hi
soon to be new to android and of course ROM's. What are ROM's? Why would you load a ROM to your phone?
I'm in IT so i can take some technical explanation. I am pondering getting the Epic, and I'm just reading up on things.thanks
The ROM is the "OS" software, more aptly called "firmware" of the phone. Of course the literal meaning of ROM as you probably already know is "Read Only Memory", which in the case of an Android phone, is referring to the portion of the phone's internal memory that stores the phone's "firmware" or "OS". So ROM has become a term that is used interchangeably with firmware in the Android world. Is it an accurate description? Not really in my opinion, but it's what's used so you have to just go with it heh.
So, every Android phone is shipped with a "ROM". However, many talented developers will take that ROM and tweak it, usually for the better, by removing restrictions placed on it by manufacturers, adding features not included by manufacturers, and many other things than can improve the user experience. Moreover, some VERY talented folks have taken the Android source code, and built their own ROMs. Cyanogenmod and MIUI are examples of this. Most ROMs however are pulled and modified from a particular phone.
With that said, your question would probably more accurately be "why would you load a CUSTOM ROM to your phone?". Well, that depends on what you want out of your phone. Rooting and ROMing is probably more of a hobby than a necessity, but it can be fun unleashing the true power of your smartphone, that has been fenced in by manufacturers for a variety of reasons. I mentioned some of the basics above, but here is an example of a features list for a popular custom ROM for this phone:
MODs included:
Tweaked system(Very FAST)
Kernel can be undervolted using included Tegrak profiles
Crawrj's Hotspot Hack to unlock Sprint Hotspot & USB tethering
Moved dalvik-cache to cache partition
Reduced auto-brightness range for better battery life
Removed haptic feedback from dialer
Notification bar will display TRUE network speeds, 2G(1x) & 3G(EVDO)
Long pressing volume rockers will skip music tracks when screen is off(Ported from gtg465x's ROM)
Camera can be used with less than 15% battery & during phone calls
Volume rockers can be used to take pictures
Reboot, Recovery & Download power menu options
Swapped phone & message buttons in dialer
Removed mandatory Exchange security policy
TouchWiz launcher displays 5 dock icons & 5x5 app drawer
Disabled 100% battery notifications
Reduced promixity sensor delay
Browser UA string selection
Removed Camera sounds
Removed messaging from call logs
Colored notification icons
Battery % on battery meter
Transparent notification background
Removed USB Debug notification
Relaxed MMS compression ratio
Raised MMS recipient limit to 500
Annoying ads in programs are blocked
ICS Transitions
And other misc tweaks/mods
System has also been de-odex'd, apk's have been optimized & aligned
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