Hello!
I was reading online about cheaper android phones for modding and I come across this article (LINK), then I come back to XDA that is my usual source of info about modding and I find out that is possible just to unlock the bootloader and I could not find path to root or install custom roms like LOS or PE+ ... did I miss anything?
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I bought a Xperia C, a fairly popular model here in Brazil, but I just found out that it's bootloader was locked until some months ago, when Sony decided it was time to let people unlock it.s bootloader.
But now I see the phone has never receveid an update after Jelly Bean 4.2.x and no Custom ROM was ever developed for it (all ROM's that I found are just themed versions of the OEM 4.2 Jelly Bean).
So I decided that maybe I could build CM or AOSP for this device but after reading about the process I discovered that there's no device tree or vendor or kernel info available anywhere for this device.
I think this is all because Sony allowed the bootloader to be unlocked just now the phone is discontinued, so the possible developers this phone had moved away from it too quickly...
It's a shame, because it's indeed a good device, but it's stuck in a old firmware because of Sony's lack of support - same thing happened to the Xperia SP, another excellent device, which at least had an unlocked bootloader which allowed a lot of Custom ROM's to be developed.
So, I wish to know if there's any salvation for this device or if I should give up on it...
PS: I am a software developer, but I don't understand anything about android or Java. I'm willing to learn and develop ROM's for this device with someone's else help... I'll just need to find time to do that...
if your bootloader is unlocked the first step is compile a custom recovery, normally twrp that you can find tutorials in here. the kernel source code is always provided because of the linux open source license, I'm on the cellphone so I cant post links but search for the twrp compiling guide in here. i hope this helps
Edit: I was told to ask this in this section of the forum so here goes.
Hi,
some time ago i bought a 50€ chinese tablet to mess with. It has android v4.0.4 on it and is very slow/ has a lot of useless stuff. In my attempt to educate myself on Android OS, I'm trying to build my own custom rom for it using this thread: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1801690
I'm at the point where I could repack my work and flash it to this tablet, but all i've achieved so far is simplified version (less random apps and few tweaks here and there) of existing rom.
I want to update this tablet's android version but I'm completely unsure how I'm supposed to do that and google isn't being of any help as the search results are just bunch of those irritating blog posts that in nutshell just explain how to plug your usb cable into your pc.
No updates are provided by the manufacturer himself (duh).
Do I have to get desired android version's source code and integrate it with existing files or something?
Any help is appreciated.
Dear xda community,
I just made my account so I can ask the question written above (and join your community :fingers-crossed. I don't ask for instructions, guides etc. I just want to know if it's possible and if so, how hard is it?
There was a guy who always ported the MIUI official global developer SD roms to the MTK phones. It worked pretty well, though I'm not a great fan of MIUI's design & bloatware. Long story short: he did it in a very short period of time.
There are many Android 5 (6 at best) custom roms out there, though we have Android 7 (offical resurrection remix OS) for the SD device. MTK and Snapdragon share the latest MIUI/Android version (7.11.23), so maybe copy/paste files is possible until a certain limit?
Thanks for your answers and best regards (and sorry if I'm not seeing any obvious mistake, I'm just learning C++ at the moment and that's all )
Marvin M.
MarvinMe said:
Dear xda community,
I just made my account so I can ask the question written above (and join your community :fingers-crossed. I don't ask for instructions, guides etc. I just want to know if it's possible and if so, how hard is it?
There was a guy who always ported the MIUI official global developer SD roms to the MTK phones. It worked pretty well, though I'm not a great fan of MIUI's design & bloatware. Long story short: he did it in a very short period of time.
There are many Android 5 (6 at best) custom roms out there, though we have Android 7 (offical resurrection remix OS) for the SD device. MTK and Snapdragon share the latest MIUI/Android version (7.11.23), so maybe copy/paste files is possible until a certain limit?
Thanks for your answers and best regards (and sorry if I'm not seeing any obvious mistake, I'm just learning C++ at the moment and that's all )
Marvin M.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually No... SD and MTK are 2 different architectures and the kernel having the apis implementated wont be common... But it would be little simpler if porting rom also shares the same archecture... So u need to browse similar roms which are in same architecture....
Also to port across different OS versions, you need kernel source to provide respective drivers.... Hope it helps
I am completely new to Android Engineering and want to learn it. Till now, I have tried building aosp oreo from repo. It is built successfully but I don't know about the use of all the folders that are downloaded by the repo. What is the use or importance of each folder in repo? Where can I learn more about this?
I have also modified my stock firmware (only removed some bloatware apps) and rebuilt the firmware. I haven't installed it yet. I used android kitchen which helped me with signing the zip but I am afraid the signature might be for testing and not the official vendor signature. I have phone with unlcoked bootloader but it's still on stock recovery. According to my knowledge, unlocking bootloader helps us to flash unofficial files but people at XDA say that we should also have custom recovery to flash custom ROMs. Should I flash the modified ROM built by me in device with stock ROM and unlocked bootloader?
My device doesn't have official TWRP support. How can I port recovery or build it from scratch for my phone?
Also, I have only modified stock ROM and need to learn porting ROMs like porting MIUI for my device. How can we port ROMs?
Sorry for asking all these at once but I tried getting answer one after another which confused me a lot. I am a noob in this field.
I read XDA thread of TWRP developer which included a guide on how to build TWRP for any device. But as the author said, that post wasn't for noobs. Maybe I need to learn a lot before I reach that level of understanding. But I don't know what to learn and from where. Please help..
And one last thing - What is a device tree? Or vendor tree? I saw these words many times when I was trying to understand the above things. But I still don't know what these are and Google doesn't help. Thank you everyone..
Hi
there is this section here https://forum.xda-developers.com/android/software
you`ll find some sticky threads of the top with plenty of info , have a look !
you may also use search and type XDA University , it will reveal also some useful links
Good luck !
I picked up one of these bad boys on a pretty deep discount to use as a dedicated retro gaming device. I’m interesting in tinkering a bit and am wondering if anyone has any thoughts or suggestions on a good rom choice for my use case ? I’ve already gotten my unlock code and I’m pretty much ready to go at this point !
Most people say CorvusOS and EvolutionX are good gaming ROMs, they both seem to be fast. Some people talk about some sort of ROG gaming rom, though ive never heard of it, or tried it.
But, uhm... upon looking at this devices page.. there aren't ANY custom roms available for your device.
Wow really? That's unfortunate.
Is there any point to Unlocking and installing TWRP / Rooting my device then?
bdizzo2l7 said:
Is there any point to Unlocking and installing TWRP / Rooting my device then?
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Click to collapse
I fiundbthat this is a device good for being your experimental toy-around gadget for tweaks and other such root related changes fun to play around with what you can do but from what I know so uncommonly rooted or used by devs that have any influence on the releases of these roms to really give you the full experience of having a rooted device.
bdizzo2l7 said:
Is there any point to Unlocking and installing TWRP / Rooting my device then?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can root it for kernel optimisations and debloating, while also giving you more customisation control over your device.
TWRP is available, so rooting should be possible with magisk.
There's also this thread:
Flash RETUS Android 11 now that its available 12/10/2021
Hi again I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE IF YOU BRICK YOUR PHONE! (if you do it right I doubt you will but just in case) BACK UP YOUR STUFF JUST IN CASE BEFORE YOU DO THIS AS YOU WILL WIPE YOUR USERDATA! We now have access to RETUS Android 11! Download...
forum.xda-developers.com