www.chinaphonearena.com

is custom recovery needed ? or can you use the stock recovery to slash custom romz and back up image

You will need CWM to flash custom firmware if it's am SD Update type. If it's SP Flash Tool type, you won't need a custom recovery.

now im confused lol , my phone already has a stock recovery couldnt that be used for flashing romz

No. There are 2 main types of firmwares. One is flashed with SP Flash Tool via PC. You won't need CWM for that. The other is through SD Update in recovery. That can't be done through stock recovery.

if i have a choice then i would rather use SP Flash Tool because not sure what you meant when you said p7 ? is that just another name of a phone, i suppose i scare to brick my phone flashing the incorrect cwm.
if i can use SP Flash Tool any idea where i could get a custom rom from ......sorry about asking but i havent rooted a phone for about 3 years

Maybe I'm getting confused as well. I thought you had the no.1 p7 phone....?

(2013-09-01, 07:30)Gizbeat Wrote: [ -> ]Maybe I'm getting confused as well. I thought you had the no.1 p7 phone....?

no m8 my phone is 5.0 inch HDC S4
1:1 i9500 Andr
oid 4.2.2 Jelly Bean Quad Core MTK6589 1.7GHz 1GB/8GB GPS WiFi 3G Single Micro-Sim Card 8MP Camera Smart Phone
i got it from dhgate.com

when i put it through mtktools when i was going to have a go at creating a cwm
it listed my phone then said fake hardware in kernal is this normal

Okay, sorry, I got mixed up. Disregard all the p7 stuff.

My first guess is that the CPU isn't really MTK6589T 1.7GHz. It's more likely MTK6589 1.2GHz.

Regardless, this shouldn't affect making CWM.

no m8 didnt buy the phone from Fastcardtech i bought it from dhgate.com a user called ibaby888

Okay. I caught that after I'd posted. I tried to edit out the Fastcardtech question, but you were too quick. good luck with CWM. Let us know on results. The fake kernel info shouldn't affect making CWM.

You can check for firmware at needrom.com, but it's very difficult to tell exactly which model because there are countless samsung clones out. Unless it's a clone such as from Feiteng, it can be tricky.

I suggest you check out the Xposed framework and GravityBox mod (Android App forum). This can do quite a bit of customizing without all the garbage that custom ROM often have. Make sure to backup your firmware first.