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Custom ROMS for Android - Explained !

Image Source: Quora

Many of you might have come across the term "Custom ROMS" or "Custom Firmware" for the android device you own. As much as you would like to install them, it is difficult for you to install a custom Rom, provided you are a noob when it comes to this. This post is aimed to explain what a ROM and its associated terms are,with respect to Android, precisely.

ROM:

A custom ROM (Read-Only Memory) for android has a firmware programmed into it. This firmware is the software that is built from Google's source code of android OS (operating system). The source code was projected into open development by Google in the form of Android Open Source Project (AOSP). A custom ROM is essentially, the "modified" version of the stock Android source code released every year by Google, the benefits of which are theming (not just different launcher themes, but theming the whole elements of OS, even official whatsapp,etc), rooting and much more, which aren't available in the stock android OS.

VARIOUS FIRMWARE:

Whenever Google releases the source code of an android version, say Nougat for instance, the people or person or company who build their own firmware off of it, say Sony, Samsung, OnePlus, modify the source code and its values to better optimize it for the device the manufacture. Oneplus calls its modified version of AOSP as Oxygen OS, which has its own modifications and customization options built upon the stock android code. Similarly, Samsung has its own 'modded' version of AOSP called "Touchwiz" and HTC has "Sense". The above mentioned companies are called "Original Equipment Manufacturers" OEM's. They build their own firmware, based on AOSP, suited to their device needs, test it and provide a stable version of it to the end user, which is us. Apart from these companies, there are others who also build their own version of AOSP as a hobby or as freelancers and receive donations. One such popular team was the CyanogenMod (CM). It was initially started by one developer named "Steve Kondik" for the "HTC Dream" device. Later many joined the CM community and it grew larger until it supported 100+ devices. There are also other teams like CM such as OMNI, PAC-ROM, AOKP, AICP, Resurrection-Remix. Each one has different optimizations and features in their builds and thus provide different experiences when used. But the one point about these teams is that, since they don't work for profit or full-time, they don't have enough resources to build a stable ROM for many devices since its a huge work. It doesn't mean that they do not provide stable builds at all, its just that not all devices supported by them are stable. Apart from these teams, there are individuals who, as a hobby, build their own ROM based on any of the above custom ROMs (CM, OMNI, etc) as unofficial builds. For instance, if I build a ROM based on CM for a device that is not officially supported by CM, then it's called an unofficial build of CM. LineageOS or LinOS or LOS is the successor of CyanogenMod now

WHY A CUSTOM ROM ?

There are three main reasons why people choose to use a custom ROM.
  1. Being up to date with the latest android version
  2. Customize the OS with themes
  3. The ability to root
I owned a Sony Xperia Mini (2011). Sony officially supported the device up-to the ICS (Ice Cream Sandwich) version of Android. But I was able to use Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow on it thanks to the developer who made it possible. As I said before. this developer built the ROM based on CyanogenMod and hence the OS was themable thanks to CM. And every CM ROM was already pre-rooted, so that the user could have complete access to the OS.

So this is what a custom-ROM is all about. As the name goes, its an OS that can be customized to the user's liking completely. Installing a ROM is also called as flashing. XDA has further info on how to install a custom ROM on the device you own.



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