An evening of Android ROM Mods. My favourites so far.

Last night I downloaded every Android 1.6-based ROM image compatible with my HTC Magic 32B phone and gave them all a spin on my second phone. I was having a HUGE time!

AndroidSpin.com maintain an excellent, detailed and very current table of all the android mods currently circulating. They are listed in date order, with the most recent on the left. There is also a more concise summary list with the most recent mod releases at the top.

In 5 hours I loaded, configured, played with and backed up five different ROMs. All but one ran faster than the preloaded Android build that came on my Vodafone NZ phone. This is mainly because they have been tweaked to run the processor at the full 528MHz and also hacked to make more memory available for the system and running apps. In some cases the system scheduler has been tweaked. Beyond that, they also generally offer very cool features like WiFi, bluetooth and USB  tethering allowing you to connect almost anything to the Internet through your phone's 3G connection. They also generally come with Voice dialing, which is really cool as that is a feature I was very much looking for. Some of the ROMs also support access to Microsoft Exchange, a biggie for people who work in places that use Exchange / Outlook. I've also noticed some of the new Contacts features an functions have been ported down from Eclair (Android 2.0). For example, you can create a "Contacts Folder" on a Home screen...and when you open it, you scroll through the list of people in that sync group - including any photos / images associated with them on Gmail. Lots of stuff, all good and mostly not in the standard builds on phones you can buy now.

I started the night with Cyanogen Mod 4.2.5 installed. I backed that up and then loaded the "The Official AOSP-1.6_r1.4 DRD20 (Donut) v2.2.1" ROMs. This person or team take the basic ROM of each major vendor, root it, then make an image. Then they create an  "ExpansionPack" that adds in all the good stuff to the basic version. It loaded easily and booted to the Android welcome screen where you set up your gmail account.

Next, I tried the Soulife ADP Remix ROM. This also loaded easy, booted properly to the Android welcome screen and then ran fast and stable after being configured for gmail. I liked this ROM. I had a play, backed it up and moved on.

The next on the list was the JesterBlur v1.2.5 ROM. This is based on Android v1.5 (Cupcake) and includes the Motorola "MotoBlur" user interface. It's large at 78MB. It did install OK, though I had not followed all the steps suggested. It booted, though it took about 5 minutes or more - it felt like closer to 10. When it came up, there was MotoBlur in all its glory and it worked, though it was quite slow. The screenshots are all from my phone. I've included them as MotoBlur is strikingly different to all the other ROMs. Most of them load up and look more or less exactly like the same Android you get on your phone when you buy it.

JesterBlur could access the internet via 3G data, but WiFi didn't start. The docs warned I needed "the latest radio" - unhelpfully vague and imprecise. The Bluetooth didn't work, either, a known problem. It certainly was pretty, but the MotoBlur UI seemed to me to be all about form rather than function. Things I'd do in a motion or two usually, could take several more on MotoBlur. You don't slide the apps tray out. It's been added to the Menu key or the "+" button (IIRC). The notifications bar can't be slid down. It does very nicely allow you to create and define custom formulations of the user interface mad up of components you are offered. To me, that's too much effort and expense in development just for eye candy. But once you managed to find an app and run it, it ran well enough.

I'm a fan of leaner, lighter interfaces. MotoBlur felt, to me, like I had to watch 20 episodes of "Project Runway"...and take it  seriously. I'm sure lots of people love it to bits.

Being based on Android 1.5, the Android Market in JesterBlur 1.2.5 is the old, black and plain Market that prevailed until a month or so ago. How quickly we move on! I didn't bother to back this one up. I just wiped it.....and moved on. Maybe the next version will be faster. I would certainly take a look at a new release if / when one appears.

Last ROM of the evening was Dwang Donut v1.13. Of the ROMs I tried last evening, this was the only one not based in some way on a version of Cyanogen Mod. David Wang has composed his own kernel build from the stock android v1.6. This ROM was recommended to me as a very fast one and it certainly nice and snappy on my phone. It isn't as feature rich as Cyanogen, but if you had this ROM on your phone you'd find lots to like about it. I backed it up.

Of the ROMs I've tried so far, my favourite would be Cyanogen 4.2.5. Next and not very far behind CM, it would be very close race between Soulife and Dwang, with Soulife taking it by a nose. Half a length behind - because these are all good - would the AOSP Donut builds. Bringing the rear in flamboyant leasurely style would be JesterBlur....which isn't really fair as it is Android v1.5....and v1.6 is faster - modded or not.