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Custom ROMs still exist, but have become a lot weaker in destinction than they used to. In their "golden years" OEM Android distributions were just bad and cam
by dartharva 2y ago
Custom ROMs still exist, but have become a lot weaker in destinction than they used to.
In their "golden years" OEM Android distributions were just bad and came with inexcusable bloatware and restrictions. The main charm of Custom ROMs back then used to be that they were relatively cleaner. But now, with most Android phones coming with hardware powerful enough to make any impact of bloatware negligible, not to mention Android (and OEM iterations) itself having been converged into leaner, more efficient designs, the relative utility offered by Custom ROMs is fading fast.
- NotPractical 2y agoThe main advantages these days are reducing reliance on Google [1], supporting open-source software, and extra security/privacy protections. Probably true that the average poweruser perceives less value from them than before. Some of those advantages are more ideological and less concrete/measurable. Compared to the Pixel stock ROM, you aren't missing out on much, and you're gaining a few non-security bonus features, like unrestricted tethering, local/offline backups, call recording, and Network permission toggle [2]. [1] I don't really like the term "de-Googling" because it paints an all-or-nothing picture, despite alternative ROMs providing the option to use Google services in a safer and fairer way (fairer as in, non-Google apps are on a level playing field when it comes to OS integration). [2] This is most certainly intended as a security/privacy feature, but I find it useful as an adblocker as well :)