Another year has come and we have a lot of things to be excited about this 2012. This year we are going to expect more Android gadgets that we can play with. Many manufacturers have promised some new releases this 2012. And, of course, we are expecting to see more action from the latest Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. The Consumer Electronics Show (CES 2012) is just around the corner, too. Since the year just started, we still have to wait for these awesome events to take place, though.

While waiting for all those delightful events to unfold, we can’t just sit around and be bored, right? If you have a Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 LTE (SGH-I957) and you want to bring more excitement to it, here's something you can try: root it and take back your ownership of your Android tablet. Rooting your Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 LTE is just the first step to unleashing its true potential. It practically opens the doors for you to do more on your Galaxy Tab 8.9.

Important Reminder

Most of you already know the drill. If you are to proceed with this process, the warranty for your Galaxy Tab 8.9 will be voided. Make backups of your phone data.  Be extra careful in following the steps. You need not worry, though, for these are simple steps.

Steps for Rooting the Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 LTE SGH i957

The process of rooting the Galaxy Tab 8.9 will require a PC. A Windows Vista or Windows 7 PC will suffice. This is needed to run the software that will root the device. And, it will also be good to make sure that the Galaxy Tab 8.9 battery is at least half-full. Better yet–and to be safe–root your device with its battery fully charged.

Follow these steps to root your tablet:

1. Download and install the latest Samsung USB Drivers for Mobile Phones to your computer. Get the installer here. You may need to uninstall previous versions of the drivers first.
2. Download Da_G's modded kernel for the Galaxy Tab 8.9 LTE and save it to your computer. Get the file from here.
3. To be able to flash the modded kernel to your device, you need Odin3 version 1.85. Download it from here and unzip the package into a folder on your computer.
4. Open the folder where you extracted Odin to. Run the Odin3 executable file.
5. When the Odin3 window opens, make sure that only the checkboxes for Auto Reboot and F. Reset Time are checked. Do not enable the other options.
6. In the Odin3 window, click on the PDA button. Then, locate the modded kernel file (sgh-i957-rooted-kernel-v2.tar) and select it. You will see the filename appear beside the PDA button once you load the file into Odin3.
7. Turn off your Galaxy Tab 8.9 LTE. Reboot it into download mode by holding down the Volume Up and Volume Down buttons while pressing the Power button.
8. When you reach the warning screen, you can skip it by pressing the Volume Up button.
9. Connect the Galaxy Tab 8.9 to your computer using a USB cable. Odin3 will automatically detect it and will show the ID:COM field in yellow.
10. Press the Start button in Odin3. This will start flashing the modded kernel to your tablet.
11. The device will reboot once flashing is completed.
12. Install the Superuser app from the Android Market to complete the rooting procedure.

Now that you have already rooted your Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 LTE SGH i957, things won’t be that restrictive anymore. Go ahead, try installing your favorite custom ROM on your freshly rooted Galaxy Tab 8.9 LTE.