Oh, the slippery slope. Some foul temptress (tempter? I can’t find the thread to verify his/her gender) enticed me with “I’ve got Tasker and I have it set up so that when I get home it turns off bluetooth and turns on wi-fi”.
So I got Tasker… and it dangled the alluring “turn GPS on automatically” promise in front of me - only to cruelly snatch the prizeaway with “PSYCH!!! Android no longer lets you do that BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA”.
Then Tasker whispered seductively “unless thou rootest thy phone, then all the domains of Hell will be thine to command…”.
And Tasker’s demonic minions on other boards intoned songs of bypassing the lockscreen when tied to their car’s bluetooth, and turning off the lockscreen when they were on their home wi-fi, and other eldritch chants.
And lo! I began to study the arcane grimoires dealing with Rooting Thy Phone, and was sore tempted…
So…
- Who’s done it?
- What did you do to avoid bricking your phone?
- Can I do this without really flashing an alternate ROM? I don’t care about overriding the basics (yet… though it’s a slippery slope)
- How do you un-root if you need to?
- Can you still get OS updates from your provider?
- have I forgotten anything else?
None of the boards I’ve found talk about any of the above, beyond “do this at your own risk”. And they’re usually nearly incomprehensible.
Which Android device do you have?
Some are certainly easier than others, but most of the popular ones have rather straight-forward methods for unlocking and gaining root access.
- Every device I’ve had, and some friends/family
- Read and follow instructions. I’ve never seen a bricked device, and this was back when people had less experience than they do now.
- Yes, unlocking and gaining root access are independent of flashing other ROMs.
- It depends on the phone, but they have various tools for removing root access. At a glance, Super User allows it, but other tools are out there.
- You can receive normal OTA updates, but sometimes they remove root, so you’ll need to use rootkeeper or another method to regain rights.
- This really gets back to 2, but it’s a pretty painless and straightforward process, provided your device is well supported by the community. If you do plan to experiment with other ROMs, then be sure to make backups first. They are your friend.
Currently, I have my Galaxy Nexus running another ROM, while I have an unlocked and rooted Nexus 10 on stock Android, vanilla as can be. Take your time, read, and enjoy. 
Krouget beat me to the punch and is dead on. I root all my phones and would hate having to use one without it. The actual steps required to root your handset will vary depending on the model, but I’ve always found the XDA forums an excellent resource.
Hah - should have specified that. It’s a Samsung Galaxy Note II from Verizon
Is Rootkeeper something that I’d install that would prevent Verizon from removing root access? or just make it easier to regain that once the Veridiots try to wrest it away from me?
It’s funny: the main reason (seriously!) is that I’m sick of having to tell it “yes, I do want to turn GPS on you moron” 3 times a day. Why Android prevents that, I do not know.
Oh, and I’m twitchy because even reading through the various instructions (at XDA and other sites), I don’t follow what they all mean. Must digest these before I try anything.
It makes it easier to regain acces, and it’s a separate app that you’d install. There are others, but as the name implies, Rootkeeper is just a dedicated app for the purpose. If you click the link, filter the reviews by your phone and see what some other users have to say (also to ensure it works smoothly on your device).
Have you allowed location access? I don’t recall where it is from memory on a Touchwiz device, but you should be able to enter settings and scroll to “Location access”, then turn on the options. Or I may be misunderstand what you’re saying/doing.
Also consider using a video to follow along. That way you can have a visual, which makes it even easier. I know with many Samsung devices, you have to use Odin. It’s not the most fun tool, but it is what it is.
I’ve rooted both my old Galaxy Nexus and my new HTC One. Oh, and my Asus Transformer tablet. They were all easy to do, though this does vary significantly by device - the issue is basically whether the manufacturer wants to prevent you from unlocking the bootloader or not. If they don’t, then there’ll be some simple procedure for unlocking the bootloader, then flash a custom recovery (either ClockworkMod or TWRP), then use the custom recovery to install the superuser app. If the manufacturer (or carrier) doesn’t want you to unlock the bootloader, then you need to rely on an exploit to crack that layer of security.
Unfortunately, the Verizon Note 2 has a tightly locked bootloader, and this is one of those cases where every OTA update relocks things and generally obsoletes the previous crack used to gain root. Apparently this is Verizon being pissy about it, not Samsung. There’s currently a story on XDA’s front page about it.
It’s not at all scary once you’ve mastered it, but the learning curve is a bit steep and most of the walkthroughs at XDA tend to assume you know what things like fastboot and adb are, which is intimidating if you don’t.
Once you flash the custom recovery successfully it is all but impossible to truly brick your phone - the worst that can happen is that you have to hold down some buttons while turning the phone on to end up in recovery and then reinstall. “rooting” in android is generally a more satisfactory experience IMO if you also install a custom ROM, usually Cyanogenmod, as then you are off the carrier update schedule and instead update on your own, generally farther and more often than the carrier provides for most phones.
Update guide for Note II
http://wiki.cyanogenmod.org/w/Install_CM_for_n7100