Motorola Defy

[Whoey]

So I've now replaced my old Motorola Defy with a Nexus 4, and I'm just in the process of clearing out stuff on the SD card in preparation for unlocking/flashing/messing about, and I see from the photo dates the first pics I took were in march 2011, so that's 2 years and 5 months on that phone... no screen protector or aftermarket case, just as is... and I believe there's still life in it yet, once I wipe out some bloat on it of course!

[Millhouse]

The Defy's water resistant qualities makes it handy for a backup phone.

[Whoey]

my plan is to try some different roms on it, however my standard sim seems deactivated now, and I can't use the microsim from my Nexus... 

I had also thought about using it as a dedicated GPS in the car...

[Millhouse]

Something like this:

http://www.android.gs/update-motorola-defy-defy-plus-jelly-bean-4-1-2-cm10/

[Whoey]

Yeah... Apparently need to go to gingerbread or jellybean to unlock... Will be interesting to see a clean setup on it

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 4

[Grant Lamontagne]

Depending on how much success you have with this I may try it with my ATRIX.

Def

Sent from the place I sent it from

[Millhouse]

Nice to have a phone without the bloatware.

[jekostas]

Depending on how much success you have with this I may try it with my ATRIX.

Def

Sent from the place I sent it from

Atrix would make a great media player.  It has mini-HDMI out as well as a very good quality Wolfson DAC.

[Whoey]

it could be just me, but reading through that guide I get lost... especially when they refer to CMW and no link, no other reference, when in fact it should say CWM (clockworkmod)

This is one of the biggest reasons I have not tried any roms on my phone, every guide is only partial, and does not link to all the exact items you need, each one seems to be a rough breakdown of the items, then you spend hours bouncing around on forums looking for the tools needed... then it's use v2.1.4 of tool-x but not v2.5 (latest) etc. 

[Whoey]

and I've now managed to do it... however, CWM is not the way with the Defy, I actually used 2ndinit... My defy now seems to be running 4.1.2

[Whoey]

My phone was rooted long ago so that was one less step I had to do.

Also I previously had 2ndinit installed, but didn't figure out how to use it correctly until today (download APK, put on phone, install, run):
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1032212

I followed this for the rest of the CM10 (4.1.2 JB):
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1795647

[Shorty66]

All you really need is RSDLite and a suitable .sbf file. There are .sbfs which already include CWM and Cyanogenmod which makes the task really easy.

RSDLite
CM 7.2 .sbf  (most stable, but lacking some features of newer Android versions)
CM10 .sbf

Installing the .sbf is a matter of minutes:
0. Backup any data on your phone (SD card won't be erased, but contacts, sms... are)
1. Install RSDLite
2. Put your DEFY in Bootloader-Mode (Turn it off, then hold volume up, push the power button while holding v-up and release both buttons after a short time. A black screen with white text saying "Bootloader" on top should display
3. Connect the defy to your PC and wait for any drivers to install
4. Start RSDLite
5. Select the .sbf file by clicking on the "..." button
6. Click Start and wait for the .sbf to be flashed.
7. At some point, the programm will show "Power up the device manually". Disconnect the defy and power the phone up.
8. If it doesn't boot at the first time, take the battery out and try again. It will boot on the second try.

You now have CM, 2nd init, CWM and Root installed.


If you need more information or ask some questions this is the right place to go.

If you want to update your phone to a newer rom, all you need is a .zip file with the new rom. This can be installed via recovery. The procedue described here is only needed once (and perhaps again if you mess something up).

[Whoey]

I think RSDlite is where I went wrong the first time I tried a custom rom... I ended up with a bricked phone (the battery died during a second flash attempt), which I sent in for warranty as it coincided with the OTA update to 2.2.2

with what I described, I just had to put a couple zip files on the sdcard, and boot into 2ndinit recovery mode...

[Whoey]

When I tried your method, resulted in bootloader loop with these errors:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1449502

I also had to manually install the Motohelper drivers.

Using rsdlite to flash back to vodafone spain sbf seems to have put it back in working order
http://sbf.droid-developers.org/umts_jordan/list.php

[Shorty66]

I am sad to hear that. Perhaps this doesn't work with every region specific version of the Defy. I have done it with 6 Defys up to now and never had a problem. I think this way is easier than first obtaining root on a stock rom, installing cwm and then installing a new ROM. Perhaps i can work out what the problem was and correct the method i described.

Keep in mind, that the defy never really can be bricked. It might be a bit difficult to recover, but it's alwas possible (unless you have some kind of hardware fault).

It's a good idea to post the list of stock .sbf here. Thanks for that

[Whoey]

revert to stock SBF via rsdlite works to recover the phone to working order, then superoneclick gets root again, and install 2ndinit, now trying a different rom from zip as before...

2ndinit procedure is not ideal, but it's not to hard, and the more I do it the quicker I seem to manage it.

[Whoey]

and without too much trouble, now have paranoid android running on it.

[Grant Lamontagne]

Finished with my Android cause it cannot help me with my mind! People think I'm insane because I am texting all the time!

Sorry, couldn't help it.

Def

Sent from a digital multitool

[Whoey]

flashed a few times now... not really finding a rom that I like for it... I'd really like something basic and fast, not too much fancy stuff, and not geared for a superHD screen, some stuff just looks too tiny on the screen imho.