Rooting Your MyTouch
I recently rooted a MyTouch and I have to tell you it can be a real ordeal. From what I have gathered, the process has been greatly simplified for most folks with the handy one click method offered by the Unlockr. I, however, didn't want to go that route. I had one of the dreaded "Perfected SPLs" and so I wanted to switch over to something that would allow me to to use fastboot. Because of this, I tried the ridculously long process involving a "Goldcard" (the complete process is outlined here).
One big rub for me thru this whole process what the lack of info in any one location. I was also frustrated by the lack of the "why" I was doing what I was doing. If I'm going to be flashing code onto my device, at the bare minimium I want to know what I'm flashing and why. Here's what I found out ...
The "whys"
Why do I need to root?
You phone comes with a stock or carrier branded ROM. This version of Andriod has been build such that you don't have full control of your device. Much of the functionality is locked and can't be opened and/or modified. It was designed so that you couldn't easily change the ROM and would be forever stuck with carrier updates and limitations. To get around this, various holes have been found that can be exploided to allow you to write new ROMs to your device. Then you can choose your own version of Andriod and do as you please.
Why would I want to change the SPL?
The SPL is a bootloader for you phone. If you want to connect your phone to your box and flash/boot roms with fastboot, then you need to have an SPL that will allow this. Some SPLs are deemed "perfected" because they won't allow you to contect to them via fastboot. Without this capability, you will have to flash/load all of your ROMS using a SD card. [ Fix it! ]
Why all of the steps?
Really all you need to do to root your MyTouch is get a custom recovery image on it. With a custom recovery image, you can boot into a hacked recovery mode and then flash ROMs stored on a SD card. Of course getting a custom recovery image on the MyTouch and loading it can be difficult because of the forementioned security features of stock/carrier ROMs.
Why do I need a recovery image
Think of the recovery image as a spare tire. If something were to go wrong with you install of Android, you would still be able to boot up into recovery mode (press power with volume down pressed, keep it pressed until you see the recovery screen) and hopefully do something about it. If you have a custom recovery loaded, you certainly will be able to do something! This means that it's a lot harder to bone/brick your MyTouch than you might think.
Why do I see this stuff about backing up Google Apps?
Because of some licensing issues, custom ROMs aren't packaged with Gmail, Google Maps, etc. Each ROM provider has their own way to backup/restore these.
The "hows"
Rooting a MyTouch is well documented elsewere, no need to repeat them. I'll just give some pointers that might help...
Tips
- Read the instructions several times, but rememeber, the basic idea is to get a custom recovery image loaded and/or flashed and then use it to flash a custom ROM (tailored version of Android for your MyTouch)
- Make sure you've got the 'adb' and possibly 'fastboot' up and running.
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