Advantages of Custom ROMs?

VenomIreland

So, I've had my Desire S and I plan to root it today so I can run a few more apps, but while researching this I read about custom ROMs such as Cyanogenmod7, I was wondering, what are the advantages of custom ROMs such as this?

I have no plans to install a custom ROM as of yet (unless I can be convinced otherwise, I am a bit scared of bricking my new phone) but I'm curious as to what are peoples reasons for using custom ROMs.

EDIT: Just discovered that my Desire S has HBOOT 2.000.0002 which apparently is not yet supported by Revolutionary, so I can't root yet I'm still curious as to what ROMs are popular for this phone and why people use them.

squire23

The main advantage is that you can finally remove all the crap apps that come pre-installed on your device that you never wanted or used. Custom ROMs also bring increased performance with speed, UI handling etc.

All in all, they are generally better than the stock ROM. But really it depends on what you're looking for. If you're looking to keep the lovely UI of something like Sense 2.1 or TouchWiz than it's not for you. I feel that customizing is the best step to take first before rooting if it's just a UI change you're looking for.

The_B_Man

My missus got a Desire S recently. I've a normal Desire with CM7.

I was trying to explain the advantages I had over her stock ROM but I couldnt. But over the course of the week, I'd ask little questions about her phone that she couldnt answer. Little things like what percentage battery is left. Stock ROMs dont show this.

Then there's the manky keyboard. Quite simply, its horrible.

Also, on the Desire S, with the stock photo app if you want to actually view the photo u jut took, you have to go out of the app, and load up the gallery! Effort!

Then there's other things like the lock screen having more info and little visual tweaks that make custom ROMS a little bit more pleasant.

Now if someone asked me for reasons why a custom ROM is better, I would have just said the same as above, ie performance, customisation, broader choice of apps, which in turn extend the features, but in reality, its all the little small things that make custom ROMs more enjoyable than the stock ones. The thing is, you wouldnt notice a lot of the things that make them better, but without noticing you'd be more "efficient".

Jumpy

I have InsertCoin on the Sensation. All I can simply say is Speeeeeeed.

No lag in doing anything at all.

mickoneill30

The_B_Man wrote: »

Little things like what percentage battery is left. Stock ROMs dont show this.

Then there's the manky keyboard. Quite simply, its horrible.

Also, on the Desire S, with the stock photo app if you want to actually view the photo u jut took, you have to go out of the app, and load up the gallery! Effort!

Those 3 things can be replaced by apps though. No need to root. I've a Desire HD, ZDBox shows the battery percentage and I'm using Swype for the keyboard. No rooting required. I don't have the issue with the photo app as it must be different on the HD but there are a pile of camera apps on the market.

I had the original Samsung Galaxy which had the lag issues that Samsung took ages to fix. In that case rooting and installing the custom ROM was very beneficial (it made the phone actually usable).

Maybe somebody can correct me if I'm wrong but is the main disadvantage to custom ROMs that you lose auto updates? So that means more work to find a new ROM and upload it. That's probably fine for most people but it annoyed me with my Xoom. I rooted mine a few months ago to get rid of pre installed apps. Then an update came out. Normally it'd do that over the air but it failed as I was rooted. So I had to research how to do it myself. Fine. Then another update came out a while later. I just went back to stock and let it update itself. Now I live with the extra icons in the app drawer.

VenomIreland

Thanks for all the info guys! Unfortunately, as edited in my main post, rooting on my Desire S is a bit of a hassle thanks to the HBOOT version 2.000.0002, which needs to be downgraded to enable revolutionary to work it's magic.

madmoe

Jumpy wrote: »

I have InsertCoin on the Sensation. All I can simply say is Speeeeeeed.

No lag in doing anything at all.

Have Android Revolution HD on my Sensation and like you there is a serious speed improvement over the stick HTC ROM which I love! Also have ADW Launcher Ex installed on top of this and it makes it even more speedy!!

Cheers,
M