Is this possible? after reading about root and the consquences about possible mishaps and loss of warranty I don't really feel it's safe to use it, android is based on linux and I've no experience with linux.

I'm trying to install Humble Bundle Android games and the beta application (I guess it's sort of a installer?) but neither works, the install button won't budge becauase I need root or something else.

The phone is Xperia Pro, far from high-end but I want to try the games at least.

Depends on the phone. Some phones require you to root the device in order to sideload applications and others don't. It's been a while, but I think that you can just copy the apk to the phone and use a file explore utility to install it.

Just make sure that you've enabled unknown sources.

That's what I meant when I tried pressing the install button. I have actually downloaded a few, free (legal) applications but no games as APKs that weren't distributed at Google Play and it worked without any issues.

Maybe I should just root anyway, I've been doing some reading and apparently my phone has support for that superclickroot or whatever it's called that seems rather simple.

If you mean "rooting" the phone, that should definitely not be needed in order to install the HiB Android games. You should just enable "Settings => Applications => Unknown sources", then you should be all set. If your Android version does not have that option, schucks. I have tried it with one Android tablet (ASUS Transformer) and two Android phones (cheapo ZTE Blade and Huawei) so far, works as intended.

I don't think it should matter, but I have installed the HiB Android games by going to the HiB pages with the Android device itself (with the Android web browser), downloaded the games from there to the device, and then installed them. But I presume it should go the same if you somehow copy the installation files to your device.

I have that option, I don't think there's a android-based phone without it.

The install button doesn't react, it's like it's locked. Maybe if I could give admin rights to android's system or the thing that handles installations it could work but I've no idea how to do something like that.

That sounds broken to me. Even if it doesn't want to install the apps, it should at least tell you that it can't do it.

Maybe but it's hard to check when I don't get any messages, it just doesn't react.

If timppu's suggestion doesn't work, have you ever used modded firmware? Cyanogen Mod is the most popular and is super easy to use and installation has very detailed walkthroughs. It does void the warranty, but if your phone is far from high end maybe you won't care? In general, you will get more out of your phone anyway even if you don't use it for games.

I think I need to root the phone, otherwise unlocking the bootloader is necessary and that's basically kind of similar but I will just try rooting because I've been putting it off far too long.

Far from high-end might have been a stretch but it does suffer from low amount of RAM (About 200MB usable) and it only has one core 1GHz CPU.

Indeed, the game in particular I wanted to try is the android version of Avadon The Black Fortress I bought at Humble Bundle. Well guess what? The issue wasn't root but size. my damn phone only has 400MB internal memory and of course I can't install on my SD cards so I had to uninstall a few apps to make room. Also, the game isn't supported and is only made for tablets.

I tried 2 different rootings (zerocrush and doomlord) and neither worked, nothing happened in different stages. I found flashtool and apparently I'm suppose to flash an earlier or newer firmware so I can unlock root but that requires a wipe and I can't backup apps because guess what? It requires root.

It's so annoying. Why can't they just ship the phones with root access already available but turned off and then in the manual they offer a tested solution to unlock and then states you lose warranty if you activate it, something happens and return it for repair.

I haven't bought a Humble Android Bundle yet, but the Indiegala ones give you QR Codes to scan for a download straight to your device. Do the Humble Bundle people give you the same option, or is it just a download link?

Allowing APK installs is usually somewhere in the main menu settings. From your phone's home screen hit "Menu", select Settings, then start digging. It should be called something like "Allow Install of 3rd Party Applications". You just check that box and copy the APK someplace the phone can find it after you've unmounted it as an external drive.

You do not need root to install APK files regardless of where you got them.

Go onto the Market / Play and get an Installer Application, the one I use is :

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.rhythm.hexise.inst&feature=related_apps#?t=W251bGwsMSwxLDEwOSwiY29tLnJoeXRobS5oZXhpc2UuaW5zdCJd

Thats it on the website but find it on the marketplace on your phone.

Download it and when you first run it the program will scan your SD card, anything that is an APK file will be in the list. All you do is tick the box to the right of the file and the program will install the program / game into your menu in the normal way.

No messing, all you need is to put the APK files onto the root or your SD card and sorted.

Assuming that the OP has Googleplay or the market. Some phones don't have it at all and in some places it's not even offered. Although< I doubt that's Sweden.