A lot of people ask why we flash ROMs or root our Nexus devices. I always ask “why not?”. The Nexus has always been super easy to root and develop for. And some ROMs like Paranoid Android, have created some awesome features that aren’t necessarily in stock Android. Just like with past Nexus devices like the Nexus 4 and Galaxy Nexus, the Nexus 5 has a ton of development going for it already, and it hasn’t even been out for a month yet. That’s crazy right? Well here our picks for the top 10 best custom ROMs for the Google Nexus 5 aka Hammerhead.
10. Slimkat
This one is based off of Slimbean, so it’s a pretty slim ROM. I know a lot of you are wondering why it’s number ten and not higher up on the list. Well simply put, it’s still in Alpha builds. It hasn’t even graduated to beta yet. With Slimkat, you get all the familiar features like the Real Dark Slim, Notification drawer shortcuts, full hardware key rebinding, keyboard rotation and the Slim center. Which you can check out the full feature list here.
9. BeerGang Alpha
Here’s another one that’s still in Alpha stage as well. But it does have some cool features like nav bar modifications, volume mods, safe headset volume, cursor control, volume rocker wake, music control, quick pull down and a ton more. Now before you flash it, you’re going to want to be sure you download and flash Gapps as well. Which you can use Paranoid Android’s Gapps on BeerGang.
8. Purity ROM
The Purity ROM is based off of Android 4.4, build KRT16S, which is the latest build for KitKat. It also is built off of AOSP. It’s full deodexed and busybox is included. Some of the other features include the quick settings panel, customizable ribbons, status bar clock and date customizations and so much more.
7. BS Harmony
This one is a lighter version of BeanStalk which is our next entry in our top 10 list. This one is a lighter version of BeanStalk, but other than that it’s exactly the same. So if you like BeanStalk, but want a lighter ROM, this is the one for you.
6. BeanStalk
BeanStalk has been updated to Android 4.4, and is still based off of CyanogenMod. It includes a ton of features like lockscreen shortcuts, AOKP screen animations, options to control media scanner behavior, default app grip option, dark stalk UI, and so much more. It’s still an early build so there’s likely to be bugs.
5. OmniROM for the HammerHead
We’ve actually heard quite a bit about OmniROM lately. This one is actually an unofficial OmniROM build, but I’m sure we’ll see an official one soon. Remember you’ll need to flash Gapps along with the ROM, as always.
4. NItrous OS 1.1
Here’s a speedy KitKat ROM for the Nexus 5. This one is known as Nitrous OS 1.1 “speed at your finger tips”. Some of the features include custom boot animation, 4-way reboot, deodexed, ad-blocked, wifi tether, sqlite script, auto zipalign, 6×5 app drawer and much more.
3. Kangakat
Here’s another one based off of KRT16M. This one has the stock kernel, it’s deodexed, has superuser installed, ADB remount, sqlite3 script, zipalign script, volume tweaks, extended reboot, and so much more.
2. CarbonROM Unofficial
This is an unofficial CarbonROM, but it’s still Carbon on the Nexus 5. Now who doesn’t want that? Right now many of the carbon features we all know and love are not working, but that’s expected since source has only been around for a few weeks now.
1. AOSP Unofficial for Hammerhead
Here’s another unoffiicial ROM you all might know and love. AOKP. I, myself haven’t ran an AOKP ROM in quite a while. Mostly because they don’t seem to be updating as quickly anymore. As expected, this unofficial ROM only has the AOSP features with a couple extra things. All the AOKP features are coming soon.