I have had my droid 2 for a little over two weeks now, and i have installed launcher pro, handcent, the usual apps most people do... ive customized it pretty well... i have been reading the forum(s) looking at rooting my droid 2 (2.3.20) and i am still unsure of whether or not to actually do it...
My concern/questions:
1) what will it do to my warranty, if the phone has a major issue, what will i be able to do to get it replaced...
2) Ive read a bit on Rom's, custom rom's, overclocking, etc, and am not sure how to flash a rom, etc etc...
a)will i lose my info if i flash a rom?
b)benefits/drawbacks?
3) things to do once rooted? etc
4)cant think of anymore right now, will update as i think of them
1) Your warranty is void. Make sure you don't have hardware issues (like a blown speaker) before proceeding. See if it's insured (can add within the first 15 days with Asurion through VZW or through the Credit Card/Bank Card that you used to pay for it). If you root and then unroot (flashing the .sbf file - see other threads) then you can potentially have it replaced by VZW/Motorola if you're still under warranty (1yr by default).
2) Get root first. Get Koush's bootstrap / Clockworkmod. Boot into recovery. Install ROM via .zip file. Keep checking back for updates, support, etc.
2a) There are ways to back everything up. You will never lose the info on your memory card, but ALWAYS keep a backup of it elsewhere. I recommend getting and buying Titanium Backup from the market (someone said it was around $6 or $7 in another thread here). Clockworkmod/Nandroid backups are like System Restore - you can "flash" back to them if something goes wrong, but you'll need root to complete a backup. Titanium Backup will get your apps and "saved games" - plus it's a handy tool for freezing apps that you don't want to update when the developer decides to update their market app and break it or charge for it or put ads into it or ruins the way it runs. For contacts/email/calendar, you should have them (wirelessly) synced elsewhere if you have them on your phone (gmail, exchange account, email address, etc). Look for SMS back up apps in the market if you absolutely can't live without saving your text messages - personally I see no reason to.
2b) Void warranty. Support is typically on forums. Might suck hours out of your life as you try to change, install, fix, or update something with your phone. Customization. Learning. Control. Why wouldn't you tune up or pimp out your car, computer, or phone if you could?
3) After root, back everything up and verify it's backed up. Set up your phone how you want and then back it up again if it's running perfect. Finally proceed to experiment if you want.
I personally use it to apply themes and backup applications. You get access to the 8gig of internal memory if you want to use it for more storage (I don't). Custom roms are great if you are looking for something besides the s/w Motorola is producing. There are a few different custom ones for the D2 since the latest update.
