Re: rom development confusion
Hello, i got a question regarding to roms (stock/costum) in general, how is it possible that costum rom developer's can make the newest rom's while manufacturers can't meanwhile they're the only once with knowledge about their closed-source drivers please help me with answering this question
Welcome to Android Central!
OEMs do have access to the same software that custom ROM developers have access to - AOSP. The difference is that OEMs have a process for releasing updates and a certain quality assurance stage that needs to be passed before an update is released. That's not to mention the carriers that need to be involved with the process. There are many variables.
Custom ROM developers, although go through their own testing of each ROM they put out, don't go through the same amount of time and/or hurdles to push an update. If they release something that is buggy (accidentally) they can issue a fix and push an update immediately. Whereas the OEM has to go through that cycle of quality assurance and carrier approval(s).
HTC has a cool graphic that provides their breakdown of the update process, which is pretty much the same for all OEMs:
HTC Software Updates Process | HTC United States
That's not to say that custom ROM developers can't take the same amount of time or longer to update. Especially since they are working on a host of devices.
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