Rooting (or Jailbreaking if you're used to the iPhone) is pretty awesome - it enables you to use a whole bunch of apps that are previously offlimits (such as Titanium Backup - a piece of software that will back up all of your .apks. It also enables you to remove some of the built-in bloat that Sony stuffed onto the Xperia Play which frees up a bit more space for new apps (Who honestly needs the Chinese keyboard on their phone?!)
The classic way to root a phone is to first unlock the boatloader and then through that, install a version of your ROM that allows root access. However, although SE are providing a way to unlock the bootloader on a Play, this is not ideal because:
- Unlocking the bootloader automatically invalidates your warranty
- When you have unlocked your bootloader, the software update function on your phone stops working as SE consider your phone to be "modified"
- Most phones are SIM-locked to a particular network and are therefore not even candidates to be bootloader unlocked
The solution is to root your phone without unlocking the bootloader. How? A new application called UnlockRoot does it all for you! Literally, all you need to do is download the UnlockRoot.exe, run it and enjoy your new rooted Play. I can confirm that it is 100% working and took about 2 minutes from start to finish.
All you have to do is connect to your computer, enable USB debugging which is accessible through Settings>applications>devlopment>USB debugging
open UnlockRoot.exe and click root, after that it should take the comp. 1 min tounlock then 1 min to reboot then voila you have it rooted!
to download click here!( or look for link in paragragh 3) and to see the supported devices click here! Only bad thing it doesn't work for R800x 2.3.4, sorry
Have fun!
