I know that most customizability features that were once exclusive to custom roms are available for use right out of the box these days.
In the case of manufacturers like Samsung, I think,there are still no official builds of lineageOS for the newer phones after the galaxy s10 series.
I’m aware that GSI roms are available. My experience with GSI’s have been kinda bad. Most of the time they lack a lot of features which makes the phone not viable anymore. Then there are also the random UI bugs, which frustrate the hell out of the user.
I miss the old days when there were lots of custom roms, even for budget devices. I used to flash them when my phones were out of warranty. I could use my phone however I saw fit.
Is there no way to bring back these good times ? Or will the whole custom ROM community just shrink to the pixels and a select few devices ?
I’m not sure that is true, I don’t remember device support being much better in the past. But assuming that is the case, part of the reason might be the fast evolution of devices and Android itself back in the day. Old devices quickly becoming obsolete and new Android versions being desirable made custom ROMs very attractive for a group of people, including myself.
I installed CyanogenMod on my first smartphone because I could get a more recent Android version when it actually made a difference. As Android evolved, an up-to-date install is not as different anymore than a 3 year-old one, not in features and even less in looks. The main motivations I see for custom ROMs nowadays is to improve your privacy and decrease bloatware, but I don’t think most users would bother with going through the process and voiding their warranty to have these things.