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ROOTING YOUR SPECTRUM 2 PHONE: FAQ​

In rooting your LG Spectrum 2 VS930 you can unlock your handset's full potential--an increase in speed, battery life, and customizability is just a few of the benefits. You also gain access to more options for making far more comprehensive backups (of your applications and your settings within them), some killer themes, and all kinds of wonderful interface tweaks that are so good you can't believe they're not included in Android out of the box. Real information on rooting can be hard to sort through, however, and you can find a lot of misinformation out there. Let's dispel some of the myths surrounding rooting.

Q. Is rooting my Android phone worth the trouble?

In my opinion, the answer is a resounding yes. My phone is faster than it has ever been, the battery lasts longer, and I have all kinds of new features, including free wireless tethering and notification-bar widgets. Rooting your phone is generally a fairly quick process, though the complexity depends on your specific situation. Once you're rooted your handset, you can begin installing apps (many directly from Android Market) that will take advantage of your handset's new capabilities, and generally involves your wiping all the data from your phone, but even that is worthwhile.

Q. Won't rooting my phone be complex and difficult?

Yes and no. It really depends on what model of phone you have. On many phones (such as the LG Spectrum 2 VS930) the process is incredibly easy.

It is important to note that different approaches will work for different phones. Rooting is phone/OS specific, so make sure to check that the root tool you're considering is compatible with your phone. For other models, rooting may take much more work. You might be required to connect the phone to your computer and enter some lines of code in a terminal utility.

Fortunately, more and more root apps do not require you to hook up your computer and get in that deep. Do some research as to what is required for your setup, read some step-by-step guides, and be honest with yourself about how comfortable you would be trying to follow the directions. If it feels like you'd be in over your head, it's probably best to avoid rooting.

Note that generally rooting is even tougher to do if you use a Mac, as most of the software for doing this sort of thing is written for Windows or Linux.

Q. Do I run the risk of bricking my phone?

This is one of the Internet's favorite bogeymen. "Bricking" is the idea that if you try to tinker with root access, you’ll mess something up so it becomes completely unusable, and you’ll essentially turns your phone into a paperweight. While that's certainly not outside the realm of possibility, the good news is that Android phones are generally very hard to brick.

If you do get caught in a boot loop, you may have to connect your phone to your computer and rewrite some code, but if you are patient and willing to do some more reading, you will almost always be able to find a way to at least restore your phone to its original state (click on >Restore Your Spectrum 2 Back to Clean Factory Stock).

A common mistake that actually will lead to a bricked phone is running out of battery power in the middle of trying to Root your device. The operating system only half installs, and that really is tough to fix. So always make sure that your battery is full before you start.

Also, just because a phone is root-able does not mean you can install any custom ROM you want. Different ROMs will work for different phones. Even the extremely popular Cyanogen Mod works for many phones, but certainly not all, so do plenty of research to make sure your phone is supported before trying to install a custom ROM. (No custom ROMs for the LG Spectrum 2 VS930 as of yet)

Q. If I root my phone, will I have any customer support?

Rooting can be daunting because there is no toll-free number you can call for help, and no governing body to which you can turn for definitive answers. The user-generated forums out there contain a staggering amount of information; the RootzWiki forum has answers to almost all of your questions, as has the XDA Developers forum, but you can find many more. No matter your question, the forums most likely already have threads that can answer it. You can find everything at the spectrum 2 forum, you can always start a new thread to ask your question.