Would you?

[mod2max]

Hi guys,

I'm new to the forum, I don't own an Android phone... yet! There are a few things I want to know before I even consider picking up a an Android phone. I've posted this in the HTC Desire HD section because this is what I'm looking at getting, it's a very good price but I don't like the HTC Sense UI...

So my questions...

Well I'm looking at Cyanogenmod 7 which is stable on the DHD, but I have no idea how difficult this is to do, I am tech savy (wanna do Computer Science next year at uni) so... just how hard is it?

I'm a little confused how a Android distro is put together, is it as case of Android is the base, then a loader......... then the UI or what?

What does Cyanogenmod change or break in terms of the elements that makes up the Android distro?

What is the difference between 2.3.3 from Google them selves (like nexus phones get) and 2.3.3 from HTC bar the UI?

I haven't really thought through my questions very well but I'm hopeing someone can help.

Cheers all.

 

[El Presidente]

Rooting used to be a fairly involved (albeit not very difficult) procedure. You had to downgrade to an older version of Android (2.2) via the command prompt to take advantadge of a security exploit that had been patched in 2.2.1 and above. From there, you temp rooted, perma rooted, unlocked the nand partition (S-OFF), then you were free to install ROMs.

Now we have a tool which does all the root stuff for you without the need to downgrade: [TOOL] Advanced Ace Hack Kit (UPDATED 15-10-2011) - xda-developers

From there, installing custom ROMs is also pretty easy. Instructions on how to install CM7 are here. Each ROM has their own instructions though, but they're roughly the same.

From my knowledge, Google release the Android base/kernel to the handset manufacturers, they add their own GUI and apps, they're then released the public OR given to the networks so they can add their own pieces of software. However, as part of the Linux/GNU GPL, I believe Google has to release this to the public too (slightly hazy on the ins and outs of all that, sorry).

I've only had a 10 minute mess about with my mates Nexus S and the CM7 I have on my handset is very similar to the Vanilla Android found on the Nexus S, there's some performance tweaks and a little more customisation available in CM7, but for all intents and purposes, it's not too noticable.