Lately, I’ve been playing with various ROMs and mods available for the HTC Hero and Droid. The latest Community Release 1.8 of Android 2.1 is quite stable faster than previous releases so I thought of giving it a try.
Installation required a wipe and it went really smooth without any issues. This tutorial will help you try out the Android 2.1 OS and retain your current ROM so you can revert back anytime you want.
If you remember my previous tutorial on how to install a custom ROM on your HTC Hero, I’ll be following the same steps and guide lines in this tutorial too.
How to Install Android 2.1 (HERO21) on HTC Hero
Things You Should Know:
- I’m using an unlocked HTC Hero running on MoDaCo 2.8 ROM and I rooted and installed a new recovery image using this tutorial.
- Create a Nandroid backup of your phone before proceeding. This is will help you revert back to your old ROM when you want or if anything goes wrong.
- A wipe has to be done while loading a new ROM, so again, backup your phone i.e contacts, apps, settings, messages etc. [How to Backup SMS on Android]
- This tutorial is ONLY for GSM HTC Hero.
The Tutorial
Before you proceed, I hope you read the above lines that I wrote carefullyand have rooted (and flashed a new recovery image on) your phone using this tutorial: How to Root HTC Hero and Install RA Recovery Image.
1. Download Hero21 Community Signed v1.8 ROM from here.
2. Rename the ROM you just downloaded as update.zip
3. Now plug in your Hero to the computer and from the notifications, mount the SD card.
4. Copy the ROM file (update.zip) to your SD card. DON’T copy it into any folder.
5. Unplug the phone and turn it off.
6. Now turn on the phone into Recovery Mode by holding down Home and Power buttons to turn it on. Keep holding them until you see some text written in green.
7. In the Recovery Mode, select “Wipe” and then select Wipe data partition.
8. Once the wipe is completed, go to “Flash update image” and select Apply sdcard:update.zip
9. Confirm the installation and then sit back and watch while the ROM is being installed/loaded.
10. When completed, reboot the phone. Your new ROM should be up and running now!
NOTE: The first reboot may take time, so wait with patience. Even the first startup and the phone will be a bit slow, but should get normal in a few minutes.
Disclaimer: I’m not responsible for any damage you do to your phone. Please modify it on your own risk.
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