Five Best Android ROMs

Whether you're looking to upgrade an Android device forsaken by its manufacturer or you just want more control over the phone or tablet you own, you've probably gone looking for a new ROM. Rooting your phone is the first step, but a new ROM will give you a completely new mobile OS, and this week we're going to look at five of the best Android ROMs, based on your nominations.
Earlier in the week, we asked you which Android ROMs you thought were the best. We took your nominations, tallied them up, and now we're back to highlight the top five. It's important to note that not every ROM is available for every device, and different ROMs are aimed at different audiences—some of them are designed to upgrade the OS and others are lean and mean installs to speed up your phone. Whichever you choose, you'll have to make sure your device is supported by the developers behind the ROM before installing.

CyanogenMod

CyanogenMod is arguably one of the (if not the) most installed Android ROM in the world, and for good reason. It offers a ton of great features, is available for more devices than most other ROMs of its type, and has the type of polish and support that makes it easy to fall in love with. There are builds of CyanogenMod for Android phones and tablets, and slowly but surely the developers behind CyanogenMod are rolling out Ice Cream Sandwich versions for devices whose manufacturers have given up on upgrading the device entirely. To boot, CyanogenMod includes features you won't find in stock Android, like support for OpenVPN, support for downloadable themes, more privacy tools, and more. You can find a list of supported devices here.