[General Questions and Answers] a.cid:
I don't consider myself an expert, far from that...

But I do realize how difficult an interview could be to a student, so I'll help you out on this one :)

My join date as per my profile is 18th Nov 2011, but I had been lurking around from two months back...

I had no need to join before that...

I personally own only a Samsung Galaxy Fit s5670, and a cheap chinese Android MID m799ca...

I have quite some knowledge for my phone, but I'll just be starting off for the tablet after my exams get over (around 2weeks from now)

I had played around with my father's Acer Liquid Metal...

I also have helped out a few friends get their Androids rooted, which include a HTC Desire Z, Samsung Galaxy Mini s5570, Ace s5830 & Young s5360...

I've also done a few phone firmware upgrades, though restricted myself to official methods...

I also occasionally help out my real life friends with low-level unrooted tinkering around...

Also jailbroken an iPhone 4...

I'm pretty open in this regard...

While my loyalties rest with Android, I'm quite attracted towards a little unconventional OS's like Meego and WebOS...

I absolutrly loved Meego, everything feels natural in it...too bad Nokia abandoned ship...

Depending on my need and situation, I'm not averse to using even iOS and Blackberry...

But I like the freedom of Android over all others...

Personally for me, rom and kernel development is difficult because most of the time I'm away from home and only have my mobile with me...

And with rom development, I mean true development, like building from source and contributing back...

I have had a few attempts at kang-ROM's and cooked ROM's, and a theme or two, but I wasn't satisfied with the result so I haven't shared it...

If I can't use it personally, its pointless sharing it...

On the point of view of an Android newbie, Rom and kernel development certainly has a learning curve...

Some may find it pretty steep, some may find it easy...it all depends on the resources at hand, and the persons willpower to learn...

But this shouldn't come as a surprise, as every technical field has a learning curve...

Difficult question...

While I would recommend everyone to hack their devices, I certainly don't want everyone to do it...

Because "hacking" a device requires technical skills, but those technical skills are not present in everyone...

Infact, I would go on and even say that 15% of the public on XDA shouldn't have modded any part of their device...they certainly aren't worth the trouble they create...

Very device specific question, but the general answer that I could give is that modding a device allows you do things that your manufacturer or carrier didn't want you to do or thought your device is not capable of doing...

Basically freeing restrictions which are not required...

I always was interested in electronics...

When I got my first Android, it had plenty of problems in it that I wasn't aware of before buying the phone...

So I searched around for possible solutions, landed up here and got interested in how things work...

I'm a student :)

Pursuing my Bachelor's Degree in Commerce, along with a professional degree in Chartered Accountancy...

Stark contrast to the motive and resources of this forum :rolleyes:

Any more questions, shoot! :) :beer:

- Via xda premium