I recommend going to AppBrain and register and account. Then download AppBrain App Market from Google's own Market on your phone. Really makes life easier to manage all those downloaded apps.

There is also a method called Fast Web Install. Essentially you can browse the AppBrain market on your PC, pick any app you want to install and AppBrain will push the app straight to your phone. No need to squint while searching for apps on your phone! To try out Fast Web Install, check the guide here.

Ideos X5 Ultimate Guide @ MoDaCo
One-stop center for all things X5

Huawei X5 is the easiest phone to root and flash custom Roms, you will only need a X5, microSD card( known here as Sd card ) , ClockWorkMod Recovery v4.0.0.5 and the Rom of your choice

Step 1: Root

1. Visit here , download the file in the link.

2. Off your phone, then turn on again by pressing volume up + volume down + power button , your screen will turn pink.

3. Connect the phone to computer using USB cable. A window with the following files inside will pop up : amss.mbn, boot.img, EMMCBOOT.MBM, recovery.img

4. Copy and keep the boot.img as backup. Renamed the downloaded .img from boot.u8800-modaco-superboot-r1.img to boot.img. Then copy and paste the downloaded boot.img file into the window.

5. Detach the USB cable, take out the battery and ON the phone. Root done
Credits from here
Step 2 : Install Perfect Recovery v4.0.0.5 also known as ClockWorkMod Recovery ( CWM )

1. Download Perfect Recovery v4.0.0.5 here.

2. Again off your phone, then turn on again by pressing volume up + volume down + power button , your screen will turn pink.

3. Connect the phone to computer using USB cable. A window with the following files inside will pop up : amss.mbn, boot.img, EMMCBOOT.MBM, recovery.img

4. Copy and keep the recovery.img as backup. Then copy and paste the recovery.img into the window.

5. Detach the USB cable, take out the battery and ON the phone. Perfect Recovery install done.

6. After shut down phone, just press volume up + power button to go to CWM Recovery. Use the Power button as enter, volume button to navigate up and down and the capacitve 'back' button to go back.
Credits from here
Step 3 : Increase the custom Rom partition to 1.2GB for apps installation.

1. Backup your Internal 2G Storage, doing this will erase the internal 2G data.

2. Download the attached partition.zip to EXTERNAL SDcard, make sure there are enough space in EXTERNAL SDcard (depends on your data partition size, around 600MB is enough).

3. Disable APP2SD, DATA2EXT, SWAP.(if have)

4. Boot into ClockWorkMod Recovery ( CWM ) by holding power button and volume up, do not clear/wipe data, flash this package directly, same as flashing a ROM.

5. After flashing go to advanced options, choose to reboot to recovery.

6. Go into recovery again, do not clear/wipe data, flash this package again directly, same as flashing a ROM.

7. Reboot device. Done. All data will be kept, no data lose, all remains the same as before, but the storage space has been changed.
Credits from here
Step 4 : Flash custom Rom.
1. Available Roms for X5 : [ROM] B160, [ROM] void, [ROM] Oxygen, [ROM] Miui, [ROM] B137.

2. The steps for flashing each Rom is the same.

3. Download the Rom you like to flash, the file should be .zip format. Place it in your Sd card.

4. Remember to always wipe data, wipe cache and wipe dalvik cache in advanced, before flash Rom.

5. The data/files inside your SD card will be untouched so don't worry.

6. Boot into ClockWorkMod Recovery ( CWM ) by holding power button and volume up, select install zip from sd card, then locate the Rom .zip file where you store it and flash.

7. Reboot and done.
If there is anything wrong do correct me

For those who wanna root using Paul's Superboot image, here are the instructions!

1: Download Superboot image.
2: Turn off your device.
3: Hold "volume up" and "volume down" at the same time, then turn on your phone without releasing the volume keys. The screen will turn purple.
4: Connect your phone to your PC using USB. A directory called "image" will appear in Windows Explorer.
5: Open the folder, you will see a "boot.img". THIS IS YOUR ORIGINAL BOOT IMAGE, copy and keep it somewhere safe, in case you need it in the future.
6: Rename the image file you downloaded to "boot.img" and copy into the "image" folder. Click yes to replace.
7: Disconnect the phone from USB, remove the battery cover then remove the battery. Put the battery back and your phone will restart. If it doesnt, just press the power button

Once your phone has fully booted, check the app drawer. If you see Superuser among the apps, that means you have rooted your phone with great success! Now rooted, you have a custom optimised kernel, your device partition converted from EXT3 to EXT4 (for increased performance) and busybox installed with shortcuts. Any problems, just post on the thread!

Source: Ideos X5 Superboot @ MoDaCo

Installation step for Custom ROM.

Step 1: Set up Clockwork Recovery:

1. Download clockwork at http://www.multiupload.com/DQGL84P3A5. Unzip and only use the recovery.img from the cust folder.
2. Ensure that there are no Huawei rom updates on your SD-Card in the dload folder and unplug the phone from your computer
3. Boot to bootloader mode by pressing the up and down volume keys and pressing the power button. This will show a plain violet/purple screen.
4. Connect the phone to your computer. In windows it will automatically mount one mass storage device which corresponds to the /cust_backup folder on your phone. If your OS supports EXT3 it will mount multiple devices, look for the one with an images directory and this is the device to use.
(Basically there is a flash drive with a folder that you can rename the current recover.img and paste the clockwork one.)
5. In the images directory rename recovery.img to something else (ie. recovery.bak) and then copy the new recovery image in its place.
6. Exit bootloader mode by pulling out the battery.

Note: You now have the clockwork recovery installed. Boot to recovery by holding the volume up and power buttons to turn the phone on.
To scrol up and down use the volume button. To enter/select use the power button.

Step 2: Set up Clockwork Recovery:

1. Download B160 ROM; update.zip to you pc from: http://www.multiupload.com/0HR8W3BMUR
Don't need to unzip it.
2. Copy update.zip to your sdcard. Either SD card or internal 2GB. Put in root/main directory.
2. Boot to clockworkmod recovery by pressing power button & volume up simultaneously (don't press volume down).
3. In clockwork you can perform a full backup. Go to backup & restore > backup > enter. Wait until it complete (there is a progress report).
Complete the backup.

Reboot back in Clockwork recovery.
4. Apply update from sdcard. It wil state the update.zip file found. Press power button for enter. Wait until it complete (there is a progress report).
5. Reboot to system. First boot will be slow as it rebuilds the dalvik cache so be patient, successive boots will be back to normal.
6. To ensure you are in the new ROM. There is a poweruser icon and its running launcher pro.

Notes

1. By default the kernel is set to the default cpu governor and clock speed. If you would like to overclock I suggest using setcpu: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.p...937&postcount=1
2. Be aware that after applying this you won't be able to restore the full backup unless you either revert to the original rom, or change the boot image. The purpose of the backup is instead to have a backup of /data just in case something goes wrong.

If you are interested in flashing custom ROMs, you must have Clockwork Recovery Mod installed.
Perfect Recovery 3.0.2.8 by genokolar
Use this link for Clockwork Recovery Mod install guide

ROMs
B160 - Overclock kernel + root
CyanogenMod 7
CyanogenMod 6.1

Angry Birds
Death Worm
Fruit Ninja
Guerilla Bob
Gun Bros
Last Stand
Meganoid
Pinball Deluxe
Return Zero
Samurai II : Vengeance
Sky Force Reloaded
Solipskier
Zenonia 2

Gameloft Games
Lets Golf 2
NOVA 2
Asphalt 5
Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Conviction

Others
1. Shadow Guardian HD (awesome!)
2. Need for Speed: Shift.
3. Assassin's Creed HD
4. Cut the Rope
5. Plants VS Zombies
6. Scre4m (Up to gym level, then crash everytime you kill the second victim)
Dungeon Hunter 2 HD