Custom roms and kernels

[Phyxius]

ok guys, here comes the noobie question.
i am getting the nexus, and it will be my first google phone, and i would be potentially looking for different roms.

now i looked at the xda forums at them, and everyone seems to be so impressed by certain ones and when i looked at them i barely understood what was so great about it. it was complete gibberish to me.

so if any experienced people could help me out to understand what i should be looking for in a custom rom. now i know i should be doing this to customize my experience and all but i also want to learn and understand how they work and so on so i can actually make my informative decision and actually be comfortable with how it works and what to look for and so on

[xperiax10]

I would first use the phone for a week or two, that way you can see how the phone works stock. After that you can start customizing, if you start customizing right away you won't really understand what you are changing and won't have anything to compare it with.

I usually start with roms that have the most posts/replies its an indicator that lot of people use the rom, so it must be pretty stable. I wouldn't worry bout kernels for now , since there is quite a bit to read about what they do. Kernels manage memory and few other things that im not gonna go into too much detail. Some things you can do with different kernel is to undervolt, under clock , I wouldn't over clock since there is no need to do it and it might make your phone unstable . One thing you will notice with custom kernel that is stable is that the phone is more responsive when using it.

Before flashing anything on your phone you will most likely have to install a BIOS type menu called custom recovery , don't do any kind of tinkering until you have done this step, because custom recovery is your ticket to change the rom if its not working out for you or bring your phone back from dead lol.

So the steps to flash are pretty much the same for any custom rom, download rom to SD card > boot into custom recovery > find the rom on your SD card > flash

This is only a rough guide you are better off to start reading what people are saying about certain rom, like is it stable any issues, every rom has all the instructions in the first couple of posts, some roms come with their own kernels which is fine, and remember to give each kernel and rom you install at least a week to settle in and than look for battery life , how quick it is...

If you are ever stuck on something ask questions on xda in the correct sub forum and people will help you.