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[Jusme]

Not technically minded. Can anyone tell me, how a mobile phone becomes 'rooted' and why? 

[MR MISTER]

Not technically minded. Can anyone tell me, how a mobile phone becomes 'rooted' and why? 

Plenty on Google, pages and pages of it. Have fun.

[Jusme]

Yes Stemo, seen it. But makes no sense to me? Son dropped Galaxy S3. Screen black. Sent it to Elite phones. (Google them & have fun.) Repair £127:50. Next day, LCD screen wrecked now £187:50. 48 hour turnaround. 15 days later and £225 poorer phone arrives. " DOES NOT WORK". Send it to Samsung. 'LCD screen cracked and motherboard rooted'. Can repair for £254:91. Do NOT ever use Elite phones.. NOT ever.. 

[Proz]

Just means they can install "homebrew" apps etc or apps not certified by google play.
Same principle as a jail broken iphone.
Claims to give you more control over your phone as far as I can make out but invalidates any warranty.

Lots about it on here http://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s3/general

[Jusme]

hmmm! Just can't work out why the conmen at Elite phones would do it???   

[MR MISTER]

Just had a read of some of their reviews, which is something I do before I use any company.
Fraid you'll have to take this as an (expensive) lesson.

[Jusme]

Fraid I will NOT... Letter going registered post in the morning claiming damages for non-repair and carrying out repair without correct skills and care. Already had it all logged with Action Fraud and Trading Standards. I am reliably informed by them that a criminal offence has been committed.. 

[MR MISTER]

Fraid I will NOT... Letter going registered post in the morning claiming damages for non-repair and carrying out repair without correct skills and care. Already had it all logged with Action Fraud and Trading Standards. I am reliably informed by them that a criminal offence has been committed.. 

Good luck.

[Varche]

£250 for a phone repair.

My smartphone including calls and one off setup cost hasn't cost that for ten years worth of use. I would want it to make tea, drive the car and repair the car for that sort of money

[Webby the Bear]

i could get 25 of my phones for the cost of a £250 repair 

[AndyRoid]

Can repair for £254:91.

They are £240 brand new, however a full (glass, LCD, and digitizer) screen replacement is only £130.

The phone being rooted doesn't stop it from working, all it means is that applications can run with Administrator privileges.

I would want it to make tea, drive the car and repair the car for that sort of money

The S3 could quite easily do that lot with the right hardware interface.

[TheBoy]

Can repair for £254:91.

They are £240 brand new, however a full (glass, LCD, and digitizer) screen replacement is only £130.

The phone being rooted doesn't stop it from working, all it means is that applications can run with Administrator privileges.

I would want it to make tea, drive the car and repair the car for that sort of money

The S3 could quite easily do that lot with the right hardware interface.

*cough* superuser *cough*, as its a NIX derivitive

[AndyRoid]

Can repair for £254:91.

They are £240 brand new, however a full (glass, LCD, and digitizer) screen replacement is only £130.

The phone being rooted doesn't stop it from working, all it means is that applications can run with Administrator privileges.

I would want it to make tea, drive the car and repair the car for that sort of money

The S3 could quite easily do that lot with the right hardware interface.

*cough* superuser *cough*, as its a NIX derivitive

Pedantic f***er 

[Jusme]

*cough* superuser *cough*, as its a NIX derivitive And just what does 'that mean'?    One thing/answer I was really looking for is. 'Why on earth would the repairers do 'that'?? 

[MR MISTER]

*cough* superuser *cough*, as its a NIX derivitive And just what does 'that mean'?    One thing/answer I was really looking for is. 'Why on earth would the repairers do 'that'?? 

Because they are cowboys who are after your money!

[AndyRoid]

*cough* superuser *cough*, as its a NIX derivitive And just what does 'that mean'?

A smartphone is essentially a PC that has the ability to make & receive phone calls, and just like Windows there are several levels of "privileges" that can be assigned on a per user basis.

By default a smartphone logs on as a standard user so applications can only do certain things, however rooting a phone means that the same application can then do a lot more (including potentially breaking the phone).

One thing/answer I was really looking for is. 'Why on earth would the repairers do 'that'?? 

I can see no reason for the repair centre to root the handset, it's not like they were going to make any money out of it.....are you sure your son didn't root it before he broke the screen?

[Jusme]

Thank you for that intelligent answer...

[Rods2]

*cough* superuser *cough*, as its a NIX derivitive And just what does 'that mean'?

A smartphone is essentially a PC that has the ability to make & receive phone calls, and just like Windows there are several levels of "privileges" that can be assigned on a per user basis.

By default a smartphone logs on as a standard user so applications can only do certain things, however rooting a phone means that the same application can then do a lot more (including potentially breaking the phone).

One thing/answer I was really looking for is. 'Why on earth would the repairers do 'that'?? 

I can see no reason for the repair centre to root the handset, it's not like they were going to make any money out of it.....are you sure your son didn't root it before he broke the screen?

Where Android is a Linux variant, I presume this means basically logging in as root so you have access to everything?

[CaptainZok]

Can't be much to repairing an S3 screen the technically challenged Stokie managed to do his and he wouldn't be able to root it to save his life. Well he probably would but not in the gaining root sense of the term.

[Entwood]

Did an S3 mini in 30 minutes ... cost £60 ... screen/digitiser/frame ..   YouTube even has a guide to follow

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EaK9r8I4a7I

[TheBoy]

I can see no reason for the repair centre to root the handset, it's not like they were going to make any money out of it.....are you sure your son didn't root it before he broke the screen?

Replacement board, which was locked to another network, rooted to apply dodgy unlocks?

[TheBoy]

*cough* superuser *cough*, as its a NIX derivitive And just what does 'that mean'?

A smartphone is essentially a PC that has the ability to make & receive phone calls, and just like Windows there are several levels of "privileges" that can be assigned on a per user basis.

By default a smartphone logs on as a standard user so applications can only do certain things, however rooting a phone means that the same application can then do a lot more (including potentially breaking the phone).

One thing/answer I was really looking for is. 'Why on earth would the repairers do 'that'?? 

I can see no reason for the repair centre to root the handset, it's not like they were going to make any money out of it.....are you sure your son didn't root it before he broke the screen?

Where Android is a Linux variant, I presume this means basically logging in as root so you have access to everything?

Android, like IOS, blocks you logging on with superuser rights. Hence rooting/jailbreaking relies on exploiting flaws found in the security of the phone (and then blowing the phones security wide open)

[AndyRoid]

Where Android is a Linux variant, I presume this means basically logging in as root so you have access to everything?

That's pretty much it.
By default the only area of a smartphone that the user can access is /sdcard/ and any subfolder down.
By rooting the phone the whole system from the top down is accessible to enable the user to do things such as uninstall pre bundled applications that they will likely never use.

Replacement board, which was locked to another network, rooted to apply dodgy unlocks?

I can see them swapping the board out with one that is blocked/corrupted/whatever, but I would assume that Samsung would have noticed the IMEI mismatch when they decided it had been rooted.