Hacking your Android phone questions

Hey all,
I just got an android phone and was wondering what the benefits are to hacking it. We are use to iOS and everything it can do jailbroken but not too familiar with Android yet. I can figure out how to do it but i want to know if you can download free paid apps from the device similar to installous on an iphone.
If anyone has experience with this or knows the features and benefits please let me know as it would help out.
Thanks
Answer #1
You find everything you want to know here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/
Answer #2
um i dont know if there is a program similar to installous but what u can do without hacking it is install astro browser.put ur games/apps u download off warez-bb etc in ur memory card and install them through astro.no need to “jailbreak” to do so.Hacking it is about changing the android rom to a custom one which can let u overclock the processor or run with less resources aka less battery etc.
Answer #3
Basically to put what TWD said into a more readable format
Pros:
-overclock your phone (make it run faster)
-add custom roms (different operating systems, like installing different versions of windows XP, vista, 7, modded 7, etc)
-more functionality (custom startup screen, boot animation, logos, skins, ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING)
Youtube the following
-MIUI android
-SPD Shell 3D
-Launcher Pro Plus
-Mexdroid
-Cyanogen Nightly