Root FINALLY A WORKING JELLY BEAN ROM!! Public release! Update from ICS!

[Samsung Use i]

As far as webkit on WP8, maybe the closest you can get is opera?

Opera is based on chromium, which is based on webkit. Unless something has changed and I'm behind the times.

Not sure if you can get regular opera on Windows phone, but I found opera mini, which has the added benefit of data compression(if not exactly having full rendering)

http://www.opera.com/mobile/mini/windows

Mobile chrome is based on webkit, I didn't find it in the Windows phone app store, but there is something called chromox for 99 cents. Not sure if it's some kind of chromium build our maybe just designed to look like chrome.

I'd probably go for the opera mini beta if I was you. I don't trust non free, closed source mobile browsers. Who knows what they're keeping tabs on.

If you could find a Windows phone build of chrome or Firefox, they should handle webkit rendering properly. Probably better than Microsoft's mobile engine.

I searched for Firefox, chrome, and chromium for Windows phone and all I came up with was like a skin for Microsoft's browser. I think that chromox is like that, too.

At least the opera looks legit. It's on their website and I read some about it in their forum.

Cheers,
-SB

WOW, i am so glad you actually went to the trouble of researching through the windows phone store, but i have a few things that unfortunately I've figured out while using Windows Phone.

-The reason why WP does not have Firefox nor Chrome is because of the lack of Webkit (other apps like for example: kik, have been left without any updates because of Webkit not being available and let me tell you, it is a BIG pain using kik's buggy, half-cooked app made to be ran in the Mango update i believe [Note: right now we're in Cyan/Denim updates which are WAY passed mango])

-Believe it or not i have already tried the "Chromox" application and it is very buggy and hasn't been updated in a couple of months, furthermore, the developer seems to only know SOME of the English language and the app is badly translated.

-Opera browser for WP is not the fully operational Opera browser that we have for android. It is actually most likely just Internet Explorer Re-skinned with a couple of added features (i am 98% sure this is just IE with a skin slapped on top of it)

-For Windows 10, both phones and computers will get a new, fresh, browser which is compatible with native Google chrome extensions/applications which is codenamed for now as "Spartan" Browser. Hopefully when this browser is released Chrome and FireFox will decide to use this engine and release their browsers for WP. Anyways, i wouldn't mind just getting the Spartan browser because not only will this be the stock browser for Windows 10, but it will be also published in the Windows Store so that we can get OTA/Real-Time updates!



-Also, if i were you i would give the new Windows UI a try... i mean i know it is a big change but Windows 10 looks promising and it looks like it has fixed many of the feature lacks of Windows 8.x


EDIT: hey man like i said i don't really mind the bootloop; all i have to do is charge my phone while it's on. So if you don't have time you could just wait until you do. By the way, enjoy your time in Vegas!

 

[sawbones999]

WOW, i am so glad you actually went to the trouble of researching through the windows phone store, but i have a few things that unfortunately I've figured out while using Windows Phone.

-The reason why WP does not have Firefox nor Chrome is because of the lack of Webkit (other apps like for example: kik, have been left without any updates because of Webkit not being available and let me tell you, it is a BIG pain using kik's buggy, half-cooked app made to be ran in the Mango update i believe [Note: right now we're in Cyan/Denim updates which are WAY passed mango])

-Believe it or not i have already tried the "Chromox" application and it is very buggy and hasn't been updated in a couple of months, furthermore, the developer seems to only know SOME of the English language and the app is badly translated.

-Opera browser for WP is not the fully operational Opera browser that we have for android. It is actually most likely just Internet Explorer Re-skinned with a couple of added features (i am 98% sure this is just IE with a skin slapped on top of it)

-For Windows 10, both phones and computers will get a new, fresh, browser which is compatible with native Google chrome extensions/applications which is codenamed for now as "Spartan" Browser. Hopefully when this browser is released Chrome and FireFox will decide to use this engine and release their browsers for WP. Anyways, i wouldn't mind just getting the Spartan browser because not only will this be the stock browser for Windows 10, but it will be also published in the Windows Store so that we can get OTA/Real-Time updates!



