Why do you call Android firmware an "Android ROM"?

[shiningarcanine]

ROM means Read Only Memory, so by definition you cannot flash it. Being an OpenWRT user, it seems quite clear to me that the proper term is firmware. Why are people here using the term ROM?

 

[Cyber Warrior]

Exactly what it implies... it can be read from but not written to unless hacked.. which would be a custom ROM. When all is said and done, in the end the device is reading "the rom" for self testing, configuration and OS loading.

 

[zviki]

ROM means Read Only Memory, so by definition you cannot flash it. Being an OpenWRT user, it seems quite clear to me that the proper term is firmware. Why are people here using the term ROM?

You're right.Firmware is stored in ROM,which is a chip.But not just here,everywhere people use the term ROM for the phone firmware (OS),which is stored in the ROM chip. It's shorter and less confusing.

Sent from my Milestone using Tapatalk

 

[shiningarcanine]

Exactly what it implies... it can be read from but not written to unless hacked.. which would be a custom ROM. When all is said and done, in the end the device is reading "the rom" for self testing, configuration and OS loading.

The term ROM means Read Only Memory, which is a reference to memory that is impossible to modify. The flash used for these devices is clearly Read/Write. I do not understand why this contradiction seems logical to you.

You're right.Firmware is stored in ROM,which is a chip.But not just here,everywhere people use the term ROM for the phone firmware (OS),which is stored in the ROM chip. It's shorter and less confusing.

Sent from my Milestone using Tapatalk

Every other embedded device in the world uses the term firmware. I understand that cellular carriers would want to call it ROM because they want people to think it is unmodifiable, but I do not understand why everyone decided that meant something that could be modified rather than saying that the carriers were lying.

 

[mjneid]

The term ROM means Read Only Memory, which is a reference to memory that is impossible to modify. The flash used for these devices is clearly Read/Write. I do not understand why this contradiction seems logical to you.



Every other embedded device in the world uses the term firmware. I understand that cellular carriers would want to call it ROM because they want people to think it is unmodifiable, but I do not understand why everyone decided that meant something that could be modified rather than saying that the carriers were lying.

people starving, wars being fought, kittens dying, you tubes videos being unwatched. And this is all you think about.

Why do people say a car has a motor. When a motor is pure electric and a engine is internal combustion.

Why do people say that have a "hot water heater" at their house. And why would you want to heat hot water. Could you just alternatively name it SuperHeated Water Storage unit?

Why do people insist that they have a "cell phone" in fact the phones have no living cells in them.

Why do people insist that Solar panels are the way of the future when in fact solar panel take 30 years to turn a profit. But the average life is only 20 years.

What we install on our phone is natively READ ONLY. We must change it to R/W. You are correct in assuming that. But it's not technically firmware either. Since these phones are kernel based. The kernel is what interacts with the screen, buttons, camera(s) and such. So it's it more of a GUI interface more than a ROM, or a Firmware? Or is it because the ROM is written to the RAM everytime we turn or phone on? and being that it's in the "off mode" we cannot access it thus making it r/o.

It's just as people call windows or iOS a ROM. They can be clearly wrote to, but yet people call them ROMs as well.

 

[shiningarcanine]

people starving, wars being fought, kittens dying, you tubes videos being unwatched. And this is all you think about.

Why do people say a car has a motor. When a motor is pure electric and a engine is internal combustion.

Why do people say that have a "hot water heater" at their house. And why would you want to heat hot water. Could you just alternatively name it SuperHeated Water Storage unit?

Why do people insist that they have a "cell phone" in fact the phones have no living cells in them.

Why do people insist that Solar panels are the way of the future when in fact solar panel take 30 years to turn a profit. But the average life is only 20 years.

What we install on our phone is natively READ ONLY. We must change it to R/W. You are correct in assuming that. But it's not technically firmware either. Since these phones are kernel based. The kernel is what interacts with the screen, buttons, camera(s) and such. So it's it more of a GUI interface more than a ROM, or a Firmware? Or is it because the ROM is written to the RAM everytime we turn or phone on? and being that it's in the "off mode" we cannot access it thus making it r/o.

It's just as people call windows or iOS a ROM. They can be clearly wrote to, but yet people call them ROMs as well.

The term cell was adapted to describe living things after people noticed that they looked like that. The use of it in mobile phones is a consequence of people's tendency to throw away syllables when saying things. The correct name is "cellular phone".

Anyway, as a person with a CS degree, it seems wrong to me to randomly redefine precise technical jargon for the sake of ambiguouity.

 

[Paul627g]

I think to put this thread to rest we settle on the term ROM. That is what the community uses and recognizes. Right or wrong it is what it is....

I think we have much more in life to debate over than what we call the OS (operating system)/firmware/ROM (Read Only Memory) on our little devices we call cell phones (cellular phones).

Have a good day

 

[Mr. Orange 645]

Why do people park in a driveway, but drive on the parkway?

Why do people refer to the range in their kitchen as a "stove" or an "oven" when it is a "range."

There are many things that are commonly called names that, while not technically correct, are commonly accepted.

But, you can call it firmware, OS, or a hot dog for all anyone cares, and you can feel good deep down inside that YOU are right.

 

[dwelder]

...or a hot dog for all anyone cares, and you can feel good deep down inside that YOU are right.

I vote +1 for calling the ROM a hotdog from now on. Who's with me?



Sent from my Decked Out HTC EVO with Tapatalk!

 

[Rkingny28]

The rom on any given android handset is just like the rom on your PC the difference being is that the BIOS is placed on the rom on a pc and an android handset is actually the rom and a hidden partition on the handsets internal memory. It is by all means flashable as is a PC it just depends on what kind of rom its is. The rom in any android handset is eeprom (electrically erasable programmable read only memory) so yes the answer to your dumb question is yes it is very flashable.

 

[vernotzy21]

The rom on any given android handset is just like the rom on your PC the difference being is that the BIOS is placed on the rom on a pc and an android handset is actually the rom and a hidden partition on the handsets internal memory. It is by all means flashable as is a PC it just depends on what kind of rom its is. The rom in any android handset is eeprom (electrically erasable programmable read only memory) so yes the answer to your dumb question is yes it is very flashable.

Well on a PC the os is stored on the hard drive....yes its readable/writable but its definitely not on a read only chip so technicaly these are just programs

However lets look at it this way what if you install android x86 on a PC then your "rom" too just becomes files/programs.but if you install android on a phone you have to "flash" it to a solid state memory chip regardless of read/write capability

.........now what if we install it on a USB?ahhhhhh!!!!

Sent from my LS670 using Android Central Forums

 

[jostnyc]

I vote +1 for calling the ROM a hotdog from now on. Who's with me?


Sent from my Decked Out HTC EVO with Tapatalk!

Lol!!! Yes!!!!