yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[HD2 General] ProjektFuze:
as a developer for the ATT fuze... i can say so many different reasonsas to why someone should flash a custom ROM over a stock rom... the obvious reasons are for a faster and more responsive phone... then there is the customization factors, and also the eye candy and getting rid of all the stock useless junk taking up memory and hindering phones performance... on the att fuze... and I'm sure many other smartphone out there.... there is no other option... flashing was simply a 'must'

but now I'm a proud owner of an hd2... and even as my history as a developer... I'm running the TMoUS Stock Rom... i have downloaded all the 'must have' apps and i have done a lot of the performance increasing registry tweaks.... and my result is a top notch phone that is so smooth and is reliable... now we can argue about whether some people think its necessary or an option... but i honestly don't see a reason to flash... especially since many of the custom rom out right now are all kinda buggy... none are really stock stable.... but yea... its on you.. but i am keeping it stock... and I'ma custom rom fanatic...
[HD2 General] Sentinel196:
Wow! Front page material huh?

Thanks heaps for the contribution guys and girls!

It is very interesting to get some insight from some people who use devices other than the HD2. It certainly seems that the benefits of custom ROMs on other devices are much greater than they currently are on the HD2.

I think custom ROMs will become very handy when HTC no longer offers up to date support for the device.

Looking forward to more insightful responses!
[HD2 General] chrisd1a1:
I've been reading this thread with interest, think it's worth a comment. flash a rom or not, themes, skins, apps. etc, etc. it's the base that counts. winmo is probably the most flexible base there is. MS and htc deserve s lot of credit for what they have done. personally ive flashed roms for years, why? simple, not for the new, but to bring the phone too my preference of look and feel. I like the stock look, but as an example, my preference is the 65.x style, others may prefer the 6.5. feel.

then there are changes that the oem may not provide out of the box. the stock sense has coverflow, the newer builds have the reader tab etc. cooked roms give the option to ' mix things up' it's why I cook, ive got the option to build the rom that suits me. yes I post them, but it's not the main reason. it's so I can say. I did this, it's mine:)

some will say cooked are faster, no real difference on this phone.

it's about what suits you. I build what suits me. if stock suits you stick with it.:)

regards

Chris
[HD2 General] jimmyd66:
Can u tell me how i get rid of the Telstra Bloatware on my phone without having to flash a new rom 'cos both the bloatware and the varying info is making me feel like a starring role in the excorcist!! ;)
[HD2 General] silkassassain:
I just found this thread off of the XDA twitter i just started to follow. I feel like this is a great conversation to have.

Name: Antonio

Age: 20

Current Phone: HTC Touch Pro2 (aka Rhodium) for Sprint

My current phone is my first WinMo Phone. Before my Rhodium I was an iPhone user and loved it. I heard there where rumors that you could hack (jailbreak) my phone but I was too scared at first because one lil mistake and boom there goes $400. Plus there were no information about how to properly do this at the time. But then after switching to sprint and getting my TP2 I had friends call me like "hey you should upgrade your phone so it can be better then ever." At first I was like naw I'm okay my phone is already great (You know the old "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" mentality). But after seeing a close friend with his TP2 all costumed out with MightyRom I had to flash my phone. After that I was hooked. I went from MightyRom to Mr. X Rom to JuicyRom and finally found my perfect ROM chef which is EnergyRom.

In conlusion, the reason why I, and I think others, flash they phone is because companies, like HTC, make these amazing phones with great features, but there are just those little things that if improved can make the phone better. An example with my phone is that when you had the stock ROM it would notify you when your txt message was sent. Now that's okay if you're not a texter but I txt alot (about 20+ messages a day). So having to hit that okay button everytime I sent a txt got real irritating. So when I flashed to MightyRom I realized that the notification was off, and as i kept upgrading new feature became available to me. I tried to go back to the stock ROM when 6.5 was available for Sprint but after I did i noticed how many features I lost and I said "This is too uncreative for me." I like to be unique, so when you mix in different themes and apps and tweaks you're phone becomes a reflection of you not the company you bought it from.

Customization is the key to individuality so I know that ROM cooking will never stop it will just continue to grow, and who knows maybe one day Motorola, HTC, Windows, or Android will pick up on some of this stuff and put this in they stock ROMs or UIs in order to better serve the customer
[HD2 General] Sentinel196:
Keep on topic please.
[HD2 General] biohaz55:
Because I can...

Title say it all I guess. Whilst I was happy with the stock rom I felt the need to personalise my phone, the emphasis on 'my'.

After nearly 30 years using mobile phones, mostly Nokia and Sony Ericsson, the HD2 is the first winmo device I've owned and I've been amazed at just how it can be changed, modified, adapted, etc.

Cooked ROMs give us the ability to customise the phone to fit our own individual needs, after all it is 'my' phone. I have tried several over the months and they all have their pros and cons but I feel that all provide an improvement over the stock ROM. Also as has been said HTC are slow to update stock ROMs whereas chefs give us the ability to keep on the leading edge which, as a tech freak, I want to do.

6.5.x is also much better IMO than 6.5 which I would still be on without the great chefs out there.

Edit: Great topic start Sentinel, I shall be following this topic till it's conlusion.
[HD2 General] Jive Turkey:
I think you got this one backwards. I'm onto my 3rd WinMo phone now, and in my experience the chefs provide way more updates to their custom ROMs than the stock ones.

e.g. My current phone is a SE X1. Stock ROM is WM6.1, while custom ROMs are 6.5.x.

It can be even worse in some countries as official ROMs are not always released globally.
[HD2 General] Johev:
Congratulations for getting this post on the front page.

I have read most of the posts here, and it looks like the HD2 users are quite pleased with their stock rom. I own an Xperia x1, and I can tell you that when the company bails on us (the users), because they want us to buy their new phones (with sometimes a very similar hardware like X2), XDA ROM developers is all we've got.

If it wasn't for some people who take their time and knowledge to help people like me, who do not have the time to learn how to make their own ROMs, we would have never had the opportunity to try the new WM 6.5 on our phones.

For me it wasn't just to customize the phone, but also to have it run the new software, and not having to spend a lot of money on buying a new phone, just to be able to experience the software.

With custom ROMs you can normally go 2 ways, the clean and stable way (which gives you more room for customization then the stock ROM does, while still giving you the updated version of the OS) and the heavy eye candy ROMs, that normally have some bugs, but are mostly proof of concepts (what can be done with the phone).

If only the big companies released a clean version of their ROMs (to give the users the option to either use the stock version will all the things they put in it or a clean version will more RAM and ROM available), with just the drivers and essential things to function, it would make out of warranty flashing less appealing, but I do not think they will ever do it.

Just my 3 cents (2 is not my lucky number) :p
[HD2 General] felixdd:
HD2 user here.

Before I start, I should explain a bit of my background.

I'm relatively new on the WM phone scene, but not so much the Windows CE scene (in which I've been involved since the late 90s). But up until last year, I've always used both a cell phone and a non-phone PPC.

With phones, it's not so much reflashing an entire rom as it is "patching" in certain alterations to the base rom. It's still flashing in a way, but it is very difficult to disseminate a certain set/combination of alterations as a packaged "ROM" and expect it to work on other handsets -- to do so will brick the other device.

So for me, it's all about tweaking and adding in my own alterations. During this time, I wasn't as busy with other priorities in life, so I had time to tweak a phone to my own liking and user interface.

By the time I adopted a WM phone, I was at a stage of my life where I'm just too busy to do all my own tweaks. I still did a little with my older phone (G810) -- adding and removing certain DLLs to make the ROM serve my own purposes. But that was about it.

With the HD2, if I had all the time in the world, I would probably try my hand at cooking my own ROM -- just so I have something that is personalized to my usage patterns, which is as stock as possible, but also installing only the bare minimum. But since I don't have that amount of time, I have to settle with a stock ROM with tweaks and upgrades. And to be honest -- it works fine enough.
[HD2 General] Sentinel196:
Just wanted to say a big thanks to everyone who has contributed so far. It is great to be involved with a forum with a bunch of people who are so willing to help each other out and answer questions.

Just as I suspected, the general trend so far when it comes to the HD2 seems to be "I use customised ROMs because it's my phone and I can". What I didn't realise is that the reasoning goes far beyond this on older devices where the support from the manufacturer is poor.

It was interesting to read NRGZ's interview also. It would seem that the chefs "do it becasue they can" too.

I wonder just how much of our chef's work gets stripped and used for manufacturer ROMs.
[HD2 General] yearn:
I personally thin the biggest advantage to custom ROMs come not when the device is brand new and up to date like the OP is, but a few months down the road when your device isnt the latest and greatest but still a long way from an actual carrier update.

With a fustom ROM you get all the latest drivers, Packages, Software, tweaks, etc.etc.. all cooked in and waiting for you post flash.

Another big reason is just purely for the fun of it. and like so many of us here. im hooked.

I just like "playing" with my phone.

"would it work perfectly fine stock"? yes it would.

But wheres the fun in that????
[HD2 General] sumedh_vsk:
The only reason would be the urge to try out different things..very hard to get satisfied with what is already available..we always hope to find something better or new in cooked ROMs..and ofcourse something always is new in cooked ROMs..:) some people are just addicted to flashing like me..:D:D most of us may not be aware of the changes that are made in the next cooked rom in a series, still we go ahead with flashing it.....And cooking the mods and apps into the ROM is always fast when compared to installing it .(am i right:confused:)

updates from company comes at huge gaps:(..whereas people at xda come up something new everyday..like i said earlier we always want to to try out something new...

And when it comes to relying on one person for updates : At start its always urge to try...later on its just the confidence we have in the chef...:D:D
[HD2 General] MalekoUK:
For me, I have never used a Cooked Rom.

To start with, I like to tweak my device myself, part of the fun of it really, go into my device and make it my own so to speak.

A lot of cooked roms I honestly don't like the look of. One of the main things being 6.5.x, I really dislike the start bar at the bottom, with its big buttons and in my opinion, tacky look to it, I know it can be skinned, but that still doesnt do it for me. I like the top and bottom bars small and matching. The 6.5.x takes up to much wasted space in my opinion.

Anyway, thats my dig at 6.5.x :P

I know HTC, and especially O2, are slow at releasing updates, but the long wait for my O2 update was soooo worth it, very very fast Rom, then with my tweaks and addons, i have got it exactly how I like it...so why do i need a cooked rom?

Ultimately, I have my device how I want it and love it. So why do I need to go through the (small) risk of bricking it, or voiding the warrenty (yes I know you can go back to stock if needs be).

People say how only some stuff can be cooked into roms and not installed, but I haven't seen anything that I need in a cooked rom that I can't install already.

I can however appricate the work that goes into Cooked roms, and the fact that they are there if ever needs be.

If HTC release a big update (version 2???) then I know I will have to wait a while for O2 to release the update for my phone, So i will probably unlock the device so I can use a stock HTC rom if its worth the big update. - but thats all speculation :P
[HD2 General] Spl4tt:
a very big point for me was the storage. on the stock rom i had only 50mb or so free storage memory, when i installed everything i really needed. now with a custom rom, i have still 130mb free, and i installed more than i need on the phone storage..

+the rom i use is very close to "stock" its 6.5.5, but every bloatware **** is away, and the chef didnt add much more, means its just clean, really clean. its like i can build it my self from almost 0. Without having that useless bloatware things wich kill the storage

and cause its clean, its fast and stable too..

dont want to use a stock rom again xD
[HD2 General] Bad Boi HTC:
Well you've gone and done IT...

Hey All,

Nice work guys, thank you very much - you have just succeeded in convincing me that I should take the plunge into the unknown and ... Flash a new ROM on my Touch Pro 2 :eek:

I have upgraded via HTC from WM 6.1 to 6.5 BUT what also pushed me into this decision is the fact that many of the great tweaks here at XDA is for Manila versions newer than mine and as great as the guys here are the older versions of Manila 2.1 gets left behind it seems while working & tweaking of Manila 2.5 continues... Me being jealous of all the eye candy of 2.5 then realized that Flashing is the way of the future :D

All I can say is Keep up the great work Chefs and Registry Pro's - Lead the way and the XDA community will follow with pleasure!
[HD2 General] Audio Oblivion:
Just want to add my 2 cents here:

I am an extremely experienced windows mobile user and all my winmo devices in the past i have flashed with custom roms. The reason for doing this was speed,reliability and battery life increases as well as pre cooked useful apps.

However with the HD2 i have not felt the need to flash any custom rom whatsoever. The WWE 1.66 ROM along with 2.08.50.08_2 radio is perfect for my needs.... i have no issues with this setup at all, it is fast and reliable, especially after tweaking several reg entires myself.

Even if HTC release an updated WWE ROM i will probably stick to my current setup. Like i said ... my device is working perfectly, so for me to switch ROM's the new one would have to include something pretty special.
[HD2 General] jaba_cz:
...a bit sceptic

I have been using winmo for years. Going from Compaq Aero, iPaq, through several HTC devices like Artemis, Polaris, Diamond and currently HD2.

All previous HTC devices I had hard SPL'ed and filled with numerous cooked ROMs. Sometimes with satisfaction, but mostly I was disappointed.

Usually the chef is cooking ROM for his use, and I cannot remember situation, when "something was not wrong" with cooked ROM. I do not blame the chef, he made it for himself, and probably he never used the function, which he corrupted. But I am someone else and I tried to use .... something.

HardSPL can be one way ticket. At Diamond and Polaris I failed to load back original ROM - hardSPL'ed machine will be refused by factory ROM like "unsupported device". Please keep in mind the risk, that you will NOT be able to use non-cooked ROM. Maybe there is way to un-SPL the device, but I did not succeed.

To be honest, many times, the cooked ROM is definitely better than stock HTC ... but .... it takes many trial-error-reflash attempts :-)

So, my conclusion is, that flashing makes sense:

- if you are REALY disappointed by some error or malfunction of stock ROM

- if you are at least familiar with Regedit and basic debugging

- if you can spend A LOT of time trying to find and flash the cooked ROM, which will not screw you

- if you can live without warranty, because the "option" to flash back original ROM, may not work.

After this experience I wish to stay with HTC ROM, even if it consumes some memory with trash applications. Some customizing and fine tuning can make you happy as well :-)

PS.

Do not consider it, that I blame chefs work. I really appreciate it, and I found a LOT of useful hints at this site.

__________________________

Currently I run Diamond with Dutty's ROM and Blackberry connect for company use and HD2 for private life.
[HD2 General] JesusFreak316:
I have always bought smartphones years after they are first available because I can't afford the expensive data plans. My first WM phone was a Samsung SCH-i760 that I got last year so I could activate it on Verizon without a data plan. That never happened though as Verizon's rules changed. I was getting more and more frustrated with that phone's lack of roms and tiny storage and program memory. I decided to upgrade to my current HTC Fuze mainly because it has a fantastic community of roms and customization. Plus 288 MB of ram is a little bit more than 64MB. :p Like others have said before, the HD2 is powerful enough that the stock rom runs modern features well, but older devices like mine don't run 6.5 at all. The only way to get my phone reasonable useful today is a custom rom. Also, I don't know if these really count as they really aren't roms, but Android and Ubuntu on my phone are nice too, but those are more in the realm of "Because I can".
[HD2 General] sniper-wolf:
Many thanks for answering that for me mate, seems it's not just me who's not keen on the look of the 6.5.X softkeys from reading through this thread, but good to know it can be changed, thanks again for the info.

After following this thread for a day or two and doing some more background reading, I took the plunge!! Flashed my first ROM on Wednesday morning, I'm now on my 4th!! I've now got far more free memory, a quicker device and options for useful tabs like e-reader, doc reader etc. On top of that I've flashed a new radio too and got a far more stable 3G signal, better call quality and better battery life.............and armed with the info above from mlin, it looks like I'll be flashing again tomorrow to something with 6.5.X. :D:rolleyes:

To anyone else in the position I was in when I posted on Page 1, I would say give it a go. Make sure you read the stickies at the top of the ROM section, take your time and do plenty of reading about the ROMs before steaming in. You can experiment with a few different ROMs once you are confident with flashing, see if anything is going to be of benefit, and if not, you can always go back to stock. It's not as daunting as it first seems!!

@Sentinel - Congrats on your headline grabbing thread mate, knew it was a good'un on Monday when I read it. ;):)
[HD2 General] bernabap:
I really enjoyed reading this thread!

Besides all the reasons that have already been said here I flash a custom ROM due to XDA-Developers Forum! When I met this forum, I was quickly convinced by the quality of discussion about it and the knowledge level of the Chefs (much larger than mine), I lost any fear that I might have to break my device. This forum gave a new meaning for my HTC Kaiser. I would like to say thank you to all chefs, developers and users!
[HD2 General] BlueAnt1958:
Good Thread

My main reason for flashing cooked ROMs has nearly always been functionality, speed & looks. I have had 6 HTC devices now starting with the Tytn and now up to HD2. I have run them out of the box for approx 1 month to get a feel of the device and how well (or poorly) it performed with the stock rom. I can honestly say that all the devices have performed much better with a cooked rom. I'm not sure of all the background wizardry that goes on but I have found they have always been much faster, responsive & slicker in operation. I don't always flash the latest and greatest as sometimes using cutting edge you will bleed ;) and when I find a version that performs the way I like I will leave it on the device.
[HD2 General] pathfinda:
First of all, very interesting conversation going here. I would hope that the manufacturers are paying attention and take note of the fine work that is being done here at XDA.

I would also be surprised/dissappointed that some of the great apps are picked up by some software publisher.

That be said, I am a newly converted cooked ROM user. I have a stock ROM on my Fuze until the device became unusable. I was going to flash back to thge stock, then found the ROM of my dreams!!

As a tech, for me, the risks outweight the benefits of actually using the device to its fullest potential.

Just my .02.
[HD2 General] Sentinel196:
Well my curiosity got the better of me last night and I flashed the latest 2.10 radio and CleanEX OzROM 3.40.

So far the phone seems much more responsive and WinMo 6.5.X is SO much nicer to use without a stylus than 6.5.

Battery life also seems slightly better with this radio than I had with a 2.08 radio.
[HD2 General] JakubAnderwald:
There is one thing about cooked ROMs. Since they are release very often, there is no "big, stable" release every couple months, instead there's a constant stream of releases. Due to that, some of them may contain errors, mistakes, missing files or things that just don't work the way they are supposed to. It is of course fixed in another ROM, sometimes couple days later.

However, every ROM update means a hard reset - so you have to install our extra apps again, synchronise your device with WMDC, set all the settings in HTC Sense, Email accounts etc. Sometimes it's just not worth it for the small fix, so you'll be left with nice ROM with one or two functions not working.
[HD2 General] Sentinel196:
Good point and exactly why I waited until now to flash. The latest OzROM seems to be pretty much bug free from all reports in the thread, where-as previous versions had a few issues.
[HD2 General] Elemental_Fire:
Btw OP, did you call yourself Sentinel after the car in GTA IV? :p
[HD2 General] stumped:
heh, welcome to the darkside OP :D

nice choice of ROM, i'm a fan of scotty's work... and it's strine so it's gotta be good right? ;-)
[HD2 General] nsx_23:
Do let us know about your experiences. I am looking at flashing that same rom as well.
[HD2 General] Sentinel196:
Well it's been 24 hours so far and apart from one complete lockup when using the facebook application which I can't replicate, it's been completely flawless.

Might I suggest waiting until the next build though as Scotty forgot to make the facebook app part of the ROM so you have to install it manually.

Definitely worth it IMHO
[HD2 General] sdudd:
In certain circumstances

I have to agree with this. I had an O2 Zinc that had the worst stock ROM I had ever used. It cost too much to simply get rid of. Thankfully a chef in an xda forum decided to take up the challenge of making a better one. I tried to get involved for a few days, but it was way beyond me. In the end he came up with a good stable ROM. Saved my phone.
[HD2 General] :
i also finally decided to visit the darkside and installed the energy cht rom.

I am soooooo much happier with the phone now. No where near as many crashes and i actually have space on the internal memory! Many thanks to the chef!