Motorola XT502 Custom ROMs

I purchased an Android Phone in the early days of it coming to Indian market and I able to afford it ( just got a job), during mid 2010. The recent and popular version was Éclairs. I just went up to the shop and bought a nice and shiny Motorola Quench XT3 (XT502). When in other places XT502 was having Andriod Donut, I got as a special offer Éclairs. I was happy as hell.

The Droid

A couple of year passes, and newer versions of Android came from Éclairs to Froyo to Gingerbread then to the bigger version upgrades like Honeycomb, Ice Cream Sandwich and then Jelly Bean. By the end of 2012, I was literally surviving on my Motorola with Éclairs. I had to upgrade, anyhow. Now more that Motorola denied any upgrades for Quench XT3. A trivia, Android version names are taken from sugary desserts with lexicographic sequencing.

So, I did up-gradation from Éclairs to Gingerbread using a custom ROM from Cyanogenmod. An excellent community of enthusiast who develop their own custom ROMs often abbreviated as CM. Gingerbread takes the name CM7.x in Cyanogenmod. Now, one might ask why Gingerbread or CM7, when the Android itself went all the way up to Jelly Bean or when Cyanogenmod has reached version 9? Well, things are not that good for users of low end devices like Motorola XT3!! Cyanogenmod has announced that it will stop official support for a range of mobile handsets and will not support beyond CM7.x.

So, lemme write down the steps for upgrading Motorola Quench XT3 from Eclairs or Froyo to Gingerbread using Cyanogenmod 7 ROM. But before that let me explain how to find out custom ROMs for Motorola XT502.

There are certain class of Android devices which are in a sense are having generic make. This devices, generally low end devices have similar specifications. One of such a generic model is Commtiva z71. Commercially, they manifest themselves as many different models under different trade names and vendors. A few of them are Apanda A60, Chinavision Excalibur, Cincinnati Bell Blaze , Gigabyte Gsmart G1305, Motorola XT502, Muchtel A1, Nexian Journey, Optimus Boston, Orange Boston, Spice Mi-300 , Vibo A688 , Cherry Mobile Nova and Wellcom A88.

Commtiva Z71

One can see the striking similarity between various variants and original Commtiva Z71. I don't know whether Motorola and Commtiva had a business tie-up or not. So if you want to get custom ROMs for Motorola XT502, then you need to look for ROMs for Commtiva Z71 variants. One such ROM, which as a matter of fact, I installed was CM7 EAv6 ROM. It features Android version 2.3.7, one of the version of Gingerbread. The download link in the previous page is using uploading.com, which is shitty!! I have uploaded this ROM in mediafire as well, download it from there if you want.

Okay, so this much background is enough for now. Let's get to flashing the ROM. The following is copied from cyanogenmod website on Commtiva Z71.

Before you do anything — Make a backup

Don't forget to back up your data. If you have synced the device with a Google account, then the contacts, calendar, Gmail, & select other Google-related data will not be lost and will come back after the next sync. However, you should backup anything you want to keep that is not stored on the SD card:

• SMS/MMS messages,
• Call Log,
• Bookmarks,
• Applications; use Titanium Backup or the Astro File Manager, for example,
• Any application data not on the SD card.

It would also be a good idea to backup everything stored on the SD card in the rare case the SD card must be formatted to resolve any major problems.
MyBackup Root, SMS Backup & Restore, and Call Backup & Restore are all free applications that can assist with backing up your data.

Rooting the Commtiva Z71

The Commtiva Z71, or any of its clones, would need to be rooted first, and then the ClockworkMod Recovery needs to be installed on it.
Currently, there are a few methods that would work depending on which exact version of the Commtiva Z71 clone you possess. Currently, sean-feeney.com has a good guide which may or may not work, so proceed with caution. It is possible to use this method to install a custom ROM with root permissions on the device, and then proceed with installing the ClockworkMod Recovery image, followed by the CyanogenMOD ROM.
Note : If the ClockworkMOD Recovery image fails to load, try installing an alternate version from within ClockworkMod (scroll down to last option inside ClockworkMod, All ClockworkMod Recoveries, and try selecting the previous version of the ClockworkMod recovery image)

Installing ClockworkMod Recovery

If the Commtiva Z71 already has a custom Recovery Image installed, you may skip this section.

1. Search for ROM Manager in the Market (free or paid) and install the app.
2. Open the ROM Manager application and select flash ClockworkMod Recovery.
3. Click on Commtiva Z71 and then give the app root permission if it prompts you.
4. If it hangs after that and freezes up, just allow the app to Force Close. Then open it back up and repeat steps 2 & 3.
5. Once the flash was successful, you should see a dialog box that says "Successfully flashed ClockworkMod recovery!".
6. Press OK.
7. The ClockworkMod Recovery should now be installed on the Commtiva Z71.

Flashing CyanogenMod

If the Commtiva Z71 has been rooted, unlocked, etc. through steps other than the method described above or running a custom ROM other than CyanogenMod and you are having issues flashing or booting CyanogenMod, it is recommended the Commtiva Z71 be returned to stock & start over with the full instructions provided above.

Method via ROM Manager

1. Launch RomManager.
   

   Optional: Choose the first option in the app, Flash ClockworkMod Recovery to update to the latest version.

2. Select the Download ROM option from the main menu in the ROM Manager.
3. Select the CyanogenMod option, and then choose the latest version of CyanogenMod from the menu.
   

   Optional: When you select the latest version of CyanogenMod, check the Google Apps option.

4. Once the ROM is finished downloading, it asks if you would like to Backup Existing ROM and WIPE Data and Cache.
5. If Superuser prompts for root permissions check to Remember and then Allow.
6. The Commtiva Z71 will now reboot into the recovery, wipe data and cache, and then install CyanogenMod. When it's finished installing it will reboot into CyanogenMod.

I have flashed this ROM and it works like charm. As with other custom ROMs, this doesn't have any battery issues. In case of any queries, contact me below in the comments. Even thought I might not help you technically regarding the bugs that might be there in this ROM, I will try to be of help to anyone.