By Reports came in a few days back that the Sprint HTC Hero – recently updated to Android 2.1 – was rooted. While we didn’t report on the breakthrough by the development community over at XDA back when the exploit first made its way to the surface, we feel the need to report on the fact that Sprint and HTC patched those holes up quicker than you can say “how do I boot into recovery?”.
Over the weekend, a quick update was pushed to devices over-the-air that “fixed” what HTC would likely call a “security vulnerability” issue. The OTA is optional, of course, so make sure you don’t accept it if you want to keep your root.
[via Engadget]
yesy
Oh no!
haha i had updated the ota update but figured out i could flash the leaked RUU and then root!
Well, technically the ability to root a phone is a security vulnerability. You can NOT be mad at any phone manufacturer for fixing these. Yes, it’s nice to be able to root our phones and put custom ROMs on them (I do it). I wish the manufacturers would just give us a way to do it without exploiting a security weakness, though. Just void our warranty and let us be on our merry way.
In the end, though, I’d honestly be more worried if these root holes weren’t being plugged as development progressed.
Why would you root an android phone anyways?
@andrew I agree. I would never root my Nexus One. It’s got all the feature and options I need without the need for rooting. Yes, rooting gives you more features, but they all seem not worthy.
I truly, deeply, honestly feel sorry for anyone who thinks rooting is “not worthy”. You all really don’t know what you’re missing. Unless you’re a little old lady who doesn’t mind a bloated, sluggish phone.
@andrew, why not
@Ahmed to name a few, Tethering on Android 2.1, overclocking (more speed), undervolting (more battery life), overclocking+overvolting (more speed AND more bat. life), being able to switch between Froyo and Eclair before official launch, N1 light (flash light app), being able to install programs in system partition (for example wavesecure, so a thief can´t uninstall it), use system programs from other Android devices (ej. Desires camera app on the Nexus), uninstall programs from the system partition (get rid of system programs you don´t want) APP2SD on Eclair and below (no limit on how many apps would fit in the memory), force app2sd under Froyo (no need to wait for an update done by the developer to be able to use the feature)
Rooting isn’t for everybody, but you can’t say it doesn’t have upsides. There are many.
Cyanogen Mod might be my #1 reason. So many useful features and upgrades!
i guess they mean there’s no wow factor like jailbreaking an iphone…
Maybe the benefits of root on an unsubsidized/unlocked N1 are small…the benefits for those of us who are saddled with a locked down, slowly updated machine with a ton of carrier crapware are HUGE.
AT&T’s top of the line(oh yeah, ONLY) Android..still running 1.5. No Google Maps with voice navigation, no official twitter client, no tethering, no doubleTwist, tons of AT&T crapware that gets launched at startup
For me, having root is about options. If you can, why not give yourself everything your phone can do? For what they cost, there is no need for the carrier to have 100% control or my phone.
As a Sprint Hero owner, I can tell ya a few things about waiting for them to come out with a fix or update.
root is everything for me.
Good points.. How do I root my hero 2.1?
Screw root issue, how bout sleep reboot crap! And reflashing Rom fix is bill! hero is useless now! ty sprint.
I have a Macbook, but would like to Root my sprint Hero. how do i do that?
@Adam, xda developer already came up with way to root the phone for the sprint hero 2.1. Of course, if you have done the ota update, then you can. U might be able to put back your old rom and root it from there. But here’s the link for it: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=694572
If the Sprint Hero likely isn’t going to get updated to 2.2 Froyo, then does that mean the only Sprint Android device that will be getting Froyo will be HTC Evo?
Is something else coming out?