Why I rooted my phone

This is just a note for myself what hacks I applied to my phone to make it more usable to me. This is to reproduce these settings once I flash the full Android 2.2 “FroYo” image onto my Motorola Milestone:

1. AdFree Android to hide ads in nearly all apps. This is done by installing a /system/etc/hosts file with ad-servers’ IPs pointing to localhost.
2. Memory hack: Dalvik-cache is moved from the /data to the /cache partition to free up some space.^*†
3. Apps2sd: The whole /data/app[-private] directories are placed on the SD card to free up even more space.^†
4. Overclocking and o/c profiles: The Milestone/Droid’s factory setting is the 600 MHz CPU downclocked to 550 MHz, however, I run it on 800 MHz, but only when the display is on.
   [Update Oct 31] I almost forgot to mention the CPUfreq interactive governor, which I installed in addition.
5. JIT compiler backport to make all apps faster.^*†
6. QUERTY keyboard layout despite the German/European QUERTZ key arrangement.^*
7. Have WaveSecure as system app to be able to localize it via GPS remotely anytime.^†
8. Make screenshots using drocap2.
9. Autostarts to avoid starting too many apps at boot time.
10. Hot Reboot for quick UI restarts instead of lame cold reboots.
11. Uninstall/reinstall some system apps such as the default browser or XING; this is a work-around for the “Package file is invalid” error messages in the Market.
    
12. Some tweaks of the build.prop to avoid hiding some apps in the Market^*, plus more window events per second.
13. Busybox to get a full GNU/Linux command line environment with bash, grep & Co.^*
14. [Update Oct 27] Replace the YouTube app by the new and backported version^†
15. [Update Nov 9] A hack to display the battery level in 10%-steps instead of 20%.

^* Achieved by TimeTurn’s OpenRecovery for Milestone
^† Not needed anymore in 2.2

And while we’re at it: Of course the Android system has got some flaws, but I think the situation’s similar to desktop environments: The on-board software is able to provide some basic things, but it’s up to third party developers to provide apps with full functionality, especially when I think of features regarding contacts (e.g. edit groups and birthdays, share via Bluetooth or SMS), calendar (e.g. search) or e-mail (e.g. search). Further apps I have installed are on this always almost complete and up-to-date list—HTH: