OS upgrade and root questions

[JoeSchmoe007]

I am N1 newbie but not Android newbie - have been using rooted Droid Incredible as my "main" phone for several months.

I just purchased officially unlocked N1 that is currently activated on prepaid T-Mobile account in USA and in future it will be used on my vacation in Europe.
Phone came with OS v. 2.2

I read a lot and things are sure different for N1 comparing to DInc. For DInc there was just one OS update and just one way to root it. For N1 its almost too much of a good thing for someone who hasn't followed it until now - 3 or 4 official OS updates and gazillion ways to root .

At this time I would like to root the phone (definitely, so that I can use third-party apps that require root access) and upgrade OS (possibly). I am not planning to use custom ROMs at this time but would like to try them in the future if rollback to stock ROM is possible.

As I already mentioned - my phone currently uses OS 2.2 and when I checked for an update via phone menu no updates were found. I was connected to internet at the time.

Questions (yes, I searched this and other forums and still don't have clear answers):

1) From what I read some of the official ROMs between 2.2 and 2.3.4 (latest version) had problems. Are these versions even worth considering now that 2.3.4 is out?

2) Are there any known issues in 2.3.4 that are not present in 2.2?

3) What are advantages of going from 2.2 to 2.3.4?

4) Can I upgrade from 2.2 to 2.3.4 directly? All guides I found usually describe 2.2->2.2.1 etc - that is ROMs are updated consequently as they were released.

5) Should I a) update ROM to the latest and then root or b) first root 2.2 and then update ROM?

6) What are advantages of rooting with unlocking bootloader as opposed to rooting without unlocking bootloader?

[Dude Random21]

1) I would just go with the latest version but root it first and flash it like a custom ROM (just a prerooted version of 2.3.4) if you don't do it like this you will need to unlock the bootloader which will void your warranty (if you have any left)

2) Not really.

3) Well that's easy it's gingerbread (no but really in between are really just a few minor updates for bug fixes and blocking certain methods of root).

4) Well if you want to root it then ya just do what I said in 1) if not then no not really you have to go one update at a time.

5) Defiantly b) because or else you will need to unlock the bootloader.

6) Unlocking the bootloader just gives you access to fastboot which is used for a few things but most of the time pretty much everything is in a flashable zip so there isn't much need to unlock. But if you warranty is expired then I would do it because you can use those options (even if you may not need to) and you really have nothing to lose.

Now if you really want to know what is best I would go and look at the development and hacking section of this forum and read as much as you can so you can become more knowledgeable and you will know how everything works.

[Beer Goggles]

Here's my opinion:

1) Root the phone using the one-click rooter (that's what I did quite a while back).

2) Use Titanium Backup to save all your apps and settings (the paid version is best because you can do batch restores).

3) Install ROM Manager (free version works, I use paid to flash nightly CM7 ROMs).

4) Flash ClockworkMod Recovery or Amon_RA Recovery (I use CWM 3.0.0.5 but some suggest and older version or Amon_RA).

4) Install either CM 7.0.3 (free ROM Manager) or the latest nightly CM7 (paid ROM Manager or download it yourself to your SD card, #80 is current and what I'm running).

5) Restore all apps and app data but NOT all system data (some system data is not compatible and I can't remember what it is right now).

6) Make sure that you WIPE when you install CM.

7) Never look back..... you won't have to because CM is awesome and you'll never miss the stock ROMs.

P.S. I have a locked bootloader....