SetCPU

SetCPU modulates the processor frequencies and the way the operating system scales them. Basically, it's an overclocking tool. With it you can make sure your phone uses a specific amount of CPU (minimum-maximum), hence making your battery last longer (given you choose to underclock it, not force it to the limits).

You can find it in the Android Market, but it's not free; you gotta pay for it, but trust me, it really is worth those two bucks.
You can also download it, for free, from XDA-Developers, but only if you are a member, of course. Link to the thread where you can download it, right here.

Choose a ROM - CyanogenMod

You probably already heard about this. CyanogenMod is the most popular ROM, supporting nearly 50 devices in the present. It is the oldest ROM, too, being in development since Android 1.6 Donut.

"CyanogenMod (pronounced sigh-AN-oh-jen-mod), is a customized, aftermarket firmware distribution for several Android devices. Based on the Android Open Source Project, CyanogenMod is designed to increase performance and reliability over Android-based ROMs released by vendors and carriers such as Google, T-Mobile, HTC, etc. CyanogenMod also offers a variety of features & enhancements that are not currently found in these versions of Android." - their own description.

Face unlock by-pass in Ice Cream Sandwich

The new screen lock feature Ice Cream Sandwich has (face unlock) seemed so awesome when Google & Samsung unveiled the Galaxy Nexus one month ago. Basically, face unlock does what it actually says : uses your face to unlock the phone so you can use it, obviously. But not by slamming your face on the phone'ss screen; you take a photo of yourself, and then, every time you want to unlock the phone, the frontal camera  will be used to detect your face and... well, it should be pretty straightforward.

As secure as this feature might sound to you, it is NOT 100% hack-proof (so-to-say), and the video below demonstrates just that.

Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich source code has been released. Brace for impact!

Google software engineer Jean-Baptiste Queru announced that the Android 4.0 source code is being rolled out to the Android Open Source Project (AOSP) where it will be available for the public to download.

Android 4.0, also known as Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS), is the latest version of Google's mobile operating system. The first device to officially feature Android 4.0 will be the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, announced last month in Hong Kong.

Ice Cream Sandwich is a significant update because it brings all earlier versions of Android together -- that includes Honeycomb, whose code wasn't released to the public specifically to prevent developers from porting it to unsupported devices and cause mayhem. But Honeycomb's source code is included in Ice Cream Sandwich's code, because ICS was built on top of it.

Titanium Backup

Another must have app we're going to review is Titanium Backup. Again, there are two versions for this. The free version is Titanium Backup ★ root, which you can unlock (upgrade to PRO) using the paid application, Titanium Backup PRO Key ★ root. Both can be found in the Android Market.

This application does what the name says : manages applications. You can backup applications (system & installed b user), delete and restore them. It's very handy, and you should have it!

ROM Manager

This is the application through which you install your first Recovery - ClockworkMod - once you've rooted your phone. This app is a must have! Go to the Market, search for ROM Manager, download & install it. Now run the application. There's a pro version as well, which enables features such as ROM Update, ROM Downloads... If you want to enjoy all the features and also help the developer for his effort, consider downloading the pro version. The app is developed by Koush, who is also the creator of the ClockworkMod recoveries!

Bluetooth 4.0

Bluetooth isn't a topic that people talk about in general. It WAS a high-end feature 4 years ago when phones with Bluetooth were looked at like they were gods. Now, it's just there, even though you have wi-fi to sync files over.

Most devices carry a Bluetooth 2.0 chip. There have been some devices that had a Bluetooth 3.0 chip built-in, and when those were launched, people started to babble about it, whether they know what they're saying or not. But that's over, since Bluetooth 4.0 is to take place from now on -- or so we should consider, given the following...

Choose a ROM - LeeDrOiD

We already covered what a custom ROM is and how you can flash one, but we didn't thoroughly talked about specific ROMs. So, that's what we'll do now.

There are many ROMs, some for just few specific devices, some for a wide range of phones... the choice of which you want is up to you. Since I'm a Desire user, I will mostly give you Desire ROMs, but that doesn't mean I'll leave other devices out of the question.

Let's head over to the first ROM we're going to present here.

Flashing & using a Recovery - PART 2

So, what is the recovery? Basically, what the name says -- a low-level part of the system, which is used in emergency cases, so-to-say. It's like the menus you see on your computer's screen right after the BIOS has booted, and before the OS has started up. That might be a bit far-fetched, but it's the closest familiar comparision I can make rigth now...

The recovery is present in all phones running Android, although access to it may be limited or absent in some devices.

Custom ROMs

Now that we covered rooting, unlocking and flashing Recovery, it's time to move on to what we'll discuss on this website from now on : custom ROMs.


A custom ROM is basically the software on your Android device. There are MANY teams that compile ROMs for the majority of Android devices out there. To name a few : Lee (makes ROMs for the HTC Desire, Desire HD, Sensation, EVO 3D, Flyer), Cyanogen (about 50 devices), MIUI (about 20 devices). There are many other ROMs out there, some device-specific ROMs and some wide-spread ROMs. Cyanogen, for example, is wide-spread, since the team is not building just for ONE device. Same goes for MIUI -- including fansites, about 15 of them.

Flashing & using a Recovery - PART 1

Alright guys. Now that you have a rooted phone, we can get to the real deal : unleashing its potential.

A ROM is actually what the name says : Read Only Memory. It's the software on the phone. It's basically a .zip file you must flash -- just like a bootable .iso Linux or a Windows CD/DVD installer.