Yoou Can Find Roms, THemes and Wallpapers on this page!!
As we all know, ROMS changes system interface.. Just like installing windows on PC. just choose the one that best suites you.. ciao!
Wondered what the whole Android custom ROM scene was about?
What is all this talk of installing "aftermarket", custom upgrades on your phone?
Who needs it? Why do it? Is it safe?
By the way, the word ROM means Read Only Memory, but has migrated in the modding community to mean an actual custom OS image that you install into the ROM area of your phone.
Also, the word kernel essentially means the heart of the OS - it's the barebones operating system components.
Custom ROMs
A stock ROM is the version of the phone's operating system that comes with your phone when you buy it.
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.
So what does the "customized" part mean? Since Android is open source, developers are free to take stock ROMs, modify them, strip them of garbage, optimize them, add things, and pretty much do whatever their imagination and skills allow.
ROM, RAM and Firmware
ROM stands for Read Only Memory, there are many kinds of ROM, some which can be erased, some that can be programmed. ROMs are used to store the entire stack that I mentioned above. Whole Kernel, DVM and Applications are stored in these ROM, hence the name.
There is quite a difference between ROM and RAM so don’t get confused. On one hand ROM is like a permanent storage, RAM is the temporary storage. It stores the run time data that is generated during processing.
And, if you hear someone say something about ‘firmware’ don’t get confused because ROM and Firmware are almost the same.
Why You Want Custom ROMs
Update Frequency
Using a custom ROM usually results in more frequent updates that fix bugs and introduce new features because the developer behind the ROM doesn't have the same procedures and red tape that the manufacturer+carrier combo does.
A quality update can be churned faster because it doesn't involve the bureaucracy of 30 different project managers, 15 vice presidents, and 5 dozen marketing departments.
A ROM developer usually gains a loyal community which beta tests his updates in real life situations and provide feedback, or even fixes bugs - that's the beauty of open source software.
Oh and did I mention that ROMs are usually free and supported by optional donations? If you can't afford to pay for it, you don't have to.
Finally, most custom ROMs out there are updateable over the air (OTA) and without reinstalling anything.
Who doesn't love open source after this?
Better Performance And Efficiency
Custom ROMs are oftentimes faster, more efficient, and use less memory because
the developer ripped out useless garbage, such as carrier installed apps or
the developer optimized the kernel. For example, an undervolted kernel can provide a much better battery life than the stock one.
Upgrading To A Better/Later Version Of Android
You can upgrade to a version of the OS that has not yet been released for your device, or never will be. This is possible in 2 situations:
A leaked version of the new ROM showed up online, and the developer got on it like the fat kid chasing an ice cream truck. This was exactly the case with Hero and Android 2.1, allowing me to upgrade from 1.5 weeks (months) before the official version was available and ditch the bogged down and slow stock OS.
A ROM from another phone was ported by the developer to work on yours. For example, G1 and MyTouch 3G users may never see Android 2.1 officially released on their phones, but Cyanogen, one of the most respected Android developers, was recently able to create a custom ROM running 2.1 for those devices. Oh, what a happy day it was for MT3G and G1 owners.
Ability To Install Apps To The SD Card
Most custom ROMs nowadays come with the ability to install applications to the SD card, called Apps2SD (or A2SD).
This is currently not possible on stock ROMs, even in Android 2.1 and is supposedly on Google's TODO list.
If you have run out of space on your phone (which I have repeatedly on my Hero), Apps2SD is a killer feature to have.
The Downsides Of Custom ROMs
Of course, there are dangers of using custom ROMs which you should be aware of.
Something Could Go Wrong
First of all, something may go wrong with the flashing process (that's the process of installing the ROM) and leave your phone in a bricked state. The chances of this are pretty low nowadays, and most of the time you can restore it back to normal.
Try to go for the ROM that has been tested by time and has lots of positive feedback.
Clean Wipe
In order to install a custom ROM, you need to perform a clean wipe.
This means you will lose all existing data, so you have to back everything up first. Of course, just for this, we have a straightforward tutorial that shows how to back up and restore your entire phone: [Complete Guide] How To Fully Back Up And Restore Your Android Phone Using Nandroid Backup.
Potential Problems
Custom ROMs could have bugs… but then so do the stock ones.
