Advantages of rooting your Android device

Android development has opened the doors to various exciting opportunities. Android developers have come up with Android mobile applications whose functionality has grown vast in scope and range. For an Android phone user, rooting will give more control in customizing his phone to suit his needs.

What is rooting?

Rooting is similar to jail breaking on the iPhone. In Android devices, software like SU (switch user) exploits the vulnerability in the operating system code and gives the user complete control over his phone. The various advantages of rooting your Android device are listed below.

Android OS customization

Rooting allows you to customize your Android OS. You can alter system files, use themes, change boot images, remove unnecessary/stock apps, etc.

Backup and restore

Rooting allows you to backup an image of your Android-powered device onto an SD card. This allows you to install and run a new ROM (customized, after-market OS). If you are not satisfied with the new ROM, you can always restore the previous image from the SD card.

Save space

Rooting allows you to enable your Android apps to be moved onto an SD card even if the Android developers have not enabled this feature. This might be helpful in case you have reached the memory space bottleneck and need to shift some apps onto a removable media like an SD card.

Some apps require rooting

Some special Android apps specifically require rooting. For example ROM Manager requires rooting in order to flash ROMs from an SD card onto your phone. Another app that requires rooting is setCPU that is used to under/overclock the device.

A caution

Be thorough on instructions before rooting your phone. Improper execution will result in a bricked phone. A bricked phone is one that has a damaged firmware or software and the phone is rendered unusable.

Summary

Rooting is a great trick to get to use your phone's full power and functionality. Customized Android ROMs have today evolved to cover full advanced access controls. The best way to get started is to Google for information on rooting your phone by the search string “<phone name> custom ROM.”

Posted by +Sandeep Patekar on 04:27 in android apps, Android Developers, Android Development, android mobile applications

Malicious Apps Can Disable Android OS Anti-Virus Software

ZDNet has reported a potential vulnerability in Android OS, which can be used by malicious software to disable the installed anti-virus software. The malware can even corrupt the anti-virus software and use it as a malicious app. The founder of security firm Privateer Labs, ReileyHassell highlighted this fact. The component that is vulnerable is not disclosed yet as Reiley is taking it up with Google.

According to Reiley, malicious Android developers can develop apps that look legitimate, but are actually malicious in intent. They claim to provide productive services like bank account authentications or virus-fighting enhancements. The users are tricked into downloading and installing these Trojanized apps lending themselves to malfeasance. The strategy, increasingly called “app phishing,” is an Android-based exploit where the app informs the Android developer whenever it is invoked. A banking app can, for example, show a fake login page and transmit the login details to a remove Web server, resulting in loss of financial and personal information.

It is a tough call to fix responsibility for ensuring the sanctity of Android development environment. Ideally, Google can follow a signature-based screening for Android mobile applications. Already, Google has removed over a 100 malware apps from the marketplace in the past year. Android development being open sourced lends itself to half-baked and malicious apps more than say Apple OS. These challenges are a tough call and needs to be addressed by the Android development community together. On the other hand, it has made Andorid mobile applications development the fastest growing platform in both range and scope.

The best ways users can mitigate risk from Android mobile applications are downloading and installing only from trusted sources that have known developer names and good rating, checking if the permissions requested by the app sticks to its stated objectives, and keeping an eye on unusual activities in the device.

Posted by +Sandeep Patekar on 01:32 in android apps, Android Developers, Android Development, android mobile applications