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I’m happy to report that the Bluetooth issue with the helmet headset was due to a broken mic wiring. No battery problems either.

And now back to the actual installation of CM7 to Moto Defy. This description is based on two excellent and detailed articles in Hungarian on androidunderground.info:

• Preparation
• Installation

And now let’s get down to business.

Precautions

Your phone could be bricked during the process. No warranties, blah blah blah.
Use the download links here. The internet is full of crap.
Fully charge the phone’s battery and use a laptop to avoid problems due to power failures.
I used the company laptop with Windows XP, because the rooting program is for Windows.
Back up your data. I did not, as contacts are synced with Google and all else is on the SDcard.

Backups are for whimps (Linus Torvalds)

1. Install official stock Froyo

Only if you have an older device which came with Android 2.1.

You need the Motorola drivers for the PC. Download if the USB connection does not work.

Motorola has released an official update program for Windows. Download. Search the net for other details.

2. Root Your Phone

Download the SuperOneClick program for your PC. There are many versions, and most don’t work with this phone. Use this link.

Allow USB debugging on the phone: Settings / Applications / Development / USB debugging

Connect phone to PC via USB. Pull down phone statusbar, tap USB Connection, select ‘Charge Only’ or ‘Motorola Phone Portal’.

On PC, start the SuperOneClick program (as admin on Win7). Click the ‘Root’ button. Wait 1-2 minutes until the ‘Device is rooted’ dialog pops up, click OK, close SuperOneClick.

Restart phone. Check whether rooting was successful by starting Terminal Emulator on the phone and typing ’su’. The Superuser app should pop up asking for permission.

3. Install 2ndInit ClockWork Custom Recovery

Allow unknown app sources on the phone: Settings / Applications / Unknown Sources.

Install the 2ndInit program on the phone. Download, copy to phone SDcard, On phone, start File Manager app, go to SDcard, find and click SndInitDefy_1.4_2.apk program, Install, Open.

Tap ‘Install 2ndInit Recovery’ button. Tap ‘Allow’ twice in the subsequent Superuser Request popups.

Disable USB debugging on the phone: Settings / Applications / Development / USB Debugging

Reboot phone, you will get into boot menu.

• Select ‘+Boot –>’ with volume buttons, push power button
• Select ‘+Set Default –>’ push power button
• Select ‘+Normal –>’ push power button
• Select ‘–Go Back’ push power button
• Select ‘[Reboot System]‘ push power button

After this second reboot you get back to Froyo, but the CustomRecovery is installed already. We’re ready for the actual CM7 installation.

4. Install CM7

Download the lastest stable version and GoogleApps as well. Copy them both into the root folder of the SDcard.

Restart phone, after 8 seconds from start the blue LED is switched on (indicating that 2ndInit is working). Push Volume Down while blue LED is on to get into boot menu.

• Select ‘+Recovery –>’ push power button
• Select ‘[Custom Recovery]‘ push power button
• Select ‘- wipe cache partition’ push power button
• Select ‘- Yes – wipe cache’ push power button
• Select ‘- wipe data/factory reset’ push power button
• Select ‘- Yes – delete all user data’ push power button
• Select ‘- install zip from sdcard’ push power button
• Select ‘- choose zip from sdcard’ push power button
• Select ‘update-cm-7….zip’ push power button
• Select ‘Yes – Install …’ push power button
• Select ‘- choose zip from sdcard’ push power button
• Select ‘gapps-gb….zip’ push power button
• Select ‘Yes – Install …’ push power button
• Select ‘+++++Go Back+++++’ push power button
• Select ‘- reboot system now’ push power button

Your phone will now boot into CyanogenMod 7. The first boot is slow and you should go through a lot of initial settings. Have fun.

This post is about the richness of hacker-lingo. Let’s take, for instance, custom ROMs for Android devices. The real name of the phenomenon is actually “cooked ROM”. Let just savour the beauty of this expression for a moment…

After some frustration with the slowness and general crapness of the official Motorola Froyo for my Defy, I’ve finally made up my mind and installed CyanogenMod-7 last Friday. I’ve followed the instructions of an excellent guide in Hungarian. General impressions:

I’m root by default and busybox is installed. Good start.

The amount of configuration options is mind-boggling.

The status bar is black at last. And the home screen auto-rotates as well.

It’s bloody fast.

It works.

It plays the most fluid liquid drum and bass all day long from my favourite internet radio. It plays offline music and navigates in the car. It GPS-tracks my cycling routes. It can read and write email. It can browse the web. It syncs my contacts between the phone and Evolution automatically via Google. It takes pictures. It browses pictures, much better and faster than the utterly crap Moto-Gallery. Blimey, it can even make phone calls!

It reads the Bible in Hungarian, Greek and Hebrew, just to name a few. Thanks to the new app and-bible. It’s sooooo much better than YouVersion. Swipe left for next chapter. Get to the Hebrew Aleppo codex with one tap. Local search. No pretend-to-be-social-internet-junkiness. Just do one thing extremely well. Respect.

Back to CM7, I have a week impression that it’s a bit heavier on the battery than the stock firmware. But it needs to be confirmed.

Tomorrow is the big day. We’ll test whether it connects via Bluetooth to the helmets of the great Defy-using-and-motorcycling community at the office. Which the original Moto firmware does not. Keep fingers crossed.