Do Android Users Still Use Custom Roms? (androidauthority.com)

"With all of the drama at CyanogenMod, Android Authority takes a look at the current state of custom ROM development," writes Slashdot reader Thelasko. From the article: The future of CyanogenMod appears uncertain, after the open source ROM was forced to fork under the name Lineage OS. Fortunately there are already other remixed versions of Android available, with some of the most popular being Paranoid Android, Resurrection Remix, and Dirty Unicorns... [But] with each new version of Android, the gap between Android and popular custom ROMs has shrunk, which begs an interesting question: Are custom ROMs even necessary anymore? To answer this, let's take a quick look at the state of custom ROM development as it exists today.
The article points out that mobile virtual reality is "on the verge of becoming mainstream and the wearable market has grown tremendously," asking whether custom firmware will also integrate these newer technologies. But the original submission also asks a question that's closer to home. What custom ROMs do Slashdot users have installed?

Comments

Re:Stock ROMs are shit

[dejitaru]

I believe running a custom rom just to get rid of bloat is an overkill when you can just use titaniumbackup to delete the bloat. That and some roms do come with their own bloat, like features that cause issues.

Re:Stock ROMs are shit

[guacamole]

Sound's like you have been buying wrong devices. A typical Google Nexus or Motorola device has a pretty lean ROM that's pretty close to stock Android.

I do

[fredgiblet]

I rooted my phone to allow me to install apps with root access, then the phone wouldn't let me update while it was rooted, so I installed a custom ROM that would. If I have to unroot my phone every time I need to update it then I might as well just install a custom ROM.

Tether, Real backup, Root apps

[gavron]

WiFi Tether without paying extra to the carrier for the same data you're already paying for is a feature.
Backup specific apps and their data ("Titanium Backup" or its successors) or the entire device ("NANDROID" backup via TWRP, CWM, PhilZ, etc)
Root apps allow flexibility carrier-ROMs don't. Greenify shuts down unused apps. Xposed allows changing almost anything about Android operation (the "framework") with easy installation. See this link for top rooted apps.

None of these are available with locked bootloaders, and stock ROMs. (The NANDROID backup is available with stock ROMs but is if little value).

MotoG4 using Silesh Nair xt16xx 7.1.1 Lineage OS 20170113 ROM

Ehud Gavron

Re:Stock ROMs are shit

[Anonymous Coward]

Stock Android is full of bloat. Go ahead and force Google Play on me, but there's over half a dozen other Google Apps I don't want and can't uninstall. Pico Open GAPPS on CM fixes the problem.

Re:I don't any more

[ncc74656]

Another issue with third party ROMs is that some software builders actively block or sabotage them. For example, the AT&T's Uverse streaming service will detect whether you have a rooted or third party ROM and stops working. The Netflix goes only up to 480p resolution on a non-stock ROM. "Fixing" this probably involves editing build.prop and hiding your root, but I haven't tried it recently.

Android Pay also has issues with rooted phones (and, by extension, custom ROMs), but I have it working on an Asus Zenfone 2 running CyanogenMod 13. A combination of Magisk and phh's Superuser successfully fools Android Pay into full functionality. You might want to give them a try with other root-averse apps.