However, in case you do find a bug, you actually have a 2-way channel of reporting it - post in the ROM forum and you will more than likely get an answer back and your bug acknowledged.
Try doing this to your phone manufacturer and see if you can get past the first level of outsourced monkeys, let alone actual developers.
You May Void Your Warranty
It's possible that custom rooting will void your warranty because you will "break the seal" on the boot loader by installing a custom one which on some phones apparently can't be undone (this includes the Nexus One). Because of that, the manufacturer might be able to tell that the phone has had a custom ROM installed and not honor the warranty, in case you need to use it.
Now, in most cases, the benefits of the custom ROM outweigh the possibility of your warranty being denied. I recommend getting a warranty from your carrier and using that in case anything bad happens (that warranty is usually unconditional and covers things like losses and physical damage).
Getting The Right Custom ROM
New phones and ROMs come out all the time, and the scope of this article doesn't cover individual ROMs - but the general approach to finding one is Googling for "YOUR_PHONE_MODEL ROM" or something similar, optionally including the wanted Android version. Try it out - you'll find what you want.
Flashing the ROM
As you might know, Android is an open source initiative and anyone can go ahead and build his/her own custom operating system for their handset. There are numerous developers working on building their own versions of Android. One of them that we mentioned previously is known as Cyanogenmod. There are many such ROMs built for many different devices, and process of installing these on the handset is commonly knows as flashing. The process of flashing varies from handset to handset and ROM to ROM. It isn’t a difficult task, but certainly requires lots of research.
I think this should be enough for the basics, though you should know about some common terms used in relation to android.
Deodexed – If you are new to flashing and modding, don’t bother with this one. It is for those who venture a little deep into it. And if you are really interested in knowing what exactly it is you read about it in this excellent article at addictivetips.com.
Partitions – Don’t get confused when someone says ‘ROM partitions should be ext4 or Reiserfs’. Partitioning is dividing the internal memory of the handset, and ext4/reiserfs are the file systems. Like in case of Windows, fat32 and ntfs.
Bootloader – Again, if you are linux user I don’t need to explain you this, but for the ignorant ones, bootloader is what loads the kernel into the main memory so that it can interact with hardware. I won’t go deep into how it works, but would point out that the moment your device starts the first thing that comes up after powering on is Bootloader, which loads the modules of kernel in memory.
Ok enough of complex stuffs, let me tell you about the applications you might need if you think of flashing.
Odin – Its a Windows application which interacts with the device at hardware level and can write on ROM (Read only memory) of the handset.
CWM – Clockwork Mod is an application installed on android device that manages the ROM(the stack) installed in the system. It can be used to install or backup the roms.
Here are some you can install to your android galaxy y. just use CWM recoveries or stock revocery to instal (some roms may not need cwm or stock recovery, just follow the instructions per rom)l:
- IceCreamBread v4.5 : go to page
- NexttoICSrom v2.0 JellyBean Blast : go to page
- Ultimate Super Sonic ROM v4 : go to page
- NextoICSrom v1.0 Chilled Ice: go to page
- Jeniper v1.00 ROM : go to page
- MIUI GB Beta v2.3.7 : go to page
- U S S R v4 : go to page
- Ultimate Sonic ROM v3 : go to page
- ICS Fusion v1 and v2 : go to page
- Galaxy Hero v1 : go to page
- Creeds ROM v3.2 : go to page
- Creeds ROM v3.1 : go to page
- Sony HD ROM v1 : go to page
- Bazzrom v2.2 : go to page
- MIUI v2.3.7: go to page
- Vanilla Aurora v2 ROM : go to page
- TermaROM GR v1: go to page
- Hybrid v4.0: go to page
- Repencis v3 : go to page
- ICS aura v1 : go to page
- ChobitsDigitalisV1.6 ROM : go to page
- Weui v2.0 : go to page
- ChobitsDigitalis v1.8 Final ROM : go to page
- ChobitsDIGITALISV2 Reloaded ROM : go to page
- Ultimate ROM M.U.R : go to page
- MySS v3.4 : go to page
- Thunder-Desert V1 Splash ROM: go to page
- BeautySense v1 HTC interface ROM : go to page
- Flash-Navie - (Thunder-Desert v2) : go to page
- MIUI cream v1 : go to page
- Ultimate Sonic ROM v2 : go to page
- Repencis v3.5 ADVANCED ROM : go to page
- Ultimate Sonic ROM v2,1 with kernel : go to page
- Neutron v1.0 GB Rom : go to page
- Creed Fusion ROM 3.5 : go to page
- Evolution-X : go to page
- NeoX BlackStar version 2 : go to page
- Evo-x2 : go to page
- Flashable Stock ROM for Galaxy Y : go to page
- Xperia Duos ROM : go to page
- Lewa : go to page
- Simply Young v1.7 : go to page
- SUVRom - go to page
- CREEDsix ROM v1.8 : go to page
- Blazing Hatred v1 : go to page
- Andromeda v1.0 ROM : go to page
- Semc Debrand Engine 3.0 : go to page
- USSR v5 Jelly Bean Taste : go to page
- Simply Young v1.8 (Arcturus Project) : go to page
- CREEDsix Rom v2.5 : go to page
- Hyperion Project : go to page
- MeeGo Rom : go to page
- Sweet Dread 2 : go to page
- Sweet Dread 5 : go to page
- Ice Cold Jelly (blue edition) : go to page
- Alfa Rom version 4.2 Ultimate Edition : go to page
- NeoX Blackstar Version 1 : go to page
Themes and Wallpapers Below
- SharinganMOD : This is a modified theme from chobitdigitalisrom : go to page
- CyanogenMod 7 for Galaxy Y : go to page
- Galaxy SIII icon theme for Galaxy y : go to page
- Glass Icon Theme : go to page
- Pure MIUI theme for Galaxy Y : go to page
- ICS themed lidroid toggles : go to page
- iPhone 4s theme for Galaxy Y : go to page
- Dandelion SIII wallpaper : go to page
- ICS icon pack : go to page
- Complete ICON set Galaxy SIII : go to page
- Wallpaper Galaxy SIII complete set : go to page
- Xperia Icon Pack : go to page
- Avenger Theme : go to page
BLUE PCB : go to page
- Android 4.1 Jelly Bean Wallpapers : go to page
- Galaxy SII icons (flashable) : go to page
- Creed Rom Fusion v3.5 ICS transparent Theme : go to page .
- Repencis 3.5 transparent theme : go to page
- GB + ICS theme for Stock ROM : go to page
- Dark Knight Theme for Google Playstore : go to page
- Cyanogen MOD 10 HD wallpapers : go to page
- Cyanogen MOD 7 Wallpapers : go to page
- Android Jellybean 4.1 Wallpapers : go to page
- My Galaxy Y Wallpaper Pack : go to page
- Stock ICS 4.0 Wallpapers : go to page
- Android Wallpapers Collection : go to page
- Miui icon pack : go to page
- Zello Rom : go to page
- Evo 2.1 : go to page
- LG Optimus Flashable Icon Pack : go to page
- Iron Man Icon pack : go to page
- Black version ICS icons : go to page
- Black version ICS icons v2 : go to page
- SharinganMOD v2 : go to page
- Xperia S Wallpapers : go to page
- MIUI suave icon pack : go to page
- Shiny Boxes Icon Pack : go to page
- Xperia S Lockscreen : go to page
Architecture of Android
Before I go in depth about ROM and Super User, let me tell you a little about the architecture of android. For any computational device to work there needs to be certain element which interacts with the hardware. Hardware alone can’t do a thing unless it is directed to. This direction/interaction with the hardware is done through the innermost layer of the operating system known as kernel. The Kernel inside android is a fork of present day Linux Kernel.
The layer above kernel is what gives the kernel instruction to perform specific tasks. For instance if your click on the browser icon on the launcher, the input is interpreted by kernel (as it interacts with hardware) but what to do with this input is understood by the next layer, which is application. In this case the launcher. So the question is how does launcher work? It doesn’t directly work with kernel, instead there is an intermediate called Dalvik Virtual Machine which runs these applications. If you are familiar with Java you will understand this quite easily, but if you don’t get it don’t bother.
In short, hardware interacts with kernel which interacts with Dalvik virtual machine which interacts with applications, and all these together combined is called ROM.
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