New user, interested in rooting, need ROM opinions please!

[Shanew800]

Hey guys, as the title stated this is my first droid phone, and my first post. From what I've seen and researched, I'm very interested in rooting and roms for many reasons:
Speed
Appearance
Bloatware
Battery Life
Wiimote compatibility (would rooting change this since Touchwiz doesn't allow it?)
...Anyways, unless I'm missing one the two main roms I hear of people using are Altered Beast and Gummycharged (1.0 or 1.5). Which rom is the better of the two for the reasons stated or overall? Forgive me in advance for any wrong terminology, still trying to learn all about this stuff. Thanks guys!

 

[vols fan]

I have been wondering the same thing. I've been back and forth on which to get.

 

[Sting23ray]

So until last night, I was in the same boat as you gents.

I was thinking which one to go with??? AB? GC? the new Eclipse? Spent the whole freakin day dreaming about ROMS.... and then I thought... this pros and cons exercise is never going to end! So I flipped a freakin coin and went with GC 1.8.5.
I don't care if the ROM is not working all correctly. Actually if it does work all perfect, then I wont get to learn anything...

So just pick one and go with it. Spend a week to a month with it and then re-flash with the other one.

 

[Shanew800]

Stingray, I noticed your conversations with Halo about GummyCharged and all that and was wondering, how easy is the whole process for a first timer (rooting, rom)? Also, how easy is it to reflash? Thanks in advance, because if it's easy to switch roms back and forth, I'll give it a go. One more question, if I currently have most of my apps installed on my sd card, do I have to erase all of them as well to do a root? Thanks sir

 

[jkeene81]

Im on Altered Beast and can honestly say that everything is better, not only did DroidX clean out all the bloatware he got rid of all the poopy Touchwiz brown. Everything has been themed from the pulldown menu to the dialer, very slick. Voodoo transforms the phone, so much quicker, no lag very smooth. My battery life has been better, not sure if its the kernel or lack of bloat but very happy there too. I used Gummy too and it is also a great ROM,if you like the stock gingerbread look you will be in heaven. It is also smooth and battery friendly. Not sure about the Wii compatibly though. Hope this helps!! PS DroidX's instructions are very easy to follow even has pictures, took me 10 minutes to root!

 

[jkeene81]

Stingray, I noticed your conversations with Halo about GummyCharged and all that and was wondering, how easy is the whole process for a first timer (rooting, rom)? Also, how easy is it to reflash? Thanks in advance, because if it's easy to switch roms back and forth, I'll give it a go. One more question, if I currently have most of my apps installed on my sd card, do I have to erase all of them as well to do a root? Thanks sir

http://www.androidcentral.com/root, this post will answer some of your questions about rooting and if you go to the Roots, ROMs and Hacks section at the top of the page, go to the posts by the developers and read up on their instructions on the rootine process. Once you get the hang of Odin and have CWM installed flashing ROMs is as easy as downloading a file to your phone. your apps can be backed up at anytime using Titanium Backup from the market, it even saves your angry birds levels!

 

[Shanew800]

Well, after reading all of these posts and what you guys have said, I believe I'm gonna go with Altered Beast. I do have a few more questions though, if anyone can answer these it would be very very greatly appreciated.
1. Is there a way to save all of my apps I currently have on the stock version, or will I have to redownload all of these? Titanium Backup only works for a rooted phone.
2. With Altered Beast 5, does it include the Voodoo kernel or do I have to find it and flash it on there after flashing the rom? (sorry if that's a stupid question)
3. Everyone keeps mentioning a clock that supposedly looks great on this rom. Does it include that or can you flash it on there seperately after flashing rom?

These should be the last questions I have. I just wanna make sure I don't screw this up, very expensive device! Thanks!

 

[jkeene81]

Well, after reading all of these posts and what you guys have said, I believe I'm gonna go with Altered Beast. I do have a few more questions though, if anyone can answer these it would be very very greatly appreciated.
1. Is there a way to save all of my apps I currently have on the stock version, or will I have to redownload all of these? Titanium Backup only works for a rooted phone.
2. With Altered Beast 5, does it include the Voodoo kernel or do I have to find it and flash it on there after flashing the rom? (sorry if that's a stupid question)
3. Everyone keeps mentioning a clock that supposedly looks great on this rom. Does it include that or can you flash it on there seperately after flashing rom?

These should be the last questions I have. I just wanna make sure I don't screw this up, very expensive device! Thanks!

1. You can use MyBackup Pro to back up your phone if not rooted however it will not save any data from your apps( i.e. your angry birds levels will be lost) you must be rooted to use Titanium Backup
2. The voodoo kernel is included in the package and if you read gunnermike's post on voodoo it will tell you everything you need to know about it.
3. Do you mean clockworkmod?

Before you root you should always read, read read and then when you are ready read some more. Check out all the post from the developers on the roots, ROMs, and hacks page and scroll through some of the questions, Im sure you have some of the same ones.

 

[DawgPoundMBA]

I'd say its based on preference. I have used Altered Beast and Gummy recently and though I prefer Gummy, both are pretty darn good. Altered Beast has an 'artsy' feel to it while Gummy has a professional feel. I feel like Gummy runs a bit faster too, but really have no way to establish that. You really cant go wrong with either.

 

[Farabomb]

I have run AB, Gunny and presently, Humble and I'm liking humble right now. Like everyone says try them and make your own decisions. What I need and like may not be what you are looking for.

 

[Shanew800]

Awesome, thanks for the replies guys. Dawgpound, I bit the bullet and finally completed it last night (went over smoothly thanks to the EE4 rooting guide). I used Altered Beast and am still interested in trying out Gummy as well based on what you're saying. I do love how some of the things look on Altered so who knows, I may go back to it after trying Gummy. Thing I was wondering is this. To flash from Altered Beast to Gummy, do I just reboot the phone up into CWM and hit wipe data, then install Gummy from zip? Also, do I have to disable lagfix or just leave it be and do it as I mentioned? Might try this tonight if I hear back from you soon. Also, can't say I've ever heard of Humble, I'll have to look that one up, thanks man.