What does FLASHING your phoneReally DO?

[everyday_geek]

I see all these posts refering to FLASHING your phone ... I wonder what does this really do? Can someone explain it to me like I was a 5 year old?

[Exil3d]

Sure.... you graaaaaaaab that little black box you speak to, and you put something inside that makes it better. Now open wiiide, here comes the plane for a landing. Vrooom Vroommm..... veggies are good!

[dole]

ROMs are a group of files needed to run the phone. They may be "stock," as a regular phone would come from a carrier like Sprint or AT&T, or "custom," where someone has removed and added some programs and features to improve performance and functionality. Many custom ROMS, for example, remove all traces of the "Sprint" branding (such as the Sprint logo on the TF3D Home screen, and removes the "Sprint" text from the "Sprint Music" tab), and removes the Sprint TV program to free up space on the phone's internal storage memory. These custom ROMs often include a number of performance and visual tweaks (or "reg hacks").

"Flashing" refers to when you write one of these ROMs to your phone, replacing the current one. It's usually called "flashing" as opposed to "writing," because it's being written to a substantial hardware chip, instead of to a drive, or memory card.

[everyday_geek]

ok ... maybe not like I am a 5 year old ...

[aceracer24]

Originally Posted by Exil3d

Sure.... you graaaaaaaab that little black box you speak to, and you put something inside that makes it better. Now open wiiide, here comes the plane for a landing. Vrooom Vroommm..... veggies are good!

He said 5 years old, not 5 months old lol

@ Everyday geek

Basically what he said but you should just check the threads out that have custom roms and you will start to get a feel for what they do. Read the stickies in the upgrade thread as they will give you a lot of information as well.

[BigDiesel07]

Here is a great explanation of some common terms...