Why do people upgrade their phones with questionable ROMSs?

[novasatori]

one plus for root is lbe privacy guard

I think I got the tip on that software from someone here on Anandtech, but man that app owns

 

[bucwylde23]

Since I have switched to the joy and pleasure of running Windows Phone I have not needed to do this. :hmm:

Though I haven't waited for Verizon to release the updates either since the .cab files for the updates are available on MS servers.



That being said, I threw different ROMs on my OG Droid, though it *does* get tiring restoring and fixing everything up the way you like it after awhile. It's now running some BB version of Gingerbread and is on permanent alarm clock duty.

With titanium backup I can do a full wipe and be back up and running in less than 20 minutes. Probably more like 10-15.

 

[novasatori]

Titanium Backup is definitely another good reason for root.

 

[notposting]

I'm sure (read: hoping) that it's better with TiBa now but seemed there were always issues with this, that or the other thing when restoring and I would still need to sort through different things.

For me I just got tired of that aspect, same way that building a computer is just a pita chore to me now...just no time to tinker with things, and I think my attention span is getting *shorter* as I get older

edit: but anyways, to the OP, it's different strokes for different folks. There are benefits as listed in this thread, and it's also just plain fun to some people.

 

[openwheel]

if you do your homework before flashing a custom rom, then its no longer "questionable". It takes 30 seconds to read a lengthy post.

As far as "why": they are better. Period. Simple enough answer?

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

i stick with solid roms like AOKP, MIUI, or CM9. Not some stupid ROM named like Ice Freeze 3.0.

Yeah, no there's too many idiotic ROMs with flashing blue and red crap and ugly fonts. It's like made for 16 year olds or something.

I'm not gonna take a stock ROM and tweak it. If anything I want AOSP-based ROMs. There's enough bloatware on a typical ROM.

 

[shabby]

i stick with solid roms like AOKP, MIUI, or CM9. Not some stupid ROM named like Ice Freeze 3.0.

Ice Freeze 4 just came out! Please donate to the winzip developer for his hard work of adding a custom phone.apk and new rad font.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

Ice Freeze 4 just came out! Please donate to the winzip developer for his hard work of adding a custom phone.apk and new rad font.

who wouldn't want a sexy theme like this

 

[Rubycon]

Rooting? Absolutely.

Titanium backup and ad-free are essential for any droid power user!

Custom roms? Definitely YMMV with those. I've yet to run one that was stable as a stock rom TBH.

I don't care for all the flashy themes and animations. It just needs to be stable and fast and have acceptable battery life.

That said if there's a funky unicorn on your boot screen chances are you are an android nerd!

 

[PingviN]

I'm sure (read: hoping) that it's better with TiBa now but seemed there were always issues with this, that or the other thing when restoring and I would still need to sort through different things.

A Nandroid backup in CWM gives a perfect restore. Simple stuff.

 

[WelshBloke]

Rooting? Absolutely.

Titanium backup and ad-free are essential for any droid power user!

Custom roms? Definitely YMMV with those. I've yet to run one that was stable as a stock rom TBH.

I don't care for all the flashy themes and animations. It just needs to be stable and fast and have acceptable battery life.

That said if there's a funky unicorn on your boot screen chances are you are an android nerd!

I turn that off, I'm a jerk. :'(

 

[Dari]

So, in layman's terms, what is the difference between rooting and adding a ROM? You can root with adding a ROM?

 

[Anubis]

That said if there's a funky unicorn on your boot screen chances are you are an android nerd!

i have one as my phones background image as well

 

[soccerballtux]

Why do y'all always need the latest and greatest? It's a phone. That means its strength is in what the OS can do and what the appmakers can do. Fucking around with the root of the system sounds like it really doesn't pay off productivity-wise and people just do it cause they have nothing better to do. Are there any benefits to rooting phones other than curiosity?

I don't overclock that much but that's definitely an option.
I installed aftermarket kernel which has custom Cortex a9 performance optimizations and turns off one core when screen off and limits the other CPU core to 450mhz. IE Better battery life.
It also has overclocked memory, video card so better performance but still runs the cores themselves at stock speed.

That was the main reason. Aftermarket ROMs based on stock are a better experience IMO. Problem with CM7 and the like is it's perpetually buggy. Installing lots of apps inevitably slows it down and starts bugging it out because nobody's motivated to track down the boring bugs.

 

[soccerballtux]

They can but they don't. It's the way of the world of carriers =/

actually they can't. Verizon likes everything locked down, won't carry your phone if you won't lock it for them.

 

[Dulanic]

So, in layman's terms, what is the difference between rooting and adding a ROM? You can root with adding a ROM?

Root = Having a admin login. Which is literally what root is. Root access = system admin access in Linux.

ROM = replacing / modifying the the operating system

 

[blackangst1]

So there are kernels and ROMS that work independently of each other? Fascinating.

They dont work independently of each other, but they are independent of each other.

 

[poofyhairguy]

I am a huge fan of ROMs. If done right they can mix the best elements of other phones onto yours.

 

[Bman123]

Why you ask? Because we can

 

[zCypher]

My Galaxy Note went from a very laggy Gingerbread device to a buttery smooth ICS device thanks to custom ROMs. I was actually thinking of trading my Note for an S3, but now I love the Note!

No more bloatware, no more lag, battery lasts a lot longer. My device has been on for 9 hours and I still have almost 70% left, a huge improvement considering I've actually been using it.

A better question is why WOULDN'T you root your phone and get a sweet ROM on there? I tried 4-5 different ROMs and most of them have been rock solid. Usually any flakiness is due to user error. It's critical to follow the proper steps when installing a new ROM.

 

[supercheapit]

I mostly do it for fun but thats just me

its good experience as well. you won't get to know your phone any better than when something goes wrong during a ROM upgrade

 

[Topweasel]

Here's a good reason for root/ROMs.

My Asus Transformer TF101 tablet got updated to Android ICS with an official OTA update from Asus. Ever since, myself and many others have been experiencing a bug called SoD (sleep of death) and random reboots.

Mine is especially bad with SoD. Basically, whenever you let the tablet go into standby, when you come back and press the power button to wake it up, it doesn't. The display never turns back on. So you have to hold down the power button and reboot it. This happens to my tablet every time, within one minute of standby. So I'm forced to run an app called WakeLock that prevents the tablet from going into sleep mode. This greatly increases battery usage when the tablet is idle.

Asus has done basically nothing to fix this. The dev community has been trying all sorts of stuff, and solved it for many people. Unfortunately, all methods didn't help me.

So today I checked out XDA, and saw they have ROMs for the new android version Jelly Bean. They are very early and still have lots of bugs, but I just flashed one and my SoD issue appears to be gone. Its too early to tell for sure, but it's already a great improvement as I lasted over 30 minutes without an SoD, something my tablet has not done in months without wakelock.

Also who knows if the TF101 would ever even get JB officially from Asus.

Good to know, I just got a N7 because of the SoD but the way mine was acting I thought it might be a battery thing (I can wake up mine by plugging it into the wall before I try to turn the screen back on). But at least there is some hope. I am going to hold off a bit (enjoying the N7 form factor), but i am happy to know that when I need to I might be able to put it to use again.

 

[PowerYoga]

my boot screen is nyan cat.

 

[vshah]

They can but they don't. It's the way of the world of carriers =/

nexus series comes pretty close

 

[vshah]

my boot screen is nyan cat.

/thread