Sun Mar 10, 2019 11:54 pm
Most people who root their phones do so for one of two reasons: custom ROMs and increased "hackability" (read: "control of the phone through means not provided by its manufacturer).
Some more advanced users (developers, really) root so they can gain access to certain files not normally available to users. A good example of this for me, if I were to root this phone, would be manually backing up the radio app's configuration and being able to modify it offline on a PC with a full keyboard so I could more easily use it for amateur radio.
Along the same lines as as the above paragraph, eventually maybe the manufacturer includes a feature in a future update that you might be able to add ahead of time.
So far, aside from maybe you breaking something (which a factory reset should, in theory, fix), none of the above is inherently "dangerous".
"Danger" begins when you start using apps or operating systems you don't "know" and therefore shouldn't "trust". Custom ROMs can include malicious code or apps which you can only truly know if you read all of the source code yourself, and if course like a fire, sweet Jesus, ain't nobody got time fo dat.
So because nobody ever really pores over the source code themselves (except the developers who make it), app developers can't trust that you have a secure platform, and as such, can't trust it for secure data such as bank account numbers, personal information, HIPAA sensitive correspondence, etc. Because of this, as one example, most banks require third party app developers to add a root checker into the app so that if your phone is rooted the app won't allow you access to your account. Mine is one such bank. They actually have an Obamacare-esque EULA that is so long it would even put *MY* kids to sleep and buried deeeeeeep in paragraph umpteen-hundred-and-three, section four, paragraph nobody's-reading-this-anyway, is a line specifically prohibiting use of rooted devices even to access your account from the web URL.
So the danger does exist, just with all the custom ROMs out there, (1) which one will run without bugs on Blackview hardware, (2) can you trust the developer, and (3) if the dev did screw something up or overlook something, or just not even know about some peculiar aspect of this device, will running the ROM break something in the phone at the physical level (it CAN happen)?
This is the first device I have owned but not rooted. I'm not a fan of certain aspects of the device, but ultimately, rooting would only provide me convenience, not added usability, so for me it's not worth the risk of bricking the device (especially since forcing a power-loss reset if something went wrong would involve cracking open the case to disconnect the battery).
Overall, as long as BV continue to provide improvements via OTA or even downloadable updates, and as long as they are responsive to their customers' requests and bug reports in a timely fashion, I think I won't need to root. It will be a first for me. I think BV could loosen the reigns a little bit and provide at least SOME filesystem access so we can do things like back up and restore app configurations through things like ADB, but so far it's just an inconvenience, not a nuisance, for me.