Rickles:

 

For those that know these things -

 

1: The TV box supplier says that "all these Android boxes come from the factory Rooted".  I assume this is because of their 'customised' interfaces etc?

 

2:  Why don't the manufacturers Unroot the devices before sale?

 

3:  Could they be Unrooted and would such cause problems, or better still allow Apps (such as TVNZ) to be installed and work again as normal Apps?

 

4:  Are there a lot of 'commonly used/popular' Apps that will also baulk with a device being Rooted?

 

Thanks.

 

1 - yep, to run android the way google want you, the device is mean't to go through certification. And run Play Store and be able to update itself/support upgrades. And areas of the file system be off limits to modification to ensure security. Makers of Android internet devices try to beat everyone else to market and work with generally 1 version. What is out at the time, this involves editing core files to accept the hardware included etc and strip it down to improve performance

2 - 'rooting' is allowing the file system to be modified with elevated privileges - to do system updates and modify core settings this is often needed to remain in place

3 - Depends on the app and what it looks out for. There are a couple of layers of security - ever tried to install something that said 'not compatible with your device'. You can lock down apps to screensize/layout/platform/hardware as far as I am aware. TVNZ won't even install on some tablet versions or OS version if it can't handle advert injection or DRM checks.

4 - plenty. Often if it needs to check for Geo location to see if any regional restrictions could get bypassed, DRM rights, security modifications, chance of data theft, region of manufacture the list goes on. Banking apps for instance. And some other official stream apps. This is why you hear of people searching for APKs and sideloading

Bundle all that to an official supported device. Add you can see why the Shield price goes up vs a $30 box.