Day: October 7, 2013

The first thing I do these days when I get a new phone is to jailbreak/root it. Back when I’d an iPhone (and with my iPad) I feel that it’s more or less essential as Apple tie down their OS far too firmly. Out of the box Android is a lot more “open” but by the time I bought my first Android phone it had become reflex so I’d the thing rooted (the Android equivalent to jailbreaking) five minutes after getting it out of the box. I’d a custom ROM on it shortly afterwards. Over the last week or so I basically rebuilt my phone from the ground up, tried a variety of kernels, then a variety of custom ROM’s, then finally a variety of applications for the various things I do with my phone. Then I went out and bought a different phone. Which I rooted last night so I could begin all over again. After chatting to a few people with android phones it seems they haven’t bothered rooting or installing a custom ROM. I’m not particularly evangelical about the whole thing, but I thought I’d lay out what I’ve done with my android phones and why I’ve done it. Continue reading…