-Also, if i were you i would give the new Windows UI a try... i mean i know it is a big change but Windows 10 looks promising and it looks like it has fixed many of the feature lacks of Windows 8.x


EDIT: hey man like i said i don't really mind the bootloop; all i have to do is charge my phone while it's on. So if you don't have time you could just wait until you do. By the way, enjoy your time in Vegas!

Cool that you already know that stuff. I just checked bc I became interested.

Opera on Windows phone is mini. Have you tried opera mini on android? It's definitely not regular opera. As I mentioned in my last post, stuff won't render correctly. Opera mini started out as a .jar file for really old "smart" phones made by Motorola and Nokia and the like, which didn't even run win ce or mobile 2000, but runs their own "OS", lol.

Then later opera mini came to Windows mobile maybe around 6 as an app(well you could use the .jar before then). I remember all this because I still have a Motorola mpx220 which was one of the first Windows mobile phones, and one of the first real smart phones.

I figured when they switched opera mini to android they switched to webkit, like full opera, just really dumbed down the render environment and I figured that might be the port to current win mo.

I could be wrong. Opera mini may not be based on chromium at all. It might still be based on opera's own old java engine. Haven't checked the source.

That would be amazing if MS released a mobile browser that accepts chrome extensions. Chrome for android doesn't even accept chrome extensions, in fact it doesn't accept add-ons of any kind, which is why I use Firefox on android, then I can use Adblock plus (among other cool add-ons).

Cheers,
-SB

 

[Samsung Use i]

That would be amazing if MS released a mobile browser that accepts chrome extensions. Chrome for android doesn't even accept chrome extensions, in fact it doesn't accept add-ons of any kind, which is why I use Firefox on android, then I can use Adblock plus (among other cool add-ons).

Cheers,
-SB

Yeah it would be cool. Right now i am only inferring this because the PC version of the browser will accept native chrome extensions and MS is thinking (and definitely will) merge the OS so that WP 10 is the same as Windows 10 or at least has the same features and apps. Lets just all hope that for the sake of the not-so-popular windows phone the windows 10 updates helps it at least get closer to its competitors.

EDIT: also just a random question i want to swing at you: do you think it would be possible to run kitkat and maybe even lollipop on the force? LoL

 

[sawbones999]

Yes it would be possible, but probably a lot of work. Getting it up to jelly bean allows you to run a lot more tweaks and apps with minimum api of JB.

There are definitely devices with less capable hardware out there which run kitkat. The easiest way to try and make it happen would be to find a kitkat device which uses the same SOC as the force. Ideally you could try to make the userland from the donor device to work with this kernel, but that's not as easy as it sounds. Especially with all of the extra kitkat features such as selinux.

I suppose if you could get Sprint to release the kernel source for this release you might be able to use the android SDK and IDE to try to update the kernel source to support the kitkat api and use AOSP or AOKP sources to build a userland. I don't think Sprint will cooperate, though. They wouldn't even give up a binary copy of this ROM, and never released it as an update.

Personally I don't see why people are so crazy about lollipop. Granted my experience with lollipop is limited to the ADT-1 android tv developer kit, so my lollipop experience is probably different from on a phone. Still it seems to me like the biggest difference between L and KK is that it's harder to root L. About the same from 4.3 to 4.4(more "security" features added).

I think Google may be doing what Apple has done for years, which is release OS updates which do nothing except break root(jailbreak for Apple).

If you're a really good kernel dev you could probably start with a kitkat AOSP build for a phone using the MSM8690 and build a working ROM for this phone using that source as a starting point. I probably couldn't do it...even if I could I don't really have the time, and how many people would even use it? How many are even using this JB update? Possibly more that those that post, but compared to worldwide released force 4g this ROM is a raindrop in a lake.

About WP10, I wouldn't hold my breath that it will be equivalent. WP 8+ is so much more restricted than Windows RT. So far Windows embedded and mobile versions have been quite different than release versions. Starting back with win ce up until now. The biggest exception is xp embedded which really is basically fully featured if you start adding things in manually.

It would make sense for Microsoft to merge Windows phone code and Windows RT, but how long has it been since MS did something that made sense? Lol

Cheers,
-SB

 

[Samsung Use i]

Nah i think Microsoft is trying to fix many of their mistakes now. Windows 10 will be only one OS for all the devices.. not just branches from the OS. Windows phone 10 and Windows 10 are basically the same!

and also, then you think there's any device that can be used to dirty port KitKat to this phone? Also when you have the time check if the charging bug when your phone is turned off happens after flashing your ROM clean because if it does and this is fixed this will be a 100% completed.

EDIT: somehow the phone didn't turn off at 3% and it drain the battery all the way to 0%. only way to charge it is by leaving it off and i cannot do that because of the bootloop :/

 

[sawbones999]

I just downloaded Windows 10 enterprise pre release and tried it in VMware. So far it looks better than 8. More like server 2012 (Not the beta of 2012, man that was horrible!). I signed up for the Windows on devices developer thing. That will include ARM releases, I found out about it because it was advertised on the raspberry pi site (that there is a Win 10 for the new release of pi). It makes me wonder about getting Windows 10 running on some android TV devices. I've kind of gotten into android TV dev a little bit lately on freaktab. I also got the android TV dev kit from google and have done some custom ROMs for customers with android TV boxes, and for myself.

There are already some windows 8 ROMs for certain devices. I haven't really looked into it that much though because I prefer the android TV experience over windows 8 RT.

Hopefully this week sometime I'll get a chance to take a look at the charging thing. I've got several projects going plus looking for a job, but I'll try to fit it in.
Cheers,
-SB

 

[sawbones999]

and also, then you think there's any device that can be used to dirty port KitKat to this phone? Also when you have the time check if the charging bug when your phone is turned off happens after flashing your ROM clean because if it does and this is fixed this will be a 100% completed.

I don't know of any off the top of my head. I know that there are some phones by bigger companies, like HTC, which have much better custom ROM support that are more likely to have a KK rom. Take a look around and see if you find any then let me know and I'll take a look (like search msm8960 phones, then check the xda site for KK ROMs).

I tried using an HTC ROM once because I wanted to make a ROM for this phone with real HTC SENSE but it didn't work out as easily as I thought it would. I ended up making a ROM based on DSF with a different launcher and a Sense theme but I never got around to releasing it.

Cheers,
-SB

 

[knoober]

I just wa

Hello guys, I have to say that with jellybean this phone runs smoother than butter. One problem: If the phone is turned off and you put it to charge it will cause a bootloop and it will just keep turning the phone on and off. Even though you can stop this by turning the phone on and then putting it to charge, if your phone is at 0% battery and you have to charge it this can get pretty annoying. Please look into it. Thanks.

I just wanted to chime in on this one because I have experienced the same thing. At first I was certain that I simply needed to have a sufficient charge to make it to the OS (ie if close to zero, leave it on the charger longer and try again) but I finally got sick of a problematic usb cable and switched them out and havent had the problem since. I dont know if youve tried a new cable, but it solved the same issue for me

 

[sawbones999]

I just wa

I just wanted to chime in on this one because I have experienced the same thing. At first I was certain that I simply needed to have a sufficient charge to make it to the OS (ie if close to zero, leave it on the charger longer and try again) but I finally got sick of a problematic usb cable and switched them out and havent had the problem since. I dont know if youve tried a new cable, but it solved the same issue for me

Hey Knoober. So if your phone is shut off and you plug it in do you get the battery charging animation and not a full boot?

I've been busy so I haven't checked the ROM yet to make sure that it's included, but I thought so. It's possible that it isn't and maybe me and you still have that flashed from dsf or something?

I forgot which partition that part of things is on, but I thought it's somewhere on /system. If that is where it's located then everyone should have it. I'll open it up on my laptop now and double check it.

I just now saw that someone updated my status to developer! Must have been a moderator. Whoever it was, thanks!

Gonna check the ROM now.
Cheers,
-SB

 

[sawbones999]

I just checked the ROM and it looks OK. There is a binary called zte-charger in /system/bin and I looked through it for strings and found the pics are in /system/etc/res/images/charger. I compared that to DSF and it's the same. I'm not quite sure how that app is run though. It must be compiled into the kernel somehow or something because I know that the system needs to boot at least a partial kernel to run the animation and check charging levels. It's probably something pretty low level in the firmware. Sort of like how when you connect a phone to a computer and it shows up as a device. There is something that comes on in the ROM that allows that, too.

I will do some reading about it.
Cheers!
-SB

 

[knoober]

Hey Knoober. So if your phone is shut off and you plug it in do you get the battery charging animation and not a full boot?

I've been busy so I haven't checked the ROM yet to make sure that it's included, but I thought so. It's possible that it isn't and maybe me and you still have that flashed from dsf or something?

I forgot which partition that part of things is on, but I thought it's somewhere on /system. If that is where it's located then everyone should have it. I'll open it up on my laptop now and double check it.

I just now saw that someone updated my status to developer! Must have been a moderator. Whoever it was, thanks!

Gonna check the ROM now.
Cheers,
-SB

I will say two things here real quick, we'll three I guess cuz I don't know that I can say thanks to all who made Jb possible on this device enough. It works awesomely! But the things I was going to say... 1) I later figured out that I didn't wipe the cache and dalvik when I flashed the rom (I was excited, and I'm prone to forget stuff anyways) but everything works so I didn't bother with a proper reflash.
The other thing is about the battery animation. I often run my battery to zero because I use it for music and then forget to turn it off. So anyone would think the solution would be to plug into charger, then happily continue along your way right? It didn't work that way for my. I would plug into the charger, try to boot and instead of Andy iI would get the battery animation. After hours on the charger I would finally be able to get a full boot. My thinking was that there was a certain percentage of battery power needed for boot and the way I was abusing the device made it more demanding. I later found that I simply had a faulty USB cable. With the new cable, I can rundown to zero / plug in /directly reboot. The only time I see the battery animation is when I let the phone charge while powered off. I hope that answers your question more fully.
BTW, I have heard from folks who dev for HTC devices that Sense is a real drag on the system. They haven't said why, and personally I like Sense, but I just thought I'd share that too

 

[sawbones999]

Good. The fact that you are seeing the battery charging animation means that it's working. You didn't do wipe data/factory reset before installing, though?

Anyway, I think it should all be there because when I flashed this I wiped my entire phone first. (although possibly I flashed the Boost factory before this to test upgrading) It's been awhile so I don't remember for sure.

And yes I like sense, but haven't used it often since probably version 2 or 3 of Rosie (and hybrids with 3.5 and 4). Now it is a drag on the system because it's super fat in the memory and there are so many animations and things. I picked up a cheap HTC Evo 4g for free plan on freedompop and most of the Sense ROMs that I tested for it were so slow that it was pretty much unusable if you opened Firefox or Facebook. I flashed it with a very full featured AOSP based ROM and I had no idea that it could actually run that fast!! The mem usage after boot with Sense ROMs I tested was close to 85% or almost 90%. That's rediculous, and probably because people were trying to backport features from newer versions. I think that's why Sense 5 was so minimalist, but I don't think people liked it bc it doesn't even really look like sense. Does that make sense? lol

Cheers,
-SB

 

[knoober]

Good. The fact that you are seeing the battery charging animation means that it's working. You didn't do wipe data/factory reset before installing, though?

Anyway, I think it should all be there because when I flashed this I wiped my entire phone first. (although possibly I flashed the Boost factory before this to test upgrading) It's been awhile so I don't remember for sure.

And yes I like sense, but haven't used it often since probably version 2 or 3 of Rosie (and hybrids with 3.5 and 4). Now it is a drag on the system because it's super fat in the memory and there are so many animations and things. I picked up a cheap HTC Evo 4g for free plan on freedompop and most of the Sense ROMs that I tested for it were so slow that it was pretty much unusable if you opened Firefox or Facebook. I flashed it with a very full featured AOSP based ROM and I had no idea that it could actually run that fast!! The mem usage after boot with Sense ROMs I tested was close to 85% or almost 90%. That's rediculous, and probably because people were trying to backport features from newer versions. I think that's why Sense 5 was so minimalist, but I don't think people liked it bc it doesn't even really look like sense. Does that make sense? lol

Cheers,
-SB

Yeah, I forgot to wipe before flash. I'm glad I didn't break my device and it seems to have no adverse effects so I've left it alone. And yeah, it works so no worries, still insanely pleased I mainly use as a spare, so I've still never tried service on it, but I'm sure it will work like a champ. Thanks again!

 

[Samsung Use i]

Yeah, I forgot to wipe before flash. I'm glad I didn't break my device and it seems to have no adverse effects so I've left it alone. And yeah, it works so no worries, still insanely pleased I mainly use as a spare, so I've still never tried service on it, but I'm sure it will work like a champ. Thanks again!

I've used different chargers, yes..... it still bootloops while it is off. What it does is that it shows "andy" and then it shows the empty battery... then it turns off and keeps doing this.

 

[knoober]

I've used different chargers, yes..... it still bootloops while it is off. What it does is that it shows "andy" and then it shows the empty battery... then it turns off and keeps doing this.

That really seems to be the same as my problem. Are you sure your charge port isn't loose if the cable is OK? Just to please my obscene sense of curiosity, will you try holding the charge cable tightly to the charge port and maybe even slightly moving up or down? I think maybe your port is slightly misaligned. I've had devices that would only charge face down or even on the edge of a table before it's worth a shot anyway
and while you guys are talking about ports... What I read about porting a rom was that the screen resolution being the same was important. I can certainly tell you that finding another phone with the same SOC and the same resolution is pretty hard. I think I checked them all (found a wiki page that listed all devices with the msm8960 and checked em all there)

 

[Samsung Use i]

That really seems to be the same as my problem. Are you sure your charge port isn't loose if the cable is OK? Just to please my obscene sense of curiosity, will you try holding the charge cable tightly to the charge port and maybe even slightly moving up or down? I think maybe your port is slightly misaligned. I've had devices that would only charge face down or even on the edge of a table before it's worth a shot anyway
and while you guys are talking about ports... What I read about porting a rom was that the screen resolution being the same was important. I can certainly tell you that finding another phone with the same SOC and the same resolution is pretty hard. I think I checked them all (found a wiki page that listed all devices with the msm8960 and checked em all there)

Dude I've tried everything you mentioned... but sadly it is not the charger.
Thanks for your tips.

 

[sawbones999]

Sounds like I will have to go to the phone and check the filesystem. I did some poking around on my S4 and found some battery related stuff in /efs. If it's related to that, though, I don't think flashing this ROM would cause a problem because /efs isn't changed in any way. Actually I haven't ever even looked to see if this phone has /efs or if it is mountable.

I'm pretty sure that is a samsung thing. Has IMEI information, NVitem information, other proprietary info.

Oh, knoober. About the service, I decided to push myself to finish this ROM the last day before my auto reboost so I could test it on the network and I did

It has everything for Sprint and Virgin as well. All the apn data, boot animations, everything. I guess which ones are selected happens when you activate it.

Cheers,
-SB

 

[sawbones999]

This ROM is now reported as tested and working on phones sold by the Sprint mvno Freedompop. Thanks to poppyer for taking the plunge and testing it.

Known issues:
After activation network is reported as unknown and the ICCID is not listed in settings > about device. It did appear to activate, however, because poppyer is able to use 4G data and make phone calls when not on Wi-Fi (Freedompop is a SIP VOIP service, so you cannot make calls unless a data connection is available).

This might mean that it's safe to try with other Sprint mvno's like Ting, Straight Talk, Net 10, or others.

I have seen the Force 4G for sale on quite a few national and regional MVNO's so, sounds like good news.

If you wish to try it on an MVNO which has not been reported as working already in this thread, be sure you make a very complete and thorough backup first. If you have questions about how to do that post here.

Cheers,
-SB

 

[sawbones999]

Be aware that some MVNO's such as Freedompop and TextNow may require the installation of additional software for calling and/or messaging. Generally these apps are available in the play store. If not they can be extracted from your pre-upgrade backup.

Cheers,
-SB

 

[thegreatyashu]

So I got rom installed, but there are a few major problems. The first is GPS does not work. It just keeps saying searching for GPS. I installed the GPS tool box, and it simply cannot "talk" to any satellite... it is just broken. Any ideas?

EDIT: This appears to work as a fix. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2739178

 

[coffinsupply]

Perfectly working with freedomPOP, Must install their software from play store.. There is no Gps issues with my end, gets connection indoor even look pictures.

 

[knoober]

I dont even have it hooked up to any service and can confirm the GPS working . When I connect to local wifi the GPS works as well. I will say however that I am very interested in wether my wifi will work better with the mod you referenced and intend to try it on a different device.... so thanks!

As far as your issue goes, I must repeat my standard disclaimer. "There are lots of others who know more than I about your device... proabaqbly even you" ... im thinking about adding that to my sig! Anyway, all I can think is either defective hardware )can you confirm working GPS before the flash?) and after that standard trouble shooting. Stard by checking the md5 checksum of your download ... then did you wipe cache and dalvik... TWRP version correct? Maybe something is wonky with the way things got written during the flash, have you retried ? Have you moved back to stock to see if the GPS works there?

Like I said, I know I dont know how to help ya, but Ive broken enough things to know that these are some of the first places to look, and that knowing those answers may help anyone who CAN help you. Good Luck!

 

[hydrocynus]

View attachment 83112 View attachment 83113

Perfectly working with freedomPOP, Must install their software from play store.. There is no Gps issues with my end, gets connection indoor even look pictures.

Well, it installed OK on my rooted freedompop ZTE N9100 but I am running into some issues now:
1- I cannot connect to my wifi: I have the error "avoided poor internet connection"
2- worse, I cannot make phone calls when connect through 3G or 4G. I am getting a voice error message stating that I have the wrong area code. I also cannot receive calls. All worked fine prior to the upgrade.
3- I cannot seem to activate the device (get a blank page).

Help! did not do a backup because it was reported that it works fine.

 

[bcrichster]

Well, it installed OK on my rooted freedompop ZTE N9100 but I am running into some issues now:
1- I cannot connect to my wifi: I have the error "avoided poor internet connection"
2- worse, I cannot make phone calls when connect through 3G or 4G. I am getting a voice error message stating that I have the wrong area code. I also cannot receive calls. All worked fine prior to the upgrade.
3- I cannot seem to activate the device (get a blank page).

Help! did not do a backup because it was reported that it works fine.

(MAYBE) u gott a corrupted Download..?? Redownload & try again.

 

[hydrocynus]

I was able to fix the "avoided poor internet connection" and I was able to make and receive phone calls by installing the freedompop "messaging" app. I have bad 4G in my building and when connected to 3G, I was able to make a call and receive calls if I agree to the "Your mobile network strength is too weak to place a call. Please move to another area to connect to WIFI" and click the Call anyway button.

Am I missing anything?

I looked at this post above and figured I had to reinstall the freedompop apps and installed only the "messaging app" to make it work.

I still have a blank blank page when I tried to activate the device while in the past I had my phone number (freedompop).
This is in the known issues:
"Known issues:
After activation network is reported as unknown and the ICCID is not listed in settings > about device. It did appear to activate, however, because poppyer is able to use 4G data and make phone calls when not on Wi-Fi (Freedompop is a SIP VOIP service, so you cannot make calls unless a data connection is available)."

Overall, it seems that I have lost something in the ROM update. I have very fast internet connection at work, so I doubt my zip file is corrupted and frankly I do not really want to make matter worse. I have taken the risk because after all, my net loss would be $25.