Talk Droids - The Android Diary

1. Performance, Performance, Performance:

Android is an absolutely awesome open source mobile OS for smartphones. The only problem is that with manufacturer’s own version of UI layered upon with bloatware, the performance of the phone could become sluggish, and thus ruining your phone usability. With every update of Android, the performance of the hardware just gets better and better. Rooting your phone and installing your own custom ROMs available online gives a new lease of life even to the first generation of Android Phones. And we are talking stuff like – New windows opening up faster, App menus loading faster and UIs being more responsive.


2. Hardware / Software Interaction:

Stock Android installations often tend to have bottlenecks when it comes to performance. With a rooted Android OS, this is removed and hence the performance is tweaked. Overclocking the processor is much easier, and even certain functionalities can be enabled which are not present in the default install – e.g. CPU and GPU overclock to boost performance, 3D acceleration and gaming.


3. Freedom:

Take for example my Android phone – Samsung Galaxy S duos. It came with Android 4.0.4 (or the ics), and I hate to wait for bloody ages to get the carriers upgrade it to jellybean. It will eventually be done, but I will have to wait for ages for the update. If I have my phone rooted, I could easily upgrade my phone with the readily available custom ROM.


4. Apps2SD:

One of the most important features that rooted phones support is that you can install Apps to the SD Card, instead of clogging up the phone memory. Although, the performance of apps which are installed on the SD card is a bit inferior to the ones on phone. This comes in very handy when you need to backup Apps, since most of the 1st and 2nd generation Android phones don’t come with a lot of internal memory.


5. Unavailable features:

With the root, features such as face unlock, google now and many more will surface through a custom rom update. also with the features of installing a custom recovery such as clockworkmod recovery to be able to backup your stock ROM for crashing days.


6. Multi-touch:

This is yet another major feature which is enabled by rooting your phone. ‘Nuff said. mostly for first generation android devices


7. WiFi and Bluetooth tethering:

With this functionality enabled, you can share your cellular data connectivity to be used by your PC/Laptop. There are several apps available which can assist you to establish a tethering connection, but these only work with rooted phones of the first generation android that lacks this feature.


8. Better keyboard:

Not that we don’t love what Samsung, or Motorola or HTC have to offer – or any of the other paid apps offering keyboard layouts , but custom ROMS have their awesome input methods that make me go hmmm! and being able to delete stock keyboard and replace with any desired one


9. Apps from other builds:

The whole wide world of the Android market is your oyster. But also, you can get apps from Custom ROMs which are integrated from other builds – such as Switchers that can toggle WiFi connectivity, Bluetooth, GPS , Microsoft Exchange to support work mail, etc. etc. The list is endless (Well, not endless really, but you know what I mean).


10. Because you can:

The most ultimate reason. Because you are the BOSS. It’s your phone which you paid your hard earned money for. And you are not letting the shitty default installation ruin the experience for you.

Source: Nairaland