Some terms for Noobs

Here you will get to see some weird words which have their own meaning here. So I will just explain some. [Some definitions that sound odd will be my definitions and the other normal ones will be from the internet, who cares as long as you get to know what it means]

This is meant for noobs hence the level of explanation :)

Android- A Mobile Operating System just like the OS we have on a PC, this one is meant for the mobile device. Similar types of Mobile OS would be Symbian(mostly in Nokia), iOS(OS for Apple iPhone, iPod, iPad), Windows Mobile(a stripped down version of our PC's Windows OS), bada OS(for certain Samsung).

Froyo, Gingerbread, 2.2, 2.3- Codenames are there for each version of OS released. Android 2.2 is Froyo and Android 2.3 is Gingerbread. 2.1 is Eclair

Rooting- Its a method for Android OS users to get privileged control aka root access. If the phone is not rooted then we wont get access to delete some files or add some special files, or change the phone structure. And this is also legal. Without rooting you cannot run unauthorized apps(the ones ppl like you and me can make if we try)..

Advantage of Rooting [ without rooting you cant do the below ]

1. You rule the Android OS that you have. You get the power to change any file in that OS, add extra apps, put extra animation while booting, install awesome themes(ur own too).
2. Backup your fone to ur SD card and install custom ROMs.
3.  Move data from internal memory to SD card.
4. and many more... i still have to discover 

 ROM- ever heard of old-skool Read Only Memory? well here under Android, it means an actual OS image that we can install into the ROM area of our phone. And a KERNEL is the heart of the OS, literally :)

Stock ROM-  Its the version of the phone's OS that comes with it when we buy it. (like some PCs come with Windows installed)

Custom ROM- It basically means a modified version of a stock ROM. Since Android is open-source, developers(us too ;) ) are free to do any damn thing with it and redistribute it. Warning: Use custom ROMs under your own risk as its made by anyone out there, so there is a chance that it mite not work.

Flashing- The process of installing the ROM

Advantage of Custom ROMs

1.  increase/decrease frequency of the phone[Warning: increase too much and u can have ur fone for dinner]
2. open source, someone creates it, someone else fixes bugs, someone else donates for it and so on and on... its free. you get better updates in custom ROMs than in original ones.
3. better utilization of  battery as developers can remove unwanted apps/files or optimize the kernel .
4. upgrade to a newer version which is not out yet ;), either by porting the new OS from another phone which is already released or a leaked version which usually arrives 2-3 weeks before release :)
5. install apps to SDcard aka apps2SD 

Happy? wait... there are disadvantages too ;)

1.  flashing could go all wrong if you dont do it properly. it can even BRICK your phone, means a dead state or it wont switch on.
2. to flash, it has to delete the entire data in ur fone. So u have to backup before doing, if not then you cant restore once flashed.
3. custom ROMs , all of them cant be trusted, it can have bugs just like the stock ones though. So just search for ones which has lots of positive feedback and use that.