Do you want to take control of your Android phone? By
"rooting" your device, a process similar to jailbreaking an iPhone,
you can install custom ROMs (images), which add stability and speed improvements
to Google's mobile operating system, as well as install new features developed
by the h*cker community themselves. The procedure involves running commands
that enable total access to the device. For non-developer types, h*cks like
these sound scary, but by following the instructions below, you can take
control of your Android phone in only a matter of minutes. The end result is a
truly open device which you can modify to your heart's content.
Why Hack Android?
So why would you want to h*ck your Android phone? For those with older
handsets, rooting the device lets you install customized ROMs which can deliver
major speed improvements and performance increases. For example, the popular
CyanogenMod, created by one of Android's most notable h*ckers, optimizes
performance for both the G1 and MyTouch 3G handsets.
Another good reason to root your phone? Multi-touch. One of the surprising
omissions from Google's own Nexus One handset, for example, is the ability to
use more than one finger at a time to operate the device. Although available on
iPhone from the start, the Nexus One excludes this valuable feature from its
mobile operating system. Why? No one knows for sure, but it might have
something to do with some patents Apple owns. But that's no matter to the
h*cker community. Thanks again to cyanogen, Nexus One owners can enable the
feature by copying some files over to their device. Other Android owners can
perform similar procedures to enable multi-touch Web browsing. But before you
can get started with any of these h*cks, you first have to root the phone.
How to Root Your Android Phone
However, for novice h*ckers, "rooting" the phone sounds like it may
be easier said than done. Although seemingly intimidating, by following a few
simple steps anyone can do this with ease.
Before getting started, remember to back up your phone, including your
contacts, SMS messages, files and photos.
1. The first step is to download and install Superboot, a boot image that, when
flashed, will root the device the first time you boot up. You can grab a copy
of the Superboot zip file from the Modaco forums here.
2. Once downloaded, extract the files it contains to a directory on your
computer, just like any other zip file.
3. Now put your Android phone in bootloader mode. (Note, owners of a retail N1
should see instructions here).
* To do so, turn off the phone, remove the battery, and plug in the USB cable.
When the battery icon appears onscreen, pop the battery back in. Now tap the
Power button while holding down the Camera key.
* For those whose Android phones have a trackball, you have an even easier
method of doing this: Turn off the phone, press and hold the trackball, then
turn the phone back on.
4. Depending on your computer's OS, do one of the following:
* Windows: Double click "install-superboot-windows.bat"
* Mac: Open a terminal window to the directory containing the files, and type
"chmod +x install-superboot-mac.sh" followed by
"./install-superboot-mac.sh"
* Linux: Open a terminal window to the directory containing the files, and type
"chmod +x install-superboot-linux.sh" followed by
"./install-superboot-linux.sh"
5. That's it, your device has been rooted!
If those instructions confused you, check out YouTube for instructional videos
instead. Here's one for rooting the myTouch 3G or G1, and here's one for the
Motorola Droid. Here's another. There's also an alternative rooting method
involving 1 click demoed here. You get the idea.
Now What?
Now that you've rooted your Android phone, you can get busy adding features,
functionality and other h*cks. This is the fun part! LifeHacker offers five
great reasons to root your phone, for those wondering why you would bother to
do this.
Our favorite reasons?
1. Multi-Touch
First of all, Nexus One users can enable multi-touch on their devices.
RedmondPie has a good how-to on this:
