Jelly Bean on Motorola Milestone 2

UPDATE: So using Cyanogen mod, I did get it working (with included GApps) like half a year later. 

The below is part of my adventures and bricking my phone and then recovering it. But all in all ended well, but I’m getting rid of my Milestone 2, because I’m moving to the mightily functional Nokia 820.

So I did accomplish one thing. That is run my Milestone 2 on Android 4.1.1 Jelly Bean. For what it’s worth I was quite impressed with the functionality of the mod for CM10 by tezet and subsequently was happily using it for a good half hour. However I  realized I forgot to install Google Apps. Mistakenly I thought I’d just install Android Droid 2 Bootloader, reboot, and install thru zip. Big mistake and alas, this bricked my phone.

This was an irrecoverable error and subsequently it bricked on reboot. (Or did it? Maybe I didn’t format/clear cache before rebooting and I feel like this might have actually been the problem. Which I learnt below)

So at the time of originally writing this, I was killing time on my third different flash  using RSD Lite and a Stock ROMs (see further below) attempt as I was stuck in a bootloop. So I reverted to spare Huawei Android phone which had a shattered screen – which still works treat, minus it being run over by a car. [Don’t ask]

Anyway on further research. Getting into Bootloader 70.13 was fine. I could flash it (as I have been attempting numerous times), however I kept getting a bootloop.

Figured out I actually needed to get into Recovery mode (Power + X). FYI the ROM I was using [2.3.4 GB]. Anyway after getting the Android “!” logo, you needed to press/hold Volume up AND Volume down at the same time to get the actual damn menu, this took some research. After I discovered that, It was just a matter of Factory Reset and Wipe Data.

After all that, I have technically upgraded from my AU Vodafone ROM to GB Retail 2.3.4. Which is still a net improvement.  All in all, I now have a better functioning phone after brief moments of ‘oh crap’ moments. I think I’ll hold off the upgrade experience till I have time in December (and I guess a stable version of 4.1.1 comes out for Milestone 2) – though mind you I’d be happy enough to use it as it is. However I guess it’s hitting Nexus S which came out the same time as the Milestone 2 with some similar specs however NFC tradeoff with say Milestone’s keyboard. I’m cheap so rooting to 4.1 is my answer of an upgrade.

Getting Android 4.1 to run was fairly easy.

Resources as follows:

Discussion: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1827801

Files: http://code.google.com/p/cm-milestone2/

1. Root Phone – Super User Rights Granted. I had CLockwork Mod and ROM Manager installed for other use, but hey useful for backups and such.
2. Install Droid 2 Bootloader.
3. Download ROM, Kernel, GApps(optional) .zips
4. Install .zips
5. Ensure you wipe data/factory reset
6. Patience, phone should boot.
7. Enjoy

After bricking, recovery was possible.

…provided the instructions you have work and you know the differences between each of the ROMs. You’ll need three things.

Motorola Device Manager (<20MB) – merely for the drivers apparently, although you mightn’t even need it.

Original ROMs (as .sbf files) (~200MB) (Note: Now because I uploaded Android 4.1 – I installed a kernel designed for 2.3 – 4.1+ – I don’t believe you can downgrade. So I ended up using the 2.3.4 GB Retail package. (Plus I don’t get stupid Vodafone startup screen anymore)

RDS Lite (<10MB) I just searched this, but RDS will upload the Original ROM onto your phone for you. I kept getting some issues of RDS waiting on the phone. Of course you’ll need to Manually Power up. This basically finishes the load process but the computer doesn’t know this. Answer to this here. The below is basically this so probs use the link. However:

1. Install RDS and MDM.
2. On Milestone 2, open Bootloader (Hold: PWR + VOLDN) – it opens up ready for USB pairing. You’ll need full batt so it doesn’t halt progress.
3. In RDS load up your .sbf file and Uncompress and Flash (straight into it)
4. You’ll note it might hang after say Manually Reboot Phone. Unplug the phone. Battery out to power cycle it. plug it back in (USB).
5. RDS says complete. However only half done.
6. If you bootloop continue:
7. Reboot into Recovery. (Hold: PWR + X) Wait for the Android “!” logo to come up. THEN:
8. Hold down VOLUP + VOLDN to Open Recovery Menu. Other might quote “@” button instead. So try both.
9. I used the D pad/ Arrow buttons on the actual keyboard, then ENTER to select option to wipe/factory reset.
10. Let it do it’s thing then it should reboot.