To root or not to root, that is the question.

Aw root, the quintessential mark of a smartphone techie. One needs only to have a small conversation with an android user to know if they are in the presence of one of the true, the proud, the rooters. For those who don't know what root it, and to put it simply, its hacking your device to give you, the user, full administration privaledges to your phone. But in doing this you must remember, with great power, comes great responsibility. Having root on your phone and tinkering around with it can quickly turn your once expensive tech of the future, into a nice door stopper.

Many of you know that I've dabble (and lets be honest, still dabble) in the root pool. I've rooted probably half the phones I've owned, along with a couple tablets. There are many reasons to want root on your phone, but the first time I did it, it was purely to just to see if I could do it without bricking my phone. There was definitely some tense moments in that hour it took me the first time. But the joy when it worked? Wow! I was in techie heaven. Custom roms and root only apps where downloaded a plenty that first month. And I couldn't have been happier.

(Great custom rom named Paranoid Android)

I think about rooting now, and wonder if and when I will root my current Android phone. A few years ago, rooting brought you so many options that stock android just didn't have yet. Those nice toggles in the notification window for turning on and off WiFi, Airplane Mode, Volume, and others? Only available on custom roms. Wanted to completely customize your homescreen appearance? Again, custom roms were there to help you. Luckily, that's not really the case anymore. Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM's) like HTC, LG, Sony, and Samsung all give you these options right from the beginning. You even have home screen launcher replacement apps in the Play Store that can completely change the way your phone looks by the touch of a button (I will review one of these exact apps in the future). Developers are truly taking advantage of the tools that Google gives them to open up your phone and make it something more then you might not have ever imagined.

Will I root my current android phone? Probably. But the time between when I buy a new phone, and when I root it, is becoming longer and longer. And that, I believe, is a great thing for us consumers.