What does "rooting" a Tab 2 7.0 do?

[deltadon]

Hi,

I know nothing about tablets really. I suppose if I did, I wouldn't be here.

I keep seeing references to "rooting" tablets. I have a Tab 2 7.0 GT-P3113. What exactly would rooting it accomplish? I'm old enough to have learned that "free lunches" are rare in this world, so what are the tradeoffs for rooting?

What new things would this enable me to do with the Tab 2 7.0 GT-P3113 and what would I lose?

And lastly, what dangers are involved in the process?

If an answer here would prove to be long and painstaking, would someone please be kind enough to put up some links which will explain this to me?

I've done some google searches but I keep finding HOW to root the Tab 2 7.0 GT-P3113 but nowhere can I find what it does and why I might want to do this.


What I'm hoping rooting will enable me to do is get rid of some of the stuff Samsung decided to use my memory for.

Before I bought it, it didn't occur to me to see how much of the 8gb internal memory was taken up by stuff I don't really want or need (but Samsung decided to force down my throat).

After I bought it I discovered that well over 4gb of the 8gb internal memory was already taken up, leaving less than half of the internal memory free for me to use how I want.

This type of thing reminds me of when downloading some software or other all of a sudden you've got new toolbars and a bunch of other crap someone snuck into your hard drive and made it your default whatever. I hate that crap!!!

Anyway, still not checking far enough into this, I bought a 16gb external memory card thinking, "Problem solved. I'll never use it all."

THEN I find out that, for the most part, I can only use the memory the way SAMSUNG ALLOWS ME TO which is essentailly to store videos, music and graphic files. Can't store apps etc on it. GRRRRR.

I mean I like the Tab 2, I really do. And I appreciate Samsung laying Jelly Bean on me. That was nice if them. But somehow, at the same time, I feel a little cheated by Samsung too.

Would rooting it allow me to get rid of some of the bloatware?

Would it all me to use the external card the way I want to use it? Would i be able to store other things on it and not be limited to storing only videos, music and graphics?

Please pardon my ignorance.

And thank you,

Don

 

[deltadon]

If I were a baseball player I'd be sent down to the minors.

So far I'm 0 - 157.

 

[Spider]

Actually, you're about 1 for 5 now. Of the 157, odds are only 4 were members who could answer if they knew the answer. The rest were lurkers who can't post to the forum.

Rooting allows you to modify the OS (Android) on your tablet.

The downside is it normally voids your warranty

Another downside ties into your reason for wanting to root your tablet, getting rid of bloatware. Unless you know what you're doing, you may delete something critical to Android and end up with a brick instead of a tablet. Also, you may stop automatic OTA (Over The Air) updates from taking place when they're issued by the manufacturer. The installing software usually checks to make sure the OS is the original before doing the update. If it's not, the update is aborted.

 

[Tom T]

You probably will find that media is static and storage intensive, and an SD card is perfect for this. As far as apps go you likely will find there is plenty of space, unless you find you must have every app, regardless of whether you will actually use them, installed on your tablet. Rooting seems like a good idea until you delete just the wrong file from system/apps and you have an expensive paperweight. I'm not saying don't root, there are benefits, but first learn all you can about your tablet and Android. Then, if there is something you want to accomplish that requires root go for it. There is no reason to root first and ask questions later....hey, I like that ;-)

Sent from my Galaxy Note 10.1

 

[Astrix]

I keep seeing references to "rooting" tablets. I have a Tab 2 7.0 GT-P3113. What exactly would rooting it accomplish? I'm old enough to have learned that "free lunches" are rare in this world, so what are the tradeoffs for rooting?

Please pardon my ignorance.

And thank you,

Don

Welcome to the forum Don

Take a look here. Hope you get the answer what you have been searching for http://www.galaxytabforums.net/forum/showthread.php?p=22928

 

[Spider]

Take a look here. Hope you get the answer what you have been searching for Why Should I Root My Android Device? Rooting/ROM's Pros/Cons & Dictionary of Rooting

Excellent discussion Astrix, in fact I've created a "Sticky" in the Q&A section linking to it.

Thinking About Rooting Your tablet?

 

[Astrix]

Excellent discussion Astrix, in fact I've created a "Sticky" in the Q&A section linking to it.

Thinking About Rooting Your tablet?

You're welcome sir :thumbup:
Hope OP or anyone can have a start with it.

 

[Abb0nz]

My first "tablet" was a Nook Color which I rooted to get rid of the B&N front end. I really liked it and had it for two years.

I've had my SGT 2 7.0 for 3 or 4 months now and don't really see a need to root it. It does everything I want and has everything I need. I guess it all depends on what you plan to use the SGT for.

 

[Spider]

It does everything I want and has everything I need.

Good call AbbOnz. I think a lot of people root because of peer pressure. Their friends rooted their tablets, so they think they have to as well whether there's a real reason for it or not. If it's not broken, .......

 

[Shortyred]

Ok but can someone tell me is the tab 2 better than the nook color? My nook doesn't surf very well and video is really bad. I'm running 7.2. Will the tab be better?

Sent from my NookColor using Android Tablet Forum

 

[Abb0nz]

I thought the Nook Color was great as an introduction to tablets (after rooting it!). I thought it played videos well once I had it figured out (I used DVD Catalyst 4 as a converter) but the surfing wasn't the best. Lets not forget that the NC is more a flashy (no pun intended) reader that can surf and play video. At the time it was one of the best at what it did. There's the Nook Tablet now and even a Nook 10 inch Tablet (not sure what it's called) and I'm sure they're better than the NC was.
Is the SGT 2 7.0 better than the NC? Yes, without a doubt. Is it better than the NT or the 10 inch, no idea as I haven't tried them. I do like the SGT especially since the JB update.

Having said all that, I have downloaded the Nook app onto the SGT

 

[deltadon]

... I'm not saying don't root, there are benefits, but first learn all you can about your tablet and Android. Then, if there is something you want to accomplish that requires root go for it. There is no reason to root first and ask questions later....hey, I like that ;-)

Sent from my Galaxy Note 10.1

I too like "There is no reason to root first and ask questions later". It has that certain ring of wisdom.

Okay, we've covered many of the negatives of "amateur" rooting. What are some of those benefits? One thing that I'm curious about is can "privacy" be improved in any way by rooting?

Some of the 'automatic bloatware" has all kinds of "permissions" built in. I like none of them. And as far as I can see, a lot of the bloatward just takes permissions and doesn't really ask. Am i wrong about this?

As an aside, I'm not active anywhere in social media. I guess social media is okay to a certain extent. But it seems every day I read where some aspect of social media has come around to bite a participant in the butt, oftentimes with grave consequences.

An immediate example that comes to mind is the teenaged female who is jealous of her boyfriend and another young woman who was trying to "take him away" from her.

She had a post on her FB page that she would kill the other girl if she kept it up. Some time later she ended up jumping out of an SUV with a steak knife in her hand to threaten the other girl. The other girl wasn't scared and they started fighting and the other girl was stabbed to death.

The prosecution displayed the FB page for the jury. CLANG!!!! (Prison bars closing). I forget exactly how long it took the jury to come back with the guilty verdict, but it was fast. (Sorry for the little rant).

So anyway, what might be some of the benefits of rooting concerning privacy AND anything else?

 

[Frederuco]

You can disable the bloatware if you don't use it. Settings - Apps - All - [APP NAME] - Uninstall Updates/Disable

The main advantage for rooting a device has been to do full backups. However, there are quite a few apps that allow non-rooted devices to be backed up. I know 2 apps in the app store, and one built into the OS if you know how to use ADB.

If you do root, you can disable permissions of apps one at a time using something like Permission Denied. However, you could cause your tablet to not boot by disabling permissions on some apps.

Also, rooting means you have full admin rights on your tablet. This also makes it easier for hackers and malicious software to cause havoc on you and your tablet. The risk is low if you do not go to malicious websites and only install apps from the Play Store.

There are some apps you can't use unless you are rooted. Some apps allow you to hide the system bars to use true full screen for videos. There is also an app Browser2RAM that speeds up web browsing by using the RAM instead of the internal memory. But, are these significant enough to bother rooting? Maybe...

Rooting also allows you to install custom recovery if your bootloader is unlocked, then you can install custom ROMs. Some custom ROMs are modified stock ROMs, others are completely different (AOSP, AOKP, CM, PA, etc.). Some of these custom ROMs are newer versions of Android. My tablet is a TF101 which the stock version is 4.0.3 from Asus. I am currenly running a 4.2.1 and it runs faster than the stock 4.0.3 ever ran.

Well, that probably doesn't help too much, but it is up to the user to do some research on what ROMs are available for your device. Check out the forum at xda-developers.com for your tablet for the best place to find ROMs.