Danger: High (if you do it wrong, you have a chance of bricking your phone, go into boot loop, and so on)

If you root your phone, you can load custom ROMs, which replaces your "factory ROMs" with special customized versions with more features.

Due to the way Android OS is open to all, different developers can take the source code provided by Google Android and customize it. Many of these developers choose to freely share the fruits of their labor with the rest of us.

Custom ROMs can provide a variety of benefits, from a pure / lean version of the OS free of any carrier customizations such as Bugless Beast, to feature-laden ROMS that change the way Android looks and feels, such as Cyanogen Mod and MIUI, and anything in between.

Custom ROMs are specific to the hardware, and is heavily dependent on manufacturer participation. If they release the source code of their ROM, the "modders" have a much easier time creating custom versions. If not, most functions must be reverse engineered, and that will take time. Even different revisions of the same hardware must have different ROMs.

If you are interesting in rooting your phone, and loading a custom ROM, please check XDA-Developers for instructions on your specific device. Please do NOT try "close enough", but must find instructions for your EXACT device. If you do not follow instructions, you will likely damage your phone to the point where it became a dead brick (i.e. "you bricked your phone"). And that will be VERY hard to undo.

XDA Developers Forums

If you want simplified process to try new ROMs, one of the best investments you can do is ROM Manager (if you have a compatible device). The app will filter the ROM list to only those compatible to your device so you don't have to search for them. It is an app frontend to Clockword Recovery, which generates Nandroid backups (have I confused you yet?) Don't worry. All you need to know is you can save full backups of your phone, and restore it at any time. This makes trying new ROMs virtually painless.

Download ROM Manager through Appbrain (Free, $5.86)

Another thing you can do after you root your device is overclock the CPU.

The original Motorola Droid CPU is factory rated at 600 MHz, but is clocked at 550 Mhz by Motorola for energy conservation. However, the factory provided "kernel" is capable of 800 MHz without tweaking, if you change a few ROM parameters.

Later, tweakers have managed to push up the speed possible. Some OG Droids can be clocked as high as 1.25 GHz (though it becomes a bit unstable, depending on the exact device). I have mine set to 1.2 GHz and it is quite usable.

Kernels are more universal than ROMs, but you should still only seek out specific kernels known to be compatible with your device. You can also download Kernel Manager to do that for you, or ROM manager can do that too, just not as pretty.

Download Kernel Manager through Appbrain (free, $3.99)



