What is rooting?

[nixmith]

Hi all, Im new to tablets having just got a hanspree hanspad.

Very happy so far and learning alot on here.

One thing confuses me - what is rooting/rooted in terms of these devices and can anyone state the advantages/disadvantages?
On a second point, I got a nice case with usb keyboard off ebay and as the hanspad has no full usb port I also got a cable to convert big usb to small usb, but when i connect the keybaord it does not work.

As I type this Im wondering if my two points are linked do I need to 'root' the device to get the keyboard to work?

thanks nixmith

 

[DanU]

Rooting gives you Superuser access to the device. Manufacturers will generally not provide root access because they don't want you to mess up anything, or use features that might be native to Android, but might cause problems on your device. For some apps you need root access (like Titanium Backup). It can be nice to be able to unlock features in a tablet that is sold as an e-reader, for example (like Nook Color). But you can inadvertently screw up your device pretty easily with root access too. for a device that is purpose built to be a tablet (as opposed to a reader) I would suggest that you not root it without a reason. Safer that way

PS my WITSTECH device did not need to be rooted to use the USB.

 

[nixmith]

A good clear explanation, I thought it was something like that. Nixmith