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Thread: What is Android custom ROM and why it is used?

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jan 2009
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    1,738

    What is Android custom ROM and why it is used?

    Introduction

    Ever thought what is Android custom ROM and what does it do? What does aftermarket upgrades, custom upgrades on android phone means or what it does? Have you wondered why do people use custom roms and custom updates? Have you ever imagined that you might as well need one custom rom? Have you asked if is it safe to use custom rom?

    No? Ok, lets get to know what Custom Rom is and what it can do.

    Custom ROMs

    The Android phone comes with a Rom which is called a stock ROM. It is called stock rom as the version of the phone’s operating system is unchanged and is the one that comes with your phone when you buy it.

    A custom ROM is some tweaked version of the Rom by someone in some way, which is fully standalone and consists of OS, including the kernel which is responsible for taking every step a users does on the phone and pass it on to the OS which in turn passes on to the hardware and which makes everything work. This includes application, services and everything else that needs to be operated on the device.

    Why do people customize when everything is working in the phone the way it should? Android is an open source Mobile OS, so anyone can develop a new OS and rebrand it with changes it the stock OS. The main purpose of Custom ROMs is to tweak and modify the stock rom in such a way that garbage functions or apps or even services can be eliminated and the OS can be optimized, Cutom roms are also built to add more apps, features or service which one developer feels or wants to add. This depends on what hardware the Custom Rom will be installed.

    Do i need Custom ROMs?
    This is a very frequent questions people ask. Now one a developer is free to modify the Rom, he may make improvements and updates in his ROM. The Update Frequency of Custom Roms is higher.

    If you use a custom ROM, you may get updates more frequently which might fix bugs that you might have been having in the last version and/or introduce new applications, features, as it is not necessary that the Custom rom is developed by the same developer who developed the Custom ROM that you were using previously. Also the development methods and procedures might be different which may improve the new rom experience.

    Finally, most of the custom ROMs which are available today can update OTA "over the air". These updates are fastest and does not require reinstalling anything.

    Well most of the times Custom ROMs are more efficient, more faster and use less memory.

    As a developer everyone would want to cut out the crap such as factory applications and services.

    Also as a developer, everyone would want to optimized the phone by patching and optimizing the kernel. The kernel can be optimized in a number of ways. Example : I the processor operates at 600Mhz, it will need some amount of voltage say 3volts. If less amount of voltage is supplied, the processor may function a bit slower which will inturn make the battery last longer. This can be done by kernel optimization.

    The most important thing is, custom roms are generally made by hobbyists and is generally open source and free. Who doesn't love open source!? The developers may not love it, but users surely love it!

    Another important thing about using custom rom is that you may get a custom rom of the later version of the OS even if your device manufacturer may have not yet released the verion for your device. Now thats awesome right?

    This is the ray of hope on which i am depending as i own Micromax A60 which has Android 2.1 and has said that it is non upgradble to 2.2.

    Android 2.2 has the ability to install Applications on The SD Card. Well this is only possible if using a custom rom. Image if all your phone memory is free and everything you need is on the sd card, you will have all the backup even if the phone crashes. Also the free memory on the phone will make the phone so much faster to operate. Well to use this feature you need to have an application named Apps2SD.

    What does rooting mean? Well to know about root have a look at this guide :

    Don’t confuse yourself with custom ROMs and rooting. People feel both the things are same. No they are completely different.

    The Disadvantages Of Custom ROMs :

    As the saying goes everything has advantages and disadvantages. So along with the above advantages of the custom roms, it also has some disadvantages. There might be some bugs in the custom roms but again can be fixed in the next update which is must faster then the stock rom bug fixes.

    Also if during the flashing process, if something goes wrong, you may be left with device being bricked. The chances of which is pretty low these days as many developers have come up with the process of unbrinking the device.

    Also you must backup all your data before flashing a custom rom as flashing process wipes all the data in the device and/or the SD card. As i said Custom ROMs could have bugs… but then bugs also show up in stock roms too.

    If suppose you have spotted a bug, you actually can post it in the the cutsom rom's forum and get an answer back and your bug may be fixed and you might get an update soon enough. If you spot a bug in the stock rom, only the manufacturer can fix it, and if someone else tries to do it on thier device, they may win up loosing the Warranty. It is also possible that custom rom installing and rooting your device may void your warranty as it will make changes on the boot loader or install a new bootloard which is a custom one cannot be restored by the stock bootloader. Because of that, the manufacturer may be able to say that the phone is not having the stock rom and dismiss your warranty in case you need to use it for some hardware issues. The benefits of getting the custom ROM rules out the dissadvantages and possibility of your warranty being denied is very less.

    Thats it in this article. Will post more tutorials for those who need it.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Dec 2010
    Posts
    351

    Re: What is Android custom ROM and why it is used?

    Can i use Clockwork Rom Manager to restore any custom rom to micromax a60? There are no mods available for Micromax A60. Also what are the dangers if i try to install rom made for some other phone? I have my phone under warranty, so if i install custom rom then my warranty will be void. So what is the other way to do it so that i don't void my phone's warranty.

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