This probably more broadly applies to AOSP vs. Moto-based ROMs in general, but these are the two I have experience with.
First of all, AOSP ROMs are born from the Android Open Source Project and include ROMs like CM7 and MIUI. Most Droid X ROMs these days take the Moto software image, strip out some things and put in others. If you are a coder, check out the AOSP ROMs to see if you can check in your own code, or at least fork the release and modify it as you see fit. If you aren't a coder, or you can't figure out how to do this, it really doesn't matter if the ROM is open source or not.
But the features of the ROM are important, and that's what I'm here to discuss.
You won't find quadrant scores here, but I am happy to report that my X weighed 5.6oz with CM7 and with Liberty - this being just about as accurate an indication of performance as Quadrant scores. Really, both ROMs are pretty snappy and it's much more likely that the background apps you have installed will have more to do with performance than which ROM you choose. If you insist ROM A is noticeably faster than ROM B then by all means stick with ROM A. Since both are eminently usable speed-wise I see no need to nitpick over which is "faster" and whether that really matters when I'm actually using my phone for something more than flipping through the home screens.
CM7 benefits:
Liberty benefits:
Not much benefit to Liberty so far, CM7 has a few nice benefits while Liberty is more of a "better than stock" experience. But let's look at the cons.
Liberty Cons:
CM7 Cons:
In short, if you're OK with bleeding edge releases and don't mind a lack of HDMI CM7 is a great ROM. If you like having the ability to use stock Moto apps, need HDMI, or just want a little more stability Liberty may be a better choice. I went from Liberty to CM7 for a few weeks and now I'm back to Liberty. But I'll probably hit CM7 again eventually, especially if they end up with a mostly stable Ice Cream Sandwich build before Moto/Google/VZW gets leaks.
First of all, AOSP ROMs are born from the Android Open Source Project and include ROMs like CM7 and MIUI. Most Droid X ROMs these days take the Moto software image, strip out some things and put in others. If you are a coder, check out the AOSP ROMs to see if you can check in your own code, or at least fork the release and modify it as you see fit. If you aren't a coder, or you can't figure out how to do this, it really doesn't matter if the ROM is open source or not.
But the features of the ROM are important, and that's what I'm here to discuss.
You won't find quadrant scores here, but I am happy to report that my X weighed 5.6oz with CM7 and with Liberty - this being just about as accurate an indication of performance as Quadrant scores. Really, both ROMs are pretty snappy and it's much more likely that the background apps you have installed will have more to do with performance than which ROM you choose. If you insist ROM A is noticeably faster than ROM B then by all means stick with ROM A. Since both are eminently usable speed-wise I see no need to nitpick over which is "faster" and whether that really matters when I'm actually using my phone for something more than flipping through the home screens.
CM7 benefits:
- I like the movement of the toggle icons to the dropdown shade, I think that works well from a UI perspective.
- I really like the additional power-off options. It includes reboot (normal, bootloader, recovery), screenshot, and a few other goodies. Again, pretty slick and a nice addition.
- CM7 runs on just about anything, this means if you really like CM7 and decide to get an HTC or Samsung you can probably (eventually) flash CM7 and get all the same goodies.
Liberty benefits:
- You have access to as much or as little of the stock Moto apps as you want.
- Seems more stable than the 340 stock build, but 602 may have fixed some of those issues.
- The ROM Toolbox for Liberty has a lot of customizations, but it doesn't really belong here since Jrummy is making it less of a Liberty add-on and more of a generic ROM add-on.
Not much benefit to Liberty so far, CM7 has a few nice benefits while Liberty is more of a "better than stock" experience. But let's look at the cons.
Liberty Cons:
- Ugly default theme, unless you're into construction yellow.
- Development has slowed, 0.9 has been around for a while and there has been no changes for the 602 build yet (although it runs fine on the 602 kernel).
CM7 Cons:
- Daily builds make this list hard to maintain
- WiFi frequently is unstable, I need to disable and reenable from the menus (not the pulldown toggle) to connect to my home network and even then frequently I seem to have DNS errrors and can't get anywhere. Older builds were better on this, future build may fix the issue, or maybe just a wipe would have worked.
- Battery life is iffy, seems to be worse on CM7 than Liberty or stock but again, this is pretty variable due to installed apps.
- No access to stock apps. The MotoBlur camera is pretty nice (yes, I know some love the MIUI camera) and I like the panorama support, most of the rest I've moved to AOSP versions since they'll be available on my next phone regardless of manufacturer.
- To get some things to work you need to install some proprietary drivers. AOSP fans should hate this but most AOSP fans don't actually understand what this means...
- No access to stock drivers. This means no HDMI and there doesn't seem to be an effort to get the proprietary HDMI drivers ported over (assuming it's possible).
In short, if you're OK with bleeding edge releases and don't mind a lack of HDMI CM7 is a great ROM. If you like having the ability to use stock Moto apps, need HDMI, or just want a little more stability Liberty may be a better choice. I went from Liberty to CM7 for a few weeks and now I'm back to Liberty. But I'll probably hit CM7 again eventually, especially if they end up with a mostly stable Ice Cream Sandwich build before Moto/Google/VZW gets leaks.
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