5 years ago SS, BB, UD, CM, and others ruled the community.

[pc747]

​

Simply Stunning, Bugless Beast, Sapphire, Ultimate Droid, Cyanogenmod, Chevyrom, Droidmod, Steel Droid, Liquid Roms, Jrummy, those were the biggest names that ruled our forum 5 years ago. Amazing if you think about it that at that time our favorite rom developers were able to take our devices and make it a little more than what we had. Everything from themed keyboards, smoked glass notification bars, and the option to choose what apps you wanted installed or left off before first boot. Seems like when you look back it feels like so long ago and that android software has moved so far forward since then. And in a way it has, as you look at Google Now launcher and compare it to what we had back then.

The excitement over OTAs and releases of new builds for a rom lit up the community. Servers struggled to handle the many fans wanting to experience the latest features themselves. And with that came those that loved it, those that hated it, and the people that loved it so much that they hated the people that hated it. But no matter what camp you were in we all continued to want more out of our phones; more speed, more features, more battery life, and more ROMs.

Here we are with more speed, more features, and more battery life at the expense of less ROMs. Both Google and android manufacturers updated their specs, cleaned up the interface, and added a few more features (Samsung being the leader of them all). Despite that I still have those times where I would like to break out the old droid and flash a rom for old time sakes. Because as nice as 6.0 marshmallow is with better battery life, a nicer interface, more features (pay), it still lacks the what excited android fans the most, and that is the ability to fully customize the device. Where Google (with the Nexus) allow more freedom for customizations it lacks the ability to theme (stock), other manufacturers like HTC, Samsung, and LG have the themes but are loaded with bloat, slow to update, and stop supporting the device after 18-24 months. One Plus was close to being the device that could have been what android fans have been looking for except they decided to settle.

As we are approaching 2016 and a new era of android with better cameras, faster processors, and screens with better resolutions, we can no forget 5 years ago when we were the few. The few to dare to try an operating system that lacked the apps, was new and unfamiliar, the few to Droid. We were the few that dared to dream for more and a few developers rose up and took the challenge to help us continue to dream. Let us not stop dreaming as there is still more places we can go as we can not settle for what we have now as the pinnacle.

In 2016 what is the minimum to expect from all future phones being released by manufacturers?

 

[pc747]

For trivia sake the Motorola Droid was announced as being rooted on this site (linked to the alldroid forum) on Dec 9th: The Droid has been Rooted! | Android Forum at DroidForums.net

And some of the tutorials for rooting were intimidating because of how long it looked [How To] Easily install Bugless Beast using only SPRecovery, Terminal Emulator, & zip | Android Forum at DroidForums.net

 

[popcenator]

Ah, I remember those days. Some exciting times they were.

Sent from my VS980 4G using Tapatalk

 

[Mustang02]

Jrummy I ran his liberty rom. That brings back memories

 

[popcenator]

Liberty was great. It was a good time to be a tinkerer.

I remember my then GF, now wife use to get mad at how much time I spent on the forum switching ROMs and helping others with issues.

Sent from my VS980 4G using Tapatalk

 

[DroidModderX]

Those were the days! I kinda wish roms were still as popular as they were. You just can't beat custom firmware.

 

[bkdodger]

We had great times.. @popcenator we sure kept plenty of time on the forum and running testing with all that flashing.. Haha

S6E+ tapatalk

 

[Jonny Kansas]

Back in the day...Wow. Hard to believe it was that long ago, but also that it wasn't longer. Feels like a lifetime from where we were then to where we are now. What great times.

 

[SquireSCA]

I remember those days as ROMs gave me the ability to "fix" my DroidX and my wife's TBolt. From the factory, both had many issues. Poor battery life, FC's, spontaneous reboots, etc... Only custom ROM's fixed them.

But as time went on, the stock ROM's got better and better, and the aftermarket stuff offered less and less.

They still hold the edge if you want to steal free tethering from VZW or you just HAVE to have a very specific shade of green battery icon, but from the ones that I have played with over the past year or two, the advantages of them have gotten less and less. I think a lot of people like me find that the stock ROMs are really nice these days, and that the effort and often trouble of going custom, just for some different icons and stuff, just isn't worth it any more.

If you want to customize the look and feel, there are 50 launchers to choose from that do most of what any ROM lets you do. I find that as I get older, I am less OCD about my phone. I just want it to work, be fast and have good battery life, and I slap on a launcher that pleases me aesthetically.

I have tried custom ROM's on my past couple phones, and none of them worked as nice as stock, including the N6...

 

[wicked]

I do miss those days but at the same time am happy with how good phones these days come out the box.

 

[SquireSCA]

I do miss those days but at the same time am happy with how good phones these days come out the box.

Yeah, ROMs used to be the main way to get the phone to work the way that the manufacturer promised it would, but never did. It was almost a necessity on several devices.

Now, it's a novelty...

 

[Ollie]

Roms are still awesome if you want the latest and greatest on an older unsupported phone.

I just flashed Lollipop onto a Note 1 I have laying around and it runs just fine. That is a testament right there to the continuing Dev community.

 

[Mustang02]

Roms are still awesome if you want the latest and greatest on an older unsupported phone.

I just flashed Lollipop onto a Note 1 I have laying around and it runs just fine. That is a testament right there to the continuing Dev community.

Or even a support device that needs tweaks. Like my 2013 N7. ScottRom makes it smooth.

 

[Ollie]

Yeah that N7 was a special device now wasn't it? Lol I think that is the one they have had the most issues out of.

 

[Mustang02]

Oh it's a special kind of special