The world of custom ROMs is
very much like marketing — filled with flashy words and false promises. You
need to ignore the buzz, read the fine print and then decide which custom ROM
is correct for you. Below, we list down a few tips that should help you in
finding custom ROMs and deciding which one you should install on your device.
Ignore the buzzwords
Any custom ROM thread or
website that you come across will be filled with a lot of buzz words like
“zip-aligned”, “GPU rendering”, “best battery life” and more. This is the
developer way of attracting the reader’s attention and increasing his user
base. However, you should keep in mind that most, if not all, of these
buzzwords hardly make a huge difference in usability or performance. It is
better to just ignore them and focus on the feedback from other users and the
ROM’s feature set.
Focus on what you want
Every custom ROM’s feature page is going to be endlessly big. The developers
will list down all the features, including the minor ones, so as to impress
potential users. Don’t get blown away by the list and instead just look for the
options you want. If it is not present in that ROM, you should move on to the
next one that is available for your device.
Read the comments
Always, always read the
comments made by other users in a ROM thread. This will give you valuable
feedback as to how good it is, whether it has some serious bugs or not and how
it performs. If possible, make sure to give your feedback as well as it would
help other users.
Stability vs. Features
In our first post of the custom
ROM 101 series, we explained to our readers about thedifferent types of
custom ROMs available — Stock
firmware based and AOSP based. The former ones are light on features but are
more stable while the latter are loaded with features but can be unstable. The
type of custom ROM you want is perhaps the first thing that you should decide
on before you start looking for them.
Alright! Where can I
actually find custom ROMs for my device?
There really is one source in
this big world of Internet for custom ROMs for nearly all the available Android
device — XDA
Developer Forums. Simply head over to your device sub-forum on
XDA to find a plethora of custom ROMs compatible with it. While you may come
across a few websites that list all the available custom ROMs for a particular
device, chances are the list is outdated by quite a few months, which is a lot
of time in the custom ROM scene.
For some big AOSP ROMs like
AOKP, CyanogenMod and Paranoid Android, you can find the download links over at
their official websites as well. However, then you will be devoid of all the
precious feedback from other users, that might just save you a headache.
How do you decide on a custom
ROM? Drop in a comment and let us know!
Credit:androidbeat.com
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