rooting????

[Guest mjc1973]

Hi i'm very new to tablets and everyone keeps asking how to root devices!!! What does this mean? And would it be beneficial. Laymans terms would be appreciated no jargon.

Thanks

[Guest smweb]

Android rooting is the process of allowing users of smartphones, tablets, and other devices running the Android mobile operating system to attain privileged control (known as "root access") within Android's subsystem.

 

Rooting is often performed with the goal of overcoming limitations that carriers and hardware manufacturers put on some devices, resulting in the ability to alter or replace system applications and settings, run specialized apps that require administrator-level permissions, or perform other operations that are otherwise inaccessible to a normal Android user. On Android, rooting can also facilitate the complete removal and replacement of the device's operating system, usually with a more recent release of its current operating system.

 

As Android derives from the Linux kernel, rooting an Android device is similar to accessing administrative permissions on Linux or any other Unix-like operating system such as FreeBSD or OS X.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Android_rooting