M2s questions

[Really_Wacky]

Hi guys,

I am new to this forum so first off all hi to everyone I am from Belgiuim and i am 23 years old.

I have doubted wich phone i was going to take for a really long time but i have made my decision so I have ordered a Xiaomi Mi2S 32GB and I am waiting to receive it. I chose the Xiaomi because it has a lot of updates and because it looks like a really awesome device. I am not new to android and flashing roms, but I am a little confused so I have a few questions. I have done a little research but i cant find any good faq.

1) from what i understand is that you can upgrade the phone directly in settings menu on the phone itself. But i found a topic on this forum that states that the version on this site is a different version then the one that Xiaomi publishes. LINK So asume its better to allways get the updates from here and do them manualy instaid of trough the phone itself? And what methode do you guys recommend to update?

2) I cant find anything about the stock recovery that is on the phone is it allready shipped with clockworkmod or another recovery? Can you just reboot into recovery or do you need to download an app for that?

3) I've read that the phone has 2 partitions and that you can put MIUI on the first partition and stock jellybean on the other partition and that you can change to what partition you can boot in your recovery. Can you only choose this in stock recovery or does CWM also have this option?

4) Do you allways have to do full wipes when you flash a update? Because from what i understand there are weekly updates it would really get enoying to have to set your settings again everytime.

5) Does this phone allready have root? Because i cant find how to root it.

Sorry that i ask these questions you guys have probably heard them alot.
Thanks in advance

Greetings
Wacky

 

[Acid]

1) Yes update MI-2 with miuiandroid version as its better in english than chinese stuff. The downside is that you won't have direct OTA updates, so you will have to flash full rom every week.
Updates are simple. Go to Updater app from desktop and hit Menu > Select installation pack, then locate zip you downloaded to MI-2. Phone will be restarted to second partition and thats all.
You can flash our rom directly after you first run your phone and gain access to desktop (after simple tutorial).

2) MI-2 comes with Mi Recovery. To flash custom CWM you will have to search forum. But.. for normal user you don't need to go to recovery at all. Just flash roms via updater and you will be fine.

3) Yes it has 2 partitions, but MI-2 shares only 1 /data partition so its not good idea to have MIUI and Stock JB. If this is your first time with MI-2 and MIUI then I suggest to skip this topic at all.
MI-2 is not a dual boot phone. 2nd partition is only for updating your phone without going into recovery.

4) Of course not. You don't even have to wipe data if you come from china rom to miuiandroid. Just flash roms via Updater - thats all, no full wipe, no wipe cache & dalvik. I have MI-2 since December and I never did full wipe. But... get familliar with MIUI Backup app and set automatic backup schedule - just to be safe.

5) Yes. You need to turn this on in Permissions App. But... ROOT is not necessary for you. ROOT is needed only if you want to control CPU via SetCPU, to watch battery stats or use terminal etc.

 

[Really_Wacky]

1) So I just download the front page version put it on virtual sd dan update easy as pie...? Weird that you find little information about this everyhwere i look it looks way more complicated

2) I think I will flash CWM anyway to make nandroid backups and I am used to having CWM on my phone unless i can backup everything with the MIUI backup app. Dont you use CWM?

3) Yea i think i will be happy enough with MIUI that i dont want to use stock JB anyway, but there is the possibility to do this right? I now myself eventually I am going to want to mess around with it anyway. So evertime you do an update it gets flashed to the other partition like explained here ? What is the reason for this so you can go back if there went something wrong?

4) Great! I am used to do full wipes everytime i change rom on my ZTE skate and i hate it!

5) I was thinking for titanium backup but i guess i wont need that.


Thanks for the answers man i really apreciate it, with my old sellphone it also took a while before i understood how it all worked but then i wrote a faq for all the noobs that where searching for answers like me. LINK It would really be nice to have something like this or just a faq with questions that get asked a lot.

 

[Acid]

1) Yes. Download aries rom and thats all. Update via updater.

2) Better not. If this is your first time with MI-2 then don't do any mods, because you will be back here with tons of questions and problems. First get familiar with the phone and you will install CWM when you will be ready. You don't need CWM. Regular MIUI Backup app is enough for all tasks. If you break something (which is unlikely) then you can always boot to system 2 or.. flash MIUI via MiFlash app from PC.

3) Yes its possible to install AOSP Android because Xiaomi shares that rom also. But.. I don't see point doing that ever. Stock android is.. clean, blank, without any features that brings MIUI.

 

[Really_Wacky]

Ok it is all clear to me now it is nice that they give the option to flash stock JB not that i would ever want to keep using it. And I will do mod when i am ready.

Are there cases of people who perm bricked there device? Because in the WIUI topic it says do not flash over MIUI 5 you will brick your device do they mean brick as in very hard to recover or brick as in useless paperweight. Because with my ZTE skate it was impossible to brick i've never seen anyone do it.

 

[dextructor]

Ok it is all clear to me now it is nice that they give the option to flash stock JB not that i would ever want to keep using it. And I will do mod when i am ready.

Are there cases of people who perm bricked there device? Because in the WIUI topic it says do not flash over MIUI 5 you will brick your device do they mean brick as in very hard to recover or brick as in useless paperweight. Because with my ZTE skate it was impossible to brick i've never seen anyone do it.

Really_Wacky

I'm using my Mi-2 since February and if you pay attention to every piece of advice in the guides that are very explained the chances that you brick your device will reduce drastically. I did some "experiments" but at maximum stay freeze in the Xiaomi logo, nothing that can't be fixed by wipe all and flash again your ROM. If you flash WIUI over MIUI for my experience the device becomes unstable and you get FC all the time. Can you brick? Human creativity it's without limits then it's up to you.