KatPadi's Point

Android Life: One ROM At A Time

I finally was able to root my phone and flash a custom ROM to it. I guess I am finally living the Android life to its maximum potential.

To those of you who are like me a few weeks ago. Here are the basic terms that you need to know:

ROOTING

Rooting your device means having a “superuser” rights and permissions to your Android’s software. For programmers, it’s synonymous to entering the “su” in the Linux command line. For the non-programmers, think of it as a superpower which will enable you to do tasks that have been inherently blocked by the mobile phone makers for siplicity and security. (ie. increase the performance of your Android phone and load custom themes and software)

ROM

ROM literally stands for Read Only Memory. There are 2 types of ROM: stock and custom. Stock is the original version that comes with your phone when you buy it. Meanwhile, custom ROM is customized by someone in some way. (Remember that Android is an open source project so all of the source code is openly available for anyone to download, tweak, and reproduce.)

FLASHING

Flashing is easy to understand when you already know what ROM is. It is basically just LOADING a different ROM into your phone. Think of the word FLASHING as LOADING. Ugh. I know. The terms confused me for a while too.

Now that we all know the terms, I’d like to share with you the basic steps that helped me finish the process.

  1. go here http://forum.xda-developers.com and type “Root <PHONE_MODEL>” in the search bar
    EXAMPLE: Root Samsung Galaxy Note OR Root GT-N7000
  2. follow the rooting instructions
    NOTE:  The steps would require you to download some files to your phone.
  3.  research on the available custom ROMs for your phone model
    EXAMPLE: http://rootgalaxynote.com/category/galaxy-note-roms
  4. go here http://forum.xda-developers.com and type “Flash <ROM_THAT_YOU_LIKE>” in the search bar
    EXAMPLE of flashing instructions: click this
  5. follow the flashing instructions again

…and you’re done!

As for me, my phone now runs faster and has a better battery life. The custom ROM cut the “junk” out of the software to free up significant amount of memory. It also optimized the (kernel) software to improve the performance and even the UI.

NOW I AM A SATISFIED ANDROID USER. 🙂

JUST REMEMBER TO FOLLOW THE STEPS VERY CAREFULLY OR YOU’LL END UP WITH A BRICK.

If you want to know more about rooting and flashing a custom ROM, just check the XDA Developers Forum. It’s all there.

Let’s all live the Android life one ROM at a time!

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