Why do you need to root and customize Android Devices?

Rooting


Apparently is the new Amazon Kindle Fire HD harder to root. And by that I need to ask why do you need to root, hack, customize and fiddle with settings and so on, with Android devices? I don't get it, isn't they good enough out of the box? I prefer devices that works perfectly fine directly out of the box, so I can be as productive and creative as possible. I have no need to make a "cool home screen" or having the "perfect widget" somewhere… I just want to create content as easy and fast as possible. That's why I prefer iOS devices. They have the best apps to be creative and productive with. Android has the best (and most) apps to tinker with settings and doing customizations..

Some voices heard:

Because pretty much everyone on the internet thinks they deserve to do whatever they want with their devices, and that if it's running Android and it's not pure AOSP it's shit and needs to be fixed.

The main reason for people to root the Amazon Kindle Fire HD is to get use for outside of Amazon. Even though it's based on Android it's pretty much locked down for use with Amazons products.

There is still a lot more apps for content creation for ios than on Android. And you will never be able to use android for music making for example. Look at how big the music making scene is on iOS. It's huge. And we have all the best video editing apps for example.

If you want to fiddle with customizations and hacking then do it. It's not my problem that you want that :) if you have time doing that then do it. Others like me doesn't see the point because there is no need for it on an iOS device. So the answer: jailbreak if you want to fiddle with settings and have problems and crashes. Nothing for me.

I prefer to be productive instead of wasting time on customizarions. Those things are for android users that need to have something to do when they don't have any good apps to create stuff with ;)

Clearly, iOS is geared towards artists as Macs always have been.

The Android platform is more akin to a desktop OS than a tablet OS and their development schedule seems to be more geared to providing a true laptop replacement environment rather than pure content consumption. iOS is awesome, but it will never provide a mouse pointer for example because Apple doesn't want to eat in to their MacBook market.

The fact that you see no need to "hack" your device clearly points out that you are fine with having a locked-down device and app market that assumes you're incapable of making decisions for yourself about either the device or the apps you use beyond a simple "Buy" or "Don't Buy" decision process. Most people are in that category which is why Apple has done so well with their platform. However, the "smart kids" want to have the ability to make their own technology decisions and most of the ones I know have chosen Android for that very reason.

I prefer to have a device that works great out of the box. That I can start using immediately to be productive with. Tinkering with settings and customizations is for windows and android users. They are more geeky and nerdy.

Tinkering with settings and customizations" I don't do that with Android, but I CAN if I want to. With iOS you CAN'T :)

file systems is for windows users that still live in the stone age actually. Computing has come a far way since that was needed. I don't see the use of it. That's why I like what Apple are doing with OS X too. We don't have to care about saving anymore. It autosaves and also keeps all the versions of a while totally automatically. That's the future. Windows and android users are acting the same actually :)

You don't need to tinker with customizations on the nexus 7. It works out of the box. Too bad it misses all the creative and productive apps though. More for consuming media only 

My time is precious so I don't want to tinker with settings, rooting, customizations and so on. They are just pointless. That's why I prefer apple products because then I know that I can be as productive and creative as I want. I'm so glad that my time doesn't goes to antivirus scannings, windows updates, fiddling with customizations to have a cool home page and so on. Really happy to not having to do that. 

Well apparently I can't blog, do video editing, photo editing, create music without rooting, hacking and fiddle with customizations on the Kindle Fire HD (or any other android device)? Well then it's nothing for me. Thank god for ios devices then.

No device is perfect, that's why it is important to be able to hack and root it. 

A quick check of the Amazon Market reveals video and photo editing apps. I don't get how you wouldn't be able to blog on a Fire HD.

No idea about the Fire, but for music creation on other Android devcies there's TouchDAW and other apps like Caustic 2 and you can hook MIDI controllers up to ICS and JB devices, without rooting.

Caustic 2 is in the Amazon App Store, so there's at least one DAW available for the Fire (assuming every app I see on my phone runs on the Fire)

I've never understood this need to hack devices, and has been why until recently I've stuck with Apple devices. They generally do what I want out of the box and don't require any extra fiddling or knowledge. The refrain I've been hearing from the Android crowd has always been something to the effect of "Android has done that for years" but only if you root or have some custom ROM. I don't want that crap. I just want my device to work. If it doesn't do what I want from the start, I don't buy it, simple as that.

Although I agree that most people won't need to customise the iOS devices as it's smooth as silk and perform well beyond any android with less powerful specs however I hope Apple can release a sandbox version for people who loves to tinker with the user interface & programming to play around with.

With a sandbox version for newbies & programmers, Apple can charge a small premium for the jailbreak per iTunes account and eliminate the possibility of piracy of applications while giving people options to change how the iOS works.

With the sand box version, Apple can license & patent the works of individuals and hire anyone who can create the next best user interface.

For examples, the Sbsettings short cuts allow me to access simple toggles to increase/decrease brightness, turn WIFI/Bluetooth/3G On/OFF, Quit all background running apps with one toggle and many other options with just 3 steps without opening the settings app.

The Activator allows me to set many actions to trigger certain apps such as triple tap on the home button to open the camera app, touch & hold the top bar to close application, double tap the top bar button to access multi-task background apps hence reducing the use of the home button.

I have many jailbreak apps that allow me to change the number of apps in a single page of my iPhone/iPad so that I can have fewer pages of apps... (Oh yes I have folders before folders is even used in iOS)

Customising the iOS is the foundation of innovation of the next iOS features & I do hope apple continue to allow jailbreaking to exist while reducing piracy of applications at the same time.

Let's keep our fingers crossed and see what apple does in the future :D


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