android, Part 1: Rooting my android phone

In preparation for putting a more upto date version of android on my Motorola Defy I need to 'root' my phone.

This is Part 1 of three posts:

NB: doing these operations will invalidate your warranty & may brick your phone. I take no responsibility & you proceed at your own risk. Saying that it worked for me so I am alright jack.

• Part 2 describes how to back up your phone
• Part 3 describes how to upgrade your phones android version

I followed the instructions here.
Please note the following though:

• Despite the instructions I had to have USB debugging enabled. See here.
• The process involves several automatic reboots of the phone.
• The system asks for & appears to need BusyBox installed on your PC.

You can test to see if your phone is rooted using an app called ConnectBot described here.

The first root specific app I have installed is the much praised Titanium Backup. So far just the free version.

Next step will be the big one. Installing a newer version of android.