID : 2
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : High@L4.0
Format settings, CABAC : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames : 3 frames
Codec ID : avc1
Codec ID/Info : Advanced Video Coding
Duration : 2mn 15s
Bit rate : 3 469 Kbps
Maximum bit rate : 14.4 Mbps
Width : 1 920 pixels
Height : 800 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 2.40:1
Frame rate mode : Constant
Frame rate : 29.970 fps
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.075
Stream size : 55.9 MiB (96%)
Title : (C) 2007 Google Inc. v08.13.2007.
Encoded date : UTC 2009-11-04 06:40:56
Tagged date : UTC 2009-11-04 06:40:58

Audio
ID : 1
Format : AAC
Format/Info : Advanced Audio Codec
Format profile : LC
Codec ID : 40
Duration : 2mn 15s
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 124 Kbps
Maximum bit rate : 231 Kbps
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Channel positions : Front: L R
Sampling rate : 44.1 KHz
Compression mode : Lossy
Stream size : 2.00 MiB (3%)
Title : (C) 2007 Google Inc. v08.13.2007.
Encoded date : UTC 2009-11-04 06:40:56
Tagged date : UTC 2009-11-04 06:40:58

Now its only 2 minutes long and the res is 1920x800 so its not a full fledged test of 1080p obviously. But that is quite promising.

Also the fact that the bitrate is so high and it is high profile 4.0 WITH cabac means that I should be really able to push this tablet pretty hard before it chokes.

Again it might have problems at full 1080 and it might not like a large file say 2gb or more but the fact it plays it at all and plays it without hesitation or stuttering or any problems is quite exciting.

[tgpo]

Side loading means taking the .apk off one device and using it to install a program on another device.

Typically the first device is officially supported and the second device is fully capable of running the app, but isn't officially supported and thus unavailable for download in an app store.


I rooted my original Kindle Fire and installed an Android 4.1 ROM on it. It's now just like any other Android tablet. It now has full Google support, ad blocker app, etc. Now I'm thinking about rooting my eink Nook2 so I can install dropbox to wirelessly sync my ebooks.

[johns0]

The devices used for side loading are usually a computer to tablet/smartphone/e-reader by means of a sd card or usb connection,Android 4.21 is out now,might install that on my galaxy pad 2.

[aedipuss]

side loading the nook HD+ is done from a win computer using adb.exe and 2 .dll files, part of the adroid dev kit i believe. no google support and not all android programs run, the nook doesn't have all the sensors most do anyway. i just wanted to be able to play all the movies off of my nas box. and it does now with a dlna program and vlc to play the 1080p with dts files over wifi. i'd guess 75% of android games and apps work on the HD+. it has a very nice, better than any ipad, screen with a dual cpu and a hardware video chip.

[yoda313]

thanks everyone for the info.