Fusion ROMs - Mixing Features from OEM Skins with Vanilla Android

Flashing custom ROMs based on stock Android has been a fascination of mine from the moment I first rooted and flashed CM7.2 to my Defy. There's a certain appeal associated with being able to customise a device to reflect ones' personal tastes, and I'm sure it's shared by many whom read this very piece.

But it's not always the case that we want to part with certain features within OEM skins - even if they're only small features which please us. Take, for instance the Circles widget on Motorola handsets as of late. This particular Motoblur widget has captured the attention of countless individuals within the community, and has brought about a slew of imitation circle widgets in attempt to satisfy our burning desire for what is otherwise "just a widget".

From the moment I received my DROID RAZR HD, I fell head over heels in love with the Circles widget. I recall wasting more time than I needed just flipping and rotating the clock-face and connected circles because the graphics, glows and animations of the weather as it darted up from one edge of its enclosure to the other were entrancing. Never had I been so in love with a widget as I had this one - but alas, even with its mostly stock façade, I couldn't adjust to Motorola's launcher, which places your primary homescreen on the far left, and subsequent homescreens on the right. Yes, the quick settings panel on the furthermost left screen was handy, but it's second nature for users familiar with vanilla Android to pull down from the notifications pane - which I found myself often doing.

Nevertheless I stuck with Motoblur and its launcher for some time, as its Circles widget was supported only by Motorola's launcher, and no third-party launcher could incorporate this. In the end however, it became too much and I saw no point in staying around for a single widget and SmartActions - so I rooted and flashed a custom ROM, and I've been plodding along, trying to keep my small losses at the back of my mind.

After managing to get hold of an HTC One a couple of months ago, I found myself in a similar situation. While I enjoy Sense 5 immensely compared to previous iterations of the skin, I'll likely always find myself gravitating more towards vanilla rather than strawberries and cream in this case. Thanks to the fact that there is a GPE One, there are a ton of custom, vanilla-based ROMs out there (given its relatively recent release) - but once again, it wasn't easy ditching Sense altogether.

For one, the camera app's various settings and features provide more options in any environment, and while I prefer the cleaner UI of vanilla, after using Zoe for a time - it would be difficult to part with it, even for PhotoSphere (which I don't use nearly as much as I should). Thankfully I wasn't the only one hesitant to leave behind certain features of Sense, (even though ultimately we wanted more distinctive Google-ness on our handsets) and a ROM was developed for those who wanted to choose.

Using Terminal Emulator to apply necessary changes whenever I felt like it, I soon had what I now call a "Frankenstein One", and apart from Sense's settings and camera/gallery apps, I'm currently rockin' vanilla in all other regards.

While OEMs continue to feel the need to distance themselves from other OEMs and Android, ROMs which permit users to pick and choose features, and enjoy the best of both worlds at the same time (unlike MoDaCo SWITCH) have the capacity to enhance our user experience even more. Yes, there will be the die-hard purists out there who stand firm in their belief that vanilla is far superior to all skins offered by OEMs. I for a long time have shared that belief, and mostly still do - but I've come to be more open and accepting of what makes Android so versatile, and the sooner we realise these differences are what make the OS an attractive package to an ever-growing sum of people, the better.