Neo N003 Flashing Tutorial (files included)

Rock Paper Scissors

Over the last few weeks we have been having a discussion about Chinese android phones on this thread. It seems several people including myself have purchased the Neo N003 advanced phone.

As you probably know Chinese android phones do not get official android updates so it's down to us to find and install updated ROMS for our phones.

Below you will find the procedure for flashing a CWM custom recovery to your Neo N003 and the latest ROM from Neo n003 advanced as well as a custom ROM called Margarto. (Margarto is the ROM i'll be leaving on my phone)

The ROM linked to in this post is an official build from Neo but if you decide to flash a custom ROM to your phone the procedure will be the same. It's worth mentioning that this ROM adds no new features to your phone so if your phone is running smooth you may not be bothered with updating the ROM.

Normally I don't use customs ROMs but a friend of mine recommended a ROM for the Neo called Margarto which I also linked to this post and I really like it.

I also want to make it clear that there are 2 different versions of the Neo. I'm not talking about the youth & premium models, I'm talking about the motherboard versions. The CWM file and ROMs attached to this post are for the 1080p_N003_V1.1_1.1 version only.

Please note that there is always a risk of damaging your phone when performing procedures like this and I accept no responsibility if anything goes wrong. I'm just showing you what worked for me.

I will try to make this tutorial as simple as possible.

I also want to point out that we need to make 2 backups before we begin the flashing procedure. For the 1st backup we use CWM (linked to in the end of this post). This takes a full system backup of your phone in its current state which can then be used to restore the phone to that state anytime in the future.

The second backup were going to do is a titanium backup. This backs up all of your apps, app settings & app data. The app can be downloaded here from the Play store free but to restore those apps to your phone after your upgrade your ROM you will need to upgrade to the pro version of titanium backup which costs €5. Personally I have over 100 apps and didn't fancy having to install all of my apps 1 by 1 after I upgraded the ROM so I bought the PRO version of titanium backup. It's money well spent IMO.

To perform your backups you must have an SD card inserted in your phone.

Ok so without further ado let's begin:

STEP 1: Backing up your Apps:

• Go to the google play store and search for Titanium backup. At this point the free version will do.
• Install the App and open it.
• Up the top right hand corner press the little correct mark.
• Now press the "Run" which is to the left of the "Backup all user apps & System Data"
• Press "Select All" on the top left of the screen
• Press the green correct mark on the top right to begin the backup (this takes a few mins)

Once that's finished your apps will be backed up and can be found on your SD card in the TitaniumBackup folder.


Step 2: Backing up your current ROM:

• Download the CWM file linked to in the end of this post and place it on the root of your SD card
• Go to the Google play store and search for "mobileuncle MTK tools" app and install it
• Open the app and select "Recovery update"
• Up the very top underneath "recovery file in SD card" you should see recovery_cwm.img
• Select it and press Ok
• You will then be asked to reboot into recovery mode
• Press OK
• The phone will then boot into recovery mode and the menu should be blue
• Using the volume up/down keys on the top left highlight backup/restore
• Use the power key to select the above option
• press the power button again to select the backup option
• Now sit back and wait while your phone performs a full system back (this takes a while)
• Reboot phone by selecting "reboot system now" after the backup has finished.

So now the backup steps are complete.

Your full system backup will be located in the "Clockworkmod" folder on your SD card

Your Apps & App data backup will be located in the "TitaniumBackup" folder on your SD card

(Note: If you have Photos/Music/Video on your phone you will need to back these up to)


Step 3: Flashing your new ROM:


Download your chosen ROM and place it on the root of your SD card

Open the mobile uncle tools app and select "Recovery Update"

Up the very top underneath "recovery file in SD card" you should see recovery_cwm.img

Select it and press OK

You will then be asked to reboot into recovery mode.

Press OK

The phone will then boot into recovery mode and the menu should be blue

Using the volume up & down keys on the top left of the phone highlight "wipe Data/Factory Reset" and select it using the power button

Scroll down and select "yes -- delete all user data"

When that's done highlight "wipe cache partition" and press the power button, then highlight " yes -- wipe cache" and press the power button again

Next scroll down and select "advanced" and press the power button

Highlight "Wipe Dalvik Cache" and press the power button to select it

Now scroll down and select "yes - wipe Dalvik cache" and press power button

Now highlight "go back" and press power button

Select "mounts and storage" and press power button

Select "format /system" and press power button

Select "yes --format" and press power button

Select "Go back" and press power button

Select "install Zip from SD card" and press power button

Select "choose Zip from SD card" and press power button

Select the ROM you want to install which is 1080p_N003_V01.zip, & press power button (or whatever ROM your using)

Select "yes -- install 1080p_N003_V01.zip"

Now sit back and wait while the new ROM is flashed to your phone.

Select "Go Back" and press power button

Select "Reboot System Now" and press power button

Now you have flashed a new ROM to your phone


I apologise how this post is formatted. I had it all written out nicely in bullet points in MS word but when I copied it into the forum it got all jumbled up.

The Ms word version of the tutorial is attached to this post

The CWM file is located here
The Margarto file is here
The neo ROM is here

Also this thread has lots of great information

Hope this helps you out guys

If you have any questions i'll try my best to help

Cheers

Alan

dahat

In Mobileuncle is the very first option the one i go for?
Screen cap below

wiz569

dahat wrote: »

In Mobileuncle is the very first option the one i go for?
Screen cap below

No m8,did you put the recovery_cwm.img on your sdcard?

Because that will be exactly what it will be called on that screen,

I have just done it and everything went sweet

dahat

It is in the downloads folder but when i tick it to move it, no move to sc card option there, seems to be a video????

wiz569

dahat wrote: »

It is in the downloads folder but when i tick it to move it, no move to sc card option there, seems to be a video????

I did all this without an sdcard,so hooked up the phone to the pc,had to use a different cable as the one that comes with it seems to be only a charging cable and not a data cable?

Once hooked up and mass storage turned on in phone,it will show up on your pc,copy over the recovery_cwm.img and the mageto rom,dont unzip the rom,

Turn off mass storage and disconnect phone from pc,then fire up mobileuncle and follow the above instructions,

Bear in mind the font when the phone is in recovery mode is tiny,so double check your chosen option before you select it lol,

Also if you do this without sdcard the rom will be in the internal sdcard,at least thats what the recovery calls it

dahat

Right, my own head is done in by myself at this point..

How do i place the the recovery_cwm.img in the root of the SD card? This is where i am getting stuck..

wiz569

dahat wrote: »

Right, my own head is done in by myself at this point..

How do i place the the recovery_cwm.img in the root of the SD card? This is where i am getting stuck..

Are you connecