2016-02-23, 12:19
About six months ago, I bought a Xiaomi Redmi 2, and posted a quick [Only registered and activated users can see links Click here to register]here. After a few weeks, I decided I did not like MIUI much. After a while, it started generating nasty popups, that were REALLY annoying when I was using the GPS for navigation, and also, the phone rebooted itself at least once a day. Since I already knew that I liked Cyanogenmod, I decided to hunt for a ROM suitable for this phone.
That proved to be a challenge: Redmi hasn't released the source code of their kernel, so everything had to be reverse engineered, which meant that there were al lot of bugs in various versions. Finally I settled on [Only registered and activated users can see links Click here to register], (CM11, Android KitKat 4.4.4) which I found to be stable and bugless. The only drawback I have noticed so far, is that the pictures taken with the camera aren't as nice as with MIUI's stock camera. I can live with that. There have been a lot of releases of newer versions of CM (12-lollipop and 13-marshmallow) but they seem a work in progress and far from stable. For now I am sticking with what I have.
How to upgrade
***It makes sense to backup your entire device and have a fully charged battery before you do this***
***All credits go to z[Only registered and activated users can see links Click here to register] who created the build, and [Only registered and activated users can see links Click here to register] who provided the custom open source kernel***
What do we need?
Luckily, installing CM11 on the Redmi 2 isn't that hard: first you need this build: [Only registered and activated users can see links Click here to register] (there is a newer build, but it is buggy) Sadly this project is abandoned by the developer, so there won't be updates. If you want a newer version, do as I did and make Google your friend) Next, you need Gapps mini (AKA Gapps base) for kitkat to get Google functionality like Play Store. You can find the package, along with extra packages [Only registered and activated users can see links Click here to register].
The upgrade
Put all the packages onto the internal or external SD card. Now there is a youtube describing the procedure, (see below) but the guy talks really fast and has a strong Indian accent, I never hit the pause button as much in 5 minutes before in my life. Still, everything he says is correct, so I guess we should say thanks. Anyway, I'm going to repeat the steps here:
-reboot into recovery mode by pressing power and volume up at the same time. Navigate the menu with the volume up/down buttons and select with the power button. go to 'wipe data'. Confirm. Go to 'wipe cache partition'. Confirm. Go to advanced-wipe Dalvik cache. Confirm. Go back to main menu and select:'Mount and storage', format system, format data, format cache. Go back to main menu and choose: 'Install from zip', choose zip from SD card, select the SD card, browse to the CM-11 zip. Install. Now browse to the Gapps-base zip (and additional Gapps you want to install)and install them as well. (it is important to do this now, and not later, because they will replace some things from the CM image)
After all is completed, go back to main menu and reboot. First boot will take a while, because the OS needs to be configured, but after about 5 minutes you should be rewarded with the Cyanogenmod 11 lock screen.
That proved to be a challenge: Redmi hasn't released the source code of their kernel, so everything had to be reverse engineered, which meant that there were al lot of bugs in various versions. Finally I settled on [Only registered and activated users can see links Click here to register], (CM11, Android KitKat 4.4.4) which I found to be stable and bugless. The only drawback I have noticed so far, is that the pictures taken with the camera aren't as nice as with MIUI's stock camera. I can live with that. There have been a lot of releases of newer versions of CM (12-lollipop and 13-marshmallow) but they seem a work in progress and far from stable. For now I am sticking with what I have.
How to upgrade
***It makes sense to backup your entire device and have a fully charged battery before you do this***
***All credits go to z[Only registered and activated users can see links Click here to register] who created the build, and [Only registered and activated users can see links Click here to register] who provided the custom open source kernel***
What do we need?
Luckily, installing CM11 on the Redmi 2 isn't that hard: first you need this build: [Only registered and activated users can see links Click here to register] (there is a newer build, but it is buggy) Sadly this project is abandoned by the developer, so there won't be updates. If you want a newer version, do as I did and make Google your friend) Next, you need Gapps mini (AKA Gapps base) for kitkat to get Google functionality like Play Store. You can find the package, along with extra packages [Only registered and activated users can see links Click here to register].
The upgrade
Put all the packages onto the internal or external SD card. Now there is a youtube describing the procedure, (see below) but the guy talks really fast and has a strong Indian accent, I never hit the pause button as much in 5 minutes before in my life. Still, everything he says is correct, so I guess we should say thanks. Anyway, I'm going to repeat the steps here:
-reboot into recovery mode by pressing power and volume up at the same time. Navigate the menu with the volume up/down buttons and select with the power button. go to 'wipe data'. Confirm. Go to 'wipe cache partition'. Confirm. Go to advanced-wipe Dalvik cache. Confirm. Go back to main menu and select:'Mount and storage', format system, format data, format cache. Go back to main menu and choose: 'Install from zip', choose zip from SD card, select the SD card, browse to the CM-11 zip. Install. Now browse to the Gapps-base zip (and additional Gapps you want to install)and install them as well. (it is important to do this now, and not later, because they will replace some things from the CM image)
After all is completed, go back to main menu and reboot. First boot will take a while, because the OS needs to be configured, but after about 5 minutes you should be rewarded with the Cyanogenmod 11 lock screen.