root

Each day more and more Android handsets are being sold, and that means users are faced with a major decision: To root, or not to root. Some of us will do it simply because we can, others will decide not to do it as they enjoy the phone as-is, but the majority of us will be on the fence about the whole idea of rooting. 

Hopefully some of those questions can get answered and you’ll have a clearer picture of the process and some understanding to make the decision a bit easier.  I’m sure this won’t answer every question you’ll...

Though it may seem like Android phones are getting rooted faster and faster, rooting the Motorola Milestone actually took a bit of time. But wait no more because the Milestone (GSM version of the Droid that packs multitouch) has been rooted for full access...

What's that, you ask? The Nexus One, set to be announced by Google next week, has already been rooted? Don't be too surprised. It's an HTC device, after all, and there are enough of the in the wild that this was bound to happen. We'll let Paul from MoDaCo explain:

Superboot...

Hooray! The Motorola Cliq (full review coming, we promise) has officially been rooted. Which means you can turn this tween-text-teen-social-centric phone into a powerhouse of whatever you like, in time. It's not quite ready for what we all expect rooted Android phones to be ready for--cyanogenMOD ROMs, Sense ROMs, etc.--but we expect that to be all figured out shortly. In the meantime, enjoy the fact that the rooted Cliq won't have to be stuck with Motoblur and will...

The Barnes & Noble Nook just received a software update that brings the firmware version up to 1.1.  Basically, reboot your Nook to get the download to start or you can manually install it. Since the Nook has already been rooted, it's a little surprising that 1.1 didn't break...

This rooted Nook story just gets better and better. After getting rooted and receiving Pandora, the Nook has now, literally overnight, got a working web browser and Twitter and Facebook applications from Android Market installed. Given how quickly the amazing guys at nookdevs have...

Oh boy, this is going to get good fast. You already knew that the Nook, Barnes and Noble's e-reader, had been rooted, right? Well, that was only step one. Some users at nookDevs are reporting that they've managed to get Pandora Radio running and working on the Nook. That means a real life, breathing Android app is running on the Nook, which means more real...

Oh yes. Leave it to the great minds in the Android dev community to already gain root access to the Nook. Meaning it's been hacked and ready to be unleashed. We're going to see some very cool usage of the Nook very, very soon. But you know what would be cooler? If people could actually buy the Nook, the Android-powered e-reader, in stores.

The current root process is not for the faint of heart, you have to pry open the casing, pull out the microSD card...

Those of you (and us) not patient enough to wait for Verizon to roll out the 2.0.1 update on its own are in luck. Not only can the Motorola Droid now be rooted, the incremental update to the Android OS can be applied manually, and it's as easy as applying a couple of zip files.

First up is the update, which comes to us

We're sure a lot of you T-Mobile G1 owners have been interested in Google Maps Navigation since it was announced (to be fair, who isn't interested?). And when we told you that the fine folks at xda-developers had figured a way to port Google Maps Navigation onto the beloved G1, you couldn't wait to find out how to do the same. And now that we...

The T-Mobile myTouch 3G has been rooted. The wonderful folks of XDA developers have already hacked the myTouch 3G and were even thoughtful enough to provide detailed instructions on how to gain root yourself!

As with all rooting methods, if done incorrectly it may brick your device, so please tread carefully when following the instructions. Rooting a phone can be beneficial to those who want to take advantage of the full power of the...