Why should I get a rom for my Droid X?

FearoftheNight

Diamond Member
Feb 19, 2003
5,101
0
71
I just got a new Droid X. Just wondering why you guys root and install roms? What exactly is the benefit? Is it just like a custom skin or what are we talking about? Which ones are recommended? I hear something about "apex" or something. Well please let me know what your thoughts are guys!
 

FearoftheNight

Diamond Member
Feb 19, 2003
5,101
0
71
hmm i guess i would read that if i were into roms and modding...but the qeustion is why should someone be interested in that? what drew your attention?
 

zerocool84

Lifer
Nov 11, 2004
36,041
472
126
hmm i guess i would read that if i were into roms and modding...but the qeustion is why should someone be interested in that? what drew your attention?

It all depends if you want something different that the base phone cannot give you. ROMs can give you more functionality, more customization, better performance, greater battery life, and updates faster than the manufacturer could give you. Putting custom ROMs on a phone isn't for everyone and no one should need to do it but I've tried about 7 different ROMs on my phone and am constantly trying more. It can come with risks as there's always the risk you could brick your phone but that's the risk of putting custom ROMs on any electronic device.
 

YoungGun21

Platinum Member
Aug 17, 2006
2,546
1
81
hmm i guess i would read that if i were into roms and modding...but the qeustion is why should someone be interested in that? what drew your attention?

Or... you could read that because the answers to all of your questions can be found there.

But, since I'm such a nice guy, I'll try and help you out. Android is just like any other operating system; it is very customizable. The problem is, the manufacturers lock down the files that a person would change to customize the phone (the system files, the kernel, etc). Rooting the phone is simply the process of unlocking these files. Installing the new ROM is changing them for better performance, bug fixes, better battery life, new features, etc.
 

QueBert

Lifer
Jan 6, 2002
22,951
1,140
126
My Droid 1 is just like my iPhone was, both suck without being rooted or Jailbroken IMHO. If I can't change anything I want about a phone I ain't gonna buy it. Most people are fine with a stock phone. I like to modify everything down to the color of my notification bubbles.
 

ew915

Senior member
Jun 19, 2001
748
0
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If you need to start asking why root and why this or what rom to use, then you are better off with an iphone, seriously.

The benefits of rooting are very small, actually there wouldn't be any need to root if carriers were delivering the android OS unadulterated.
 

abaez

Diamond Member
Jan 28, 2000
7,155
1
81
Currently using Apex. Non-blur ROM and is working great. My favorite one so far.
Before that I had tranquility. Was good.
Before that I had Zapx. No problems with that either.
Before that I had birdman's ROM.
I tried Focused and Blurred and did not like them.

It depends what you want. I absolutely hate Blur, so a non-blur ROM is what I want (as close as possible) and Apex gives that to me with great battery life. If you like Blur but want an optimized ROM (build.prop tweaks and such). Try tranquility.
 

FearoftheNight

Diamond Member
Feb 19, 2003
5,101
0
71
If you need to start asking why root and why this or what rom to use, then you are better off with an iphone, seriously.

The benefits of rooting are very small, actually there wouldn't be any need to root if carriers were delivering the android OS unadulterated.

I have both an iphone and an android phone :). Can you elaborate a bit? Everyone seemed to make it like the phone would be leaner, meaner, better, faster and you seem to be saying it's "meh".
 

foghorn67

Lifer
Jan 3, 2006
11,883
63
91
My Droid 1 is just like my iPhone was, both suck without being rooted or Jailbroken IMHO. If I can't change anything I want about a phone I ain't gonna buy it. Most people are fine with a stock phone. I like to modify everything down to the color of my notification bubbles.
As a Droid 1 owner, I love the Droid X UI. My ROM actually has a Droid X theme. Plus this ROM is more responsive than stock. A stock Droid X hasn't seemed laggy at all compared with a Droid 1. I would love to own a Droid X with a custom ROM.
 

Yuriman

Diamond Member
Jun 25, 2004
5,530
141
106
I can't speak for the X, but I have a Droid 1 and after rooting and installing a new ROM, it's a whole new phone. I loaded a kernal that reduced voltage and overclocked from the stock 550mhz to 1.2ghz, completely redid the UI, loaded a new camera stack, gained the ability to use wifi tethering, and removed a bunch of clutter which you can't normally touch.

First I rooted the phone, then I installed ROM manager and made a backup of the stock OS. From there, I tried a bunch of custom roms and kernels from androidforums.

Some screen caps:

http://my.fit.edu/~aperdue/screencaps/CAP201009240144.jpg
http://my.fit.edu/~aperdue/screencaps/CAP201009240147.jpg
http://my.fit.edu/~aperdue/screencaps/CAP201009240151.jpg
http://my.fit.edu/~aperdue/screencaps/CAP201009240152.jpg
http://my.fit.edu/~aperdue/screencaps/CAP201009241255.jpg
 

AyashiKaibutsu

Diamond Member
Jan 24, 2004
9,306
4
81
I can't speak for the X, but I have a Droid 1 and after rooting and installing a new ROM, it's a whole new phone. I loaded a kernal that reduced voltage and overclocked from the stock 550mhz to 1.2ghz, completely redid the UI, loaded a new camera stack, gained the ability to use wifi tethering, and removed a bunch of clutter which you can't normally touch.

First I rooted the phone, then I installed ROM manager and made a backup of the stock OS. From there, I tried a bunch of custom roms and kernels from androidforums.

Some screen caps:

http://my.fit.edu/~aperdue/screencaps/CAP201009240144.jpg
http://my.fit.edu/~aperdue/screencaps/CAP201009240147.jpg
http://my.fit.edu/~aperdue/screencaps/CAP201009240151.jpg
http://my.fit.edu/~aperdue/screencaps/CAP201009240152.jpg
http://my.fit.edu/~aperdue/screencaps/CAP201009241255.jpg

You go to the same college I went to ^.^
 

FearoftheNight

Diamond Member
Feb 19, 2003
5,101
0
71
I can't speak for the X, but I have a Droid 1 and after rooting and installing a new ROM, it's a whole new phone. I loaded a kernal that reduced voltage and overclocked from the stock 550mhz to 1.2ghz, completely redid the UI, loaded a new camera stack, gained the ability to use wifi tethering, and removed a bunch of clutter which you can't normally touch.

First I rooted the phone, then I installed ROM manager and made a backup of the stock OS. From there, I tried a bunch of custom roms and kernels from androidforums.

Some screen caps:

http://my.fit.edu/~aperdue/screencaps/CAP201009240144.jpg
http://my.fit.edu/~aperdue/screencaps/CAP201009240147.jpg
http://my.fit.edu/~aperdue/screencaps/CAP201009240151.jpg
http://my.fit.edu/~aperdue/screencaps/CAP201009240152.jpg
http://my.fit.edu/~aperdue/screencaps/CAP201009241255.jpg

what does the last pic represent? the one with the bars? is it some sort of benchmark? what is it benchmarking? cpu perf?
 
Feb 19, 2001
20,155
23
81
The X has a locked bootloader so most ROMs are just custom made backups with some tweaks. You can't load custom Kernels on it, but even then you get a benefit of a ROM. People strip moto bloatware out for example, etc....
 

Yuriman

Diamond Member
Jun 25, 2004
5,530
141
106
FIT represent!

Rooting still gives access to some nice apps, like screencap and root explorer.

The benchmark is a mixed cpu ans gpu benchmark - Quadrant.