Android: Custom ROMs – Pros and Cons

Now-a-days the use of phones have become part of our lives, they not used for making calls and sending messages but also in doing variety of tasks. It’s all due to the introduction of smartphones. Android a well-known mobile operating system has now became the choice of various smart phone manufactures like Sony, Samsung, HTC etc. It is all due to the open-source feature it offers than other operating systems like Windows Phone and Symbian.

A Stock ROM is the version of the phone’s operating system that comes pre-installed with your phone. Even though the firmware are the same the ROMs differ with each mobile. For example, the UI (user interface) of Sony mobile varies with that of Samsung and HTC, even it runs with the same android operating system in same version.

HTC Wildfire	Sony Xperia Sola	Samsung Galaxy Ace
All mobiles running the same 2.3.7 Android version

A Custom ROM is a fully standalone version of the OS, including the kernel (which makes everything run), apps, services, etc. Everything you need to operate the device, except it’s customized by someone in some way. There are many custom ROMs available over the internet for free.

Top 5 Custom ROMs

#1. Cyanogen

CyanogenMod is an open source replacement firmware for smart phones and tablet computers based on the Android mobile operating system. It offers features and options not found in the official firmware distributed by vendors of these devices.

#2. GingerVillain 

This is an upcoming Android 2.3 ROM. It also supports some CyanogenMOD extras and applications. It includes most of the basic Android apps and much more features and customizations which come with this ROM.

#3. ReDux

ReDux ROM is designed to deliver three key features – stability, speed and cleanliness. It is a simple yet beautiful ROM which works smoothly on all the supported devices. The ROM is supposed to be completely bug free and it uses an extension partition on your SD card which provides extra space utilization for your applications.

#4. MIUI

It comes officially pre-installed on MIUI Android Smartphones. Though it does not support devices like CyanogenMOD, it is available for a decent number of android phones. The User Interface is smooth and pleasant to use. It also includes additional features like enhanced apps, smart dialling and enhanced notifications.

#5. Insert Coin

It adds features like panoramic camera, modified browser, more tabs and settings. Additionally, it has feature which allows your CPU to run at a high frequency preventing meltdown and there are also a few GPU tweaks.