I enjoy my Android phone a lot because the platform allows me to highly customize my experience. Android users can enjoy a lot of flexibility without having to root the phone, but rooting your device opens additional possibilities. Recently, Google announced movie rentals as a soon-to-be service, but indicated that rooted phones would be excluded from the service. The likely reason is because of the unknown or uncontrolled factors of rooted devices and how that may conflict with digital rights management.
I can’t say that I completely object to the move. Contracts with film distributors are probably difficult to lock down with the notion of a tampered device. Convincing movie studios to stream their intellectual property has been an uphill battle for years and I can see this being a necessary compromise in order for Google to get this service off the ground. But as a user, this just plain ol’ sucks. My device is rooted for completely different purposes, and I suspect most others who are rooted are as well. Frankly, I have no clue how to get around DRM with a rooted device and am not inclined to find out. I suspect I’m not alone.
From my standpoint, rooting my device is more important than streaming/watching movies on my phone. I doubt I’m the only one.
#1 by Eddie Espinosa on May 26, 2011 - 9:48 pm
I share your views..i run my non rooted Droid Xand am very happy with it…i by no means am a techy, geek or nerd..i have yet to hear a valid reason to root..i hear how I can go from benchmarking in the mid 1600 to over 3000 but what if the speed i have now is more than enough? I dont think I would get the true benefit of a rooted phone as someone as tech savy as you. I still debate though but moreso just cause I want to see what this bad boy can do!
#2 by Andy on May 27, 2011 - 7:37 am
I root my Droid X for 2 reasons:
1 — it is the only way to get rid of all of the crapware that Verizon/Motorola install on my device (e.g. CitySearch, etc.) I don’t mind that they are on there, even though they do take up precious storage space, BUT what I *do* mind is that they are constantly running taking up CPU cycles and more importantly battery life.
2 — wireless tether. I want to be able to tether my phone to my laptop when traveling and I don’t want to pay an extra $20-30/month to do so.
By the way: Verizon released the new version of Android for the Dropid X today. Go get it!