Yesterday I attempted to put MIUI on the Milestone X my buddy gave me to play with. Unfortunately it didn’t work, and I spent a lot of time yesterday “fixing” it back to a useful state. Well, since MIUI didn’t work that didn’t mean nothing ever would, so I decided to try yet another popular Android replacement: Liquid Smooth. So I flashed the phone with Liquid Smooth version 3.2 (based on Android 4.4.4) and it was a resounding success!
Before I get into the details, one might wonder why I bother. The truth is, it’s fun! Other than that, I like to see old things continue to be useful. As it was, the Milestone came to me with Android 2.3.7 installed. After a failed MIUI attempt, I reloaded it with 2.3.5, as that was the only Android I could get to load on the thing. Now, however, it is running Liquid Smooth 3.2 which is equivalent to, and will allow you to run Android apps from, Android 4.4.4. That is a really big jump in the Android world. The hardware didn’t change, but the ability to utilize it did dramatically.
As with yesterday’s attempt, I started by rooting the phone with RootGenius. That really is a nifty program, by the way. When you mess with phones as much as I have been, it really comes in handy!
After rooting, I needed something to put on there. MIUI didn’t work, although it was “technically” for the Milestone, and not the Milestone X. So I looked everywhere for Milestone X roms, but I couldn’t find any. I found lots of Milestone and Milestone 2 roms. However, I read somewhere on a forum that Droid x and Milestone X have the same hardware, so I thought I’d try a Droid X rom.
So, I downloaded the following:
twrp_2.8_kitkat_dx.zip – https://www.androidfilehost.com/?fid=95916177934519013
Droid2RecoveryBootstrap_CWM5.0.2.0.apk – https://www.androidfilehost.com/?fid=95784891001607650
8-7_GApps_Minimal_4.4.4_DX.zip – https://www.androidfilehost.com/?fid=95784891001607641
LS-KK-v3.2-2015-01-28-shadow.zip – https://www.androidfilehost.com/?fid=95916177934519014
Then, after connecting the phone and enabling USB debugging:
# adb install Droid2RecoveryBootstrap_CWM5.0.2.0.apk
# adb push 8-7_GApps_Minimal_4.4.4_DX.zip /sdcard/
# adb push twrp_2.8_kitkat_dx.zip /sdcard/
# adb push LS-KK-v3.2-2015-01-28-shadow.zip /sdcard/
I then opened the Droid2Recovery app and selected Bootstrap Recovery, which greeted me with the phrase “success” in a pop up. After selecting okay, I then pressed the Reboot button. When the phone rebooted, I was greeted with a menu, rather than the usual load. I chose the “reboot recovery” option which led me to another menu. Once there, I could perform all the basics.
-Backup (I already had yesterday’s backup, so I didn’t make another, but now is a great time to make one if you are trying this yourself!)
-Wipe phone/factory reset
-Wipe cache
-Install zip file from SD card
-> twrp_2.8_kitkat_dx.zip
-> yes
This took a few moments, and then told me to reboot the phone, which I did.
Once I rebooted however, I got to see something new. At least, new to me. When the Motorola icon appeared on the screen, there were two options at the bottom. Recovery above the four square button, and continue, above the magnifying glass button. So I pressed Recovery, which brought me to the Team Win Recovery Project. This is a very nice gui with touch screen buttons and everything. Really quite nice! I touched install, and selected the LS-KK-v3.2-2015-01-28-shadow.zip file, and it loaded it onto the phone. A simple reboot, and viola! It was now Liquid Smooth! Note: it took something like 10 minutes to boot the first time, and kept blinking “liquid smooth” and a water fountain looking icon. So don’t be alarm if that happens to you.
After I confirmed that it worked, I then went back into the TWRP (which is available every time I boot) and installed the 8-7_GApps_Minimal_4.4.4_DX.zip to get all of the Google play apps. You don’t have to do this, but it seemed useful to me. That loaded without a hitch, and now I have a Motorola Milestone X with Liquid Smooth 3.2 on it!
Linux – keep it simple.