ROM, Firmware and Flashing

I've been interested in the Android operating system, and recently been digging more information about it. One thing I just found out is that Android phones are highly customizable you can even overclock the processor! Suddenly, a lot of technical terms are encountered. I like to know the actual meaning of jargons in order to have a good understanding and be able to use them correctly. There are 3 terms I’d like to discuss here: ROM, firmware and flashing. We find these terms regularly when reading about customizing the Android, and I found myself in a hard time since I didn’t have the exact knowledge of what they mean and how they relate to each other. The information below is extracted from an article on AddictiveTips I found after some googling. I simply rewrite it here in a more concise manner as a summary for quick reference.

OK, let’s start. So Android is the operating system. ROM stands for Read-Only Memory, the internal storage of the device containing the operating system instructions that need not be modified at all during normal operation. That’s why it’s read-only. The read-only operating system is also called a firmware as they stay “firmly” in the ROM without modification access to the users of the device. The ROM used in smartphones and tablets etc. is a kind of flash memory. Installing or modifying the firmware on a device’s protected flash memory (the ROM) requires a special procedure called flashing. There you go! :)

As a note, when it comes to smartphones and tablets, the term ROM is used to refer to the firmware. So now you know precisely what it means to flash your phone with a custom ROM, right? :D