New to android

[UnMonk]

I am new to android, I just purchased a Xoom and a Droid X and I have a few questions about rooting, roms, and such.

What are the benefits of rooting?
Is the process of loading a custom Rom fairly easy?
Do custom ROMS turn off my Verizon abilities? (ex: Txting, calling)
Would a Custom Rom violate my TOS and get me banned from the network?

What is the best custom rom available?

When Gingerbread comes out, can I update to it?

 

[vor]

start here http://www.androidcentral.com/root

 

[wormeyman]

What are the benefits of rooting? Remove bloatware, install apps with more abilities (backup), install custom roms/recovery
Is the process of loading a custom Rom fairly easy? Yes if you are a nerd, mostly easy if you are not a nerd
Do custom ROMS turn off my Verizon abilities? (ex: Txting, calling) Nope only "beta" roms usually have this problem and usually only other developers run them
Would a Custom Rom violate my TOS and get me banned from the network? Rooting does violate the TOS but is legal under the DMCA therefore it voids your warranty and verizon doesn't have to honor their end of the contract since you violated yours. That said it's pretty unlikely anything is going to happen

What is the best custom rom available? it all depends a lot of us like Liberty rom

When Gingerbread comes out, can I update to it? nope not without unrooting and returning to stock, that is why you do a "nandroid" backup before installing any custom rom.

 

[UnMonk]

Thanks, ill have to find a guide to rooting and loading a custom rom.

 

[wildman]

Thanks, ill have to find a guide to rooting and loading a custom rom.

Heres a good place... http://forum.androidcentral.com/motorola-x-rooting-roms-hacks/69746-how-all-things-root.html