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Enjoy!
Installing custom boot animations on A70 is very easy.
To show you what we are talking about, here is an example of a custom bootanimation:
Android Particle Ring by Dysgenic (Modified by aph):
The Droids series by Dysgenic:
Download more @ xda-developers.com. Make sure it is in HVGA format.
Method 1
Method 2: Via ADB
adb pull /system/media/bootanimation.zip c:\ adb remount adb push bootanimation.zip /system/media/
Whichever method you used, you should now have the new boot animation successfully installed on your device. Simply restart it and you should see it running upon boot.
Voila, you’re done. Flaunt your new boot animation to your friends. Tell us your favorite in the comments below and if we like it we will share it with our readers.
Now that you have taken backups of all the things that you would like, there is no stopping you from installing the cyanogenMod build. Here we go-
And you’re done! CyanoenMod v7.2 has been installed to your Ace.
Just one more thing before you start, we need to install the SuperUser app.
That’s it. The build we have mentioned already contains all Google Apps preinstalled. So no need to flash the Gapps separately.
Now you just need to restore the backups you made in part 3 of the tutorial series (not the nandroid backup, nandroid backup will give you your old ROM back). So you can keep using your contacts, calendar, memo, SMS , call log etc.
We will be back with the last part of this tutorial series in which we tell you how to make this CM build your own!
Previous: 3. Taking Backups
Next: 5. Customize
Now your phone is eligible for the CyanogenMod build to flash. But not so fast! What about all the precious data you have on your phone- contacts, calendar, messages (SMS), applications, notes, music etc. What if the flash fails (it won’t!)? What if you don’t like the CyanogenMod build? (you will 😉 )
So this part will deal with-
Nandroid Backups
Nandroid backups are nothing but a fancy name for ‘taking a backup of everything in NAND flash’. This is a great way to take a backup of your ROM’s before doing any changes to your phone and if it all goes bad, you can use ClockWorkMod to do a NANDROID restore and get your phone back to the time you did the backup. Both the backup and restore are handled by ClockWorkMod Recovery.
To keep this post arranged and simple to read we have created a separate tutorial specifying the process. Here is the link- (Remember this is an optional step.)
>> Take Nandroid Backup of the Current ROM
Kies Backup Options:
If you are on Stock Rom, you can backup your Contacts, Calendar and Memos to your PC. But be aware that you can’t restore these back to you CyanogenMod ROM. Once you have installed any custom ROM to your phone, Kies won’t detect your phone. Though you can view your contacts on PC, but no such luck with calendar and memo. So goodbye Samsung Kies. RIP. Read our Kies rant here.
Google Backup
Your calendar and contacts can easily be back up on google account. Simply sync your contacts and calendar by going to Settings-> Accounts & Sync
Photos, Music And Videos
Simply copy your media files from sd card to some folder of your PC.
SMS, MMS, Call Log, Browser Bookmarks
There are many apps on the Android Market that cover this domain. We will mention a free app named Mybackup. Just install and give it a go. You can backup anything mentioned above with this app as well. Here is a video from the app’s page giving a demo-
So, next step- CyanogenMod. Here we come…
Previous: 2. Getting Ready
Next: 4. Installing CyanogenMod
Other day, I was taking backup of all the great things Samsung Kies makes available to a user: Contacts, Calendar and Memos. One would come to think that SMS will be a part of it. But NO! Even Nokia did that on S60 platform. So forget about backing up applications or call log etc.
So lets continue and trust Kies for atleast Contacts, Calendar and Memo. Now I installed CyanogenMod and realized no way Kies is going to detect my phone now. So I said to myself, “This is completely my fault. I should have thought of that before. No way this great piece of software from Sammy can be blamed for this.”
So I thought of opening my backups on PC. But wait! There comes the surprise.
Even though I was able to open my contacts and view them I wasn’t able to open my memos or calendar. Seriously, why the hell would someone want to encrypt text based memos in proprietary format so that they can’t be opened on PC.
Not to forget Kies keeps getting updates worth 50MB every now and then. Sammy really has the worst engineers working on kies. And Sammy’s love for proprietary format is hard to understand. Their Android phones bootanimations use proprietary format and can’t be changed on stock ROM. This is ironic for a company which has been saved only after embracing the open source Android. Without Android, Nokia would have kill Samsung Mobiles by now. The question is when is Samsung going to learn?
Nandroid Backups
Nandroid backups are nothing but a fancy name for ‘taking a backup of everything in NAND flash’. This is a great way to take a backup of your ROM’s before doing any changes to your phone and if it all goes bad, you can use ClockWorkMod to do a NANDROID restore and get your phone back to the time you did the backup. Both the backup and restore are handled by ClockWorkMod Recovery.
Some applications are also there which make backups but they only backup system and user applications with data, cache. This advanced root backup method takes a snapshot of your internal memory and its system partitions.
As a rule of the thumb, it is highly recommend to perform a Nandroid backup, before making any customizations to the ROM.
How to make Nandroid backup?
And you’re done. Your backup will be stored in “sd/clockworkmod” directory with the Timestamp as filename. You can leave it on the sd card or move it your computer.
How to restore Nandroid backup.
There’s two restore option, normal restore and advanced restore. Normal restore option restore boot, system, data, cache, SD-ext, files. The advanced option lets you select which item should restore. You can select either option according to your need.
If you moved your previous backup files to any other storage devices, such as a computer, copy them into your phone’s SD card “clockworkmod” folder.
And you’re done!
FAQ:
Q. What things are left out in a nandroid backup? Are kernels included?
A. Yes.
Q. Can I restore a nandroid backup of Froyo while on Gingerbread?
A. NO. You will have to flash a froyo build first.
Q. Can I restore a nandroid backup of CyanogenMod 7 while on CyanogenMod 9 (Android 4.0) ?
A. Yes. This is beacuse CM9 for the Ace still uses the old 2.6 linux kernel (same as the GB kernel) because linux kernel 3.x of ICS is difficult to port to our device! Same goes for CyanogenMod 10.
Q. Can I restore a Nandroid backup of GB 2.3.3 (say) while on GB 2.3.7 or any other 2.3.x? If yes, what if I am on different kernel than the backup kernel, can i still do it?
A. Yes. Since kernels are included, yes.
Q. Suppose I am on 2.3.x based custom rom (say MIUI) and I restore a 2.3.x based CyanogenMod Nandroid backup, will I get my whole CM back or all my apps/settings of CM on MIUI?
A. You will get the whole of CyanogenMod back.
With a lot of customizations possible in Android, users feel confused whether they should do something or not and sometimes following some instruction where something was assumed leads to Bricked devices. Not in this guide!
So now lets prepare your device to be applicable for a CyanogenMod upgrade.
Warning: All steps are mandatory. Do not skip steps.
First step:
The very first step requires is to move to a Gingerbread that is Android 2.3.x build. It might be a Stock Rom or Custom Rom, doesn’t matter. A lot of Indian users and other users across the world who have the latest Stock Rom should be already on Android 2.3.x. You can check the version by simply going to Settings -> About Phone. If you are already on 2.3.x, skip ahead to the second step.
What if you are not? Flash a firmware using ODIN. Here is the tutorial in detail (Note: Although the tutorial say upgrade, you can both upgrade/downgrade firmware using this method)-
How to flash firmware using ODIN? (Please note that you want to take a look at part 3 – Taking Backups before flashing to a new firmware)
Second Step:
Root Privileges are required for further actions to take place. We have already covered rooting in details. If you are not rooted, follow the tutorial below otherwise move to step 3.
How to Root ? (simply follow the section for Gingerbread)
Third Step:
Now we need a way to install the build of CyanogenMod on to your device. For that we need a custom recovery. That’s where ClockworkMod Recovery v5 comes into the picture. But for v5 we need to install v4 first. We have covered the topics in detail in the following articles-
Install ClockworkMod Recovery v4
Now that you have installed CWM v5, go ahead with the installation of v5 using the following article-
Install ClockworkMod Recovery v5
FAQ:
Q. Can I use CWM v4 instead of v5 for upgrading to CyanodenMod. I am feeling lazy.
A. NO.
That’s it, no more fiddling with the phone is necessary. In the next part we will show how to take backups easily so that you can easily move to the new firmware with your precious data intact!
Prev: 1. Introduction
Next: 3. Taking Backups
As promised here we are with our much awaited tutorial series Rock Your Ace!
This tutorials series will help you move from any stock ROM be it Froyo/GB or Custom ROM to the most popular and most stable CyanogenMod build. We will keep it as Noob-friendly as possible and will try to answer as many questions as possible.
Why should I upgrade to CyanogenMod?
CyanogenMod is an open-source feature rich alternative to your stock ROM. The main advantage of using it or the features you will get are-
Sold? No. Here is an official CyanogenMod 7.2 build in action:
What CyanogenMod build are we using?
We are using the latest CyanogenMod build by VO-1 as updated on 25th July.
So moving forward this will be a long tutorial, to keep it simple we will break it into parts. Depending on you build and whatever things you have done with phone (like rooting, CWM recovery), you can join us with that step.
Here is the currently planned structure (which might change slightly)
You can use either use the above structure to navigate to any page or use the link below to move to the next page. The links will be added as soon as the posts are made.
Next: 2. Getting Ready
We have been encountering a lot of users asking us how to deodex their particular firmware. Manually deodexing a firmware takes a lot of time with modification of each app available on users system. Luckily there are tools available in the market which simplify the process a lot. If you are having a similar problem, follow this tutorial.
Requirements:
Download -> xUltimate
adb shell su stop mount -o rw,remount -t ext3 /dev/block/mmcblk1p21 /system busybox cp /sdcard/done_app/* /system/app/ busybox cp /sdcard/done_frame/* /system/framework/ rm /system/app/*.odex rm /system/framework/*.odex mount -o ro,remount -t ext3 /dev/block/mmcblk1p21 /system reboot
After the boot, reboot again in CWM and Wipe Dalvik Cache, reboot and ENJOY !!!
Notice : First boot will take a little bit longer than normal
Credits :
Rainabba, Mike919, toxman, teenfaces, Xeudoxus !
[via xda]
Related Articles:
>> What are the differences between Odexed & Deodexed firmware
>> How to Deodex Firmware on Samsung Galaxy Ace DDKQ6
Note: You Must be on Deodexed (& hence Rooted) DDKQ8 firmware for this mod to work.
Here’s Some Screenshots
Credits:
pratyush.creed
He further credits-
Lidroid for the toggles Source
Hansip87 For the Swipe to Remove Notification Source
RomanBB for Status bar Mods
[via xda]
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