New SG3 custom ROM or Leave it

[The_Observer]

So i decided to get a new phone, dont think the iPhone 5 is worth it, and the new nokia phones dont have a release date for new zealand. I want to know if it worth rooting the phone and install custom rom onto. Could some people please let me know what at the best ones i should start looking at.

[AJerman]

Yes, definitely! At least if you're into that kind of thing. I completely recognize that plenty of people want to buy a phone and just use it without screwing around with it. I, however, quite enjoying trying new ROMs constantly. On nearly every device you can get some sort of an AOSP ROM (Android Open Source Project, basically plain vanilla Android without manufacturer's UIs and bloatware) that's likely make it much faster than it was before, give you access to newer versions of Android than the manufacturer has released, unlock or improve features, etc. I have an HTC One XL (AT&T One X), and it get official builds of most of the main ROMs such as CM10 (pure AOSP with just a few tweaks here and there), AOKP (usually based off CM10, but with a few more tweaks, my personal favorite), MIUI (an iPhone-esque type ROM. Clean, simplified, albeit a bit boring), and ParanoidAndroid (CM10 with per app DPI settings so you can run things in "tablet mode". Looks good on high res screens). The SGS3 is very developer friendly as well since it came with an unlocked bootloader. Of course if you want to go a little cheaper, there's always the Nexus phones like the Galaxy Nexus which come with AOSP already and easily rootable and unlockable.

The rooting/custom ROM community is massive. Take a look at what devices you like, then look them up at xda-developers.com to get an idea of what kind of third party software and ROMs are available for it.

[Brandon H Supervisor]

using custom roms is completely worth it from my experience, all the good roms do nothing but improve upon Android :)

for rooting your S3 (you have the Samsung Galaxy s III right?) check out here http://forum.xda-dev...d.php?t=1762709

and for good Roms check out AOKP & CyanogenMod

question: you have the international gs3 i take it?

[ToneKnee]

Ditch the normal ROM and get a ASOP/CM10 one because they are usually kept up to date frequently. :)

[tsupersonic]

If you enjoy tweaking and customizing things, you will definitely enjoy custom ROMs on an Android device. You can get rid of the Tochwiz and carrier bloat that will be on the SGS3, and run stock version of Android. You won't have that ability with Windows Phone devices, granted that's a complete different animal all together. You can't go wrong with either SGS3 or Nokia (WP7) device, both will make great smartphones.

[UKDarkJedi]

AOSP or AOKP (Android Open Kang Project, Kang meaning stolen or copied code, I believe) are good, they really show off the performance of the S3 as has been mentioned.

The source roms (AOSP) are entirely as Google intended that build to run, sleak, stripped down and totally efficient

The Kang roms tend to have developer tweaks, additions here and there, modified kernels or other such lovely stuff to increase performance or add additional features not always present in the AOS builds, and each one is different.

However, you may not want to do anything to the S3 for a while, it's entirely up to you. It's a very good phone without customising it, but if you do go down that route, you've also got a lot of options open to you. XDA, as has been mentioned, is your friend.

[The_Observer]

Thanks people ill look at the custom roms.

[_neutrino Veteran]

CM10 is very nice i have been running the nightlies for over a month now and its great.

[freak180]

Longer battery life and better performance