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Motorola DROID gets rooted, world waits for multi-touch mod

By: , IntoMobile
Wednesday, December 9th, 2009 at 5:19 PM

motorola-droid-intomobileThe iPhone has been “jailbroken” for years. Android phones like the HTC G1 and Magic have been “rooted” for some time as well. Now, it’s the Motorola DROID’s turn. Android hackers have found a way to gain root access to the DROID’s file-system, allowing devs to install unsupported apps and inject new features into the smartphone’s Android OS.

Whether you refer to it as a “jailbreak” or “root” isn’t important. What’s important here is that, for the first time since launch, the DROID is now ready for hackers/modders to get develop Android apps and custom Android builds that neither Motorola nor Verizon would ever condone. That also means it’s only a matter of time before someone releases an app that overclocks the DROID’s processor, or a modded build of the DROID’s Android operating system that supports multi-touch gestures like pinch zooming.

Interested? You can root your own DROID with little hassle. You do run the risk of bricking your DROID into a mostly useless paperweight, but that’s the price you pay for playing outside Verizon and Motorola’s sandbox. Find details on how to root your DROID here.

We suggest reading through the entire post before diving in. Also, it might be a good idea to familiarize yourself with the Android update process that we outline here – out instructions should give a better understanding of the update process, in turn, helping you understand the rooting process.

Update your DROID to Android 2.0.1

[Via: Alldroid]

About The Author

Will Park

Will hails from The City of Angels - Los Angeles, California. He spends his time playing with his numerous gadgets and looking forward to seeing what future holds for mobile technology. An avid promoter of a fully "digital" life, he promotes the widespread adoption of truly mobile, paper-less living. He dreams of the day when he can go completely digital. No more snail mail, paper receipts, bound books, notepads/spiral notebooks, credit cards, hard currency. He's a digital warrior - fighting for the converged life. He is an idealist and a realist - he has a perfect view of what the world should be but knows that the world is not perfect. Can we ever hope to see Will's dream become reality? We'll see...

  • helpingout09

    This is great news! Really looking forward to the full power of the Droid being unleashed!

    If this makes you want to pick up a Droid even more, make sure to get the best current deals at BuyDroidPhones.com

  • Why Root?

    The Droid does NOT need to be rooted to support pinch/zoom.

    The Dolphin Browser, downloadable for free from the Android Marketplace, is a much better browser than the one that comes with the Droid and it allow you to pinch/zoom on webpages.