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Newb post.. forgive me hah

S

smguffer

Newbie
So think i have a basic understanding of what Rooting a phone means (basically equivalent to administrative rights on a PC/laptop)

Can anyone explain what ROM and Flash means? in lamen terms preferrably

sorry again! haha.. just trying to figure some of this stuff out with the hopes of messing around with my wife's old android (ZTE Avail 2)

if i should be asking in a different part of the forums don't be afraid to let me know. thanks :beer:
 
In simple terms, the "ROM" is how people refer to the system software (operating system and system apps). It is stored in flash memory, so the process of installing a new one or otherwise modifying the content is referred to as "flashing".

Actually the name "ROM" is slightly misleading. It stands for Read Only Memory, which when I was younger meant exactly what it says (unmodifiable). But of course if you can flash a ROM that means it's not really "read only", because you are writing to that bit of storage when you do the flashing. And once you have root access you can modify the ROM directly while running Android. But on an unrooted phone you cannot modify the contents of the /system area (the name of the space in which the ROM lives), so that's the best justification I can find for calling it a "ROM".
 
To expand a wee bit on how the word ROM is used. Most people use it to refer to a Custom ROM. A 3rd party operating system.
The main two reasons to use one are to put a newer version of android onto a phone when its no longer updated by the manufacturer and/or because theyre usually raw android but with more "features".
Another reason is if you have say a samsung phone which runs touchwiz, a heavily modified samsung version of android and you want a much purer, faster version of android, theres custom roms for that.
If your ZTE is supported by a 3rd party rom dev, you could put the latest version of android (4.4.2) on it :thumbup:
 
greatly appreciated both of you.. im probably gonna start messing with her phone in a day or two.

i have almost no idea what im doing but i'll keep everyone updated haha


this forum will be the death of me. i got a droid for the first time just trying out how to get around not being able to tether under my current plan.. then saw that i can do all sorts of other cool stuff to it (rooting etc..) .. im officially sucked into the android modification world hahah
 
 
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