[Dusan Todorovic]

Ticking “unknown sources” or the option itself isn’t illegal, if that’s what worries you. Google’s Play store’s got countless apps available for us, android users. But every now and then there are apps/games/themes/and what not that aren’t listed there. Be it because Google couldn’t reach an agreement with the authours or there may be other reasons. You would probably get the best answer regarding the subject if you were to turn to the source, namely Google developers them selves. Anyhow, the decision to let software from “unknown sources” be installed on our devices is on us to make. And as i’ve said before, i tick “unknown sources” on all my android devices and never have i regreted it by it posing any sort of problems. Bottom line: “unknown sources” lets you install software that is not listed on Play store. If you have at some point downloaded apps from any “third party” source it doesn’t matter that Play store has it listed. The fact of the matter is, you wouldn’t have been able to install it on your device anyway if “unknown sources” were unticked (factory set default). I promise you, Google won’t hold it against you though they do tend to “rub it in” a bit by “advising” you not to do that or at least being careful if not familiar with it, which on itself isn’t such a bad thing after all.
If you feel i didn’t answer your question please do tell.
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Almost forgot.. One thing is ticking “unknown sources” and something completely different is downloading and installing materials that could actually be illegal in some countries. Additionaly, if, down the line, you “break” your device by allowing a “third party” app to do havock in the system files, use your device for purposes of hacking, phishing or some other nasty ILLEGAL business, you COULD be held accounted for by voiding the warranty. Also, there are apps out there that can do some serious damage to your wallet by sending sms, mms, emails, making calls etc. A piece of advice.. There is nothing wrong by wanting to get more outta your android device as long as you do some research about the specific software, read comments, Google it, ask about it in forums and so on.

[Dusan Todorovic]

Hi there. How is everyone? eoinboyler? You wanna get more outta your SGS2? I can help you with that. But i have to know a few things first.. Is your phone I9100 or I9100P(NFC)? Is it still under warranty? Although it is true that rooted devices can get unrooted thus “enabling” the warranty, i prefer working with no-warranty ones. In any case, you need to have at least some basic android knowledge in order to understand Odin (pc utility for flashing roms, kernels, rooting,..). Depending on your (presumably stock) rom, you will have to download the proper “root access” piece of data, most of the time the file’s extension will be “.tar”. You will have to learn how to enter dowload/recovery mode on your SGS2, download according USB drivers and tick that “allowusbdebugging” thingy.
Last but not least, you should know that there is a small chance your phone becoming a useless pile of plastic. So called “brick” doesn’t happen often, but maybe you should take it under consideration before proceeding.
As mentioned above, if you go forth with it, i can help.

[Dusan Todorovic]

Of course, by all means, if the device still is under warranty and since it doesn’t involve anything illegal, rather a kind of update, you can certainly try taking it back to the place it was bought and they’ll probably gladly do it for a couple of bucs if not totaly pro-bono. My previous comment comes usefull when warranty passes. Confidentially, i’ve flashed hundreds of different stock but mainly custom roms on and rooted/unrooted hundreds of devices and never have i broken one. The difference is, i know how to deal with certain issues using usbjiggs, jtags etc. Of course, there is a certain statistical probability regarding real brick (device becomes absurdely expensive to repair or broken beyond).. ..but so it is for flushing it accidentally down the toilet or running it over with a car.

[Dusan Todorovic]

Hi all.
Sorry to hear about your problem BiancaB and if we were neighbours i’d gladly get it fixed for ya. But yes, besides changing the entire rom, you could try rooting it and then applying so called “gapps” containing (among other stuff) the Play store. But that also envolves at least some basic knowledge of the android platform, though the rest (believe it or not) can be done with Google and Youtube.
There should be at least one gentleman near you that wouldn’t mind helping you with that
Good luck!

[Dusan Todorovic]

Hello all. The option to tick it or not is one of the main reasons why i am so fond of the android o.s. Anyone deciding to download and/or install apps from these so called “unknown sources” should know about the potential danger from these very same apps. Some six months following the purchase of my first android device i grew bored of it’s limitations. Here and there i would see, hear or read about games, utilities and other kinds of software but when trying to get it on my phone, it wouldn’t work. Soon after i got my phone rooted, thus being able to get out more hardware potential. I downloaded and used countless games and apps, many of them from so called “unknown sources” by enabling the option given to me by android developers. And so far, NONE of them EVER gave me ANY serious trouble. Sorry about the “novel” but i just wanted to explain how very thankful i am not to have iOS running on my device. Android gives me more freedom than an average iPhone user will EVER experience.
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