New to Android First phone is X

[andyp714]

i just picked mine up today..i have a few questions if anyone could please answer
1.Is sideloading apps downloading apps from an internet website?
2.If it is can the droid X do it?
3.Everyone talks about no custom roms on droid x,but i dont know what those are..is live super mario wallpaper one or is snesoid a custom rom?..if not can you give me an example of custom rom?
4.And lastly this isnt really a question but if custom roms involve rooting then i dont care about that

 

[TheMobileWorx]

1. Sort of... it means loading apps straight to your phone from your computer.
2. Yes, if you install the SDK, you will have the ability to ADB push apps onto your phone, but there should be easier ways to do it.
3/4. This is a confusing subject, so I will try to give you the nutshell. ROM comes from the acronym Read Only Memory, which is traditionally a place on devices where the operating system would be burned into a memory chip to load from. Since console games back in the day were stored as a rom on a circuit they were also ROM's and the term has still stuck for them. The ROM that people refer to for the Droid X as well as other phones is the the actually operating system that runs the phone. People build and load different versions of Android for the phone for various reasons. It is something that only power users get involved with changing and is not a huge deal if you never plan to use your phone outside of the normal confines of what it can do. Yes, it involves rooting, so I won't say much more about that.

Hope this helps!

 

[rodeiguez102]

Hi, welcome to the forums.

Ok let me answer your questions in English lol. The day I got my first android phone I was extremely confused. So I wanna answer your questions in a way that a beginner can understand. (No offense)

#1 Yes sideloaded apps will most likely come from a website (from either your phones browser or computer browser, both possible). Sideloaded just means that it did not come from the Official Android market.

#2 now I'm not 100% sure about this, but I'm pretty sure it can. Go to settings on your Droid x and tap on applications, then on the top you should see an option that says "Unknown Sources". You check or uncheck to allow or disallow your phone to have that ability. I have many sideloaded apps on my Evo, apps that are not allowed on the Official Android market, for various reasons. like TubeDroid, tubedroid let's you download YouTube videos to keep on your sd card. Cool stuff, but for now you should just get to know Android a little more.

#3-4 Android is an Operating System = OS, (like Windows Vista is an OS) there is many versions of the Android OS, (like there is different versions of Vista, like Vista Basic, Premium, Ultimate, and Business) each version is considered a different Rom, and offers different features. My Evo has the HTC Sense UI Rom, the original MOTO Droid had the stock Android Rom, and the Droid x has a kinda MOTO-blur/stock Rom on it. So in other words, we all pretty much have custom roms of Android on our phones (except for original Droid, nexus one, and G1, they have original roms).

Now some people like to take these Android Roms and Customize them even more.. So for instance I can install the nexus one Rom on my Evo. This sort of stuff usually appeals to the very Tech savvy people (not including myself lol), because it takes a good understanding of Android and Linux, and some gutts, because you can screw up you phone and Void your warranty. And finally Yes you do have to Root your phone to install custom Roms.

Hope I helped, and hope you enjoy your Android experience. Thumbs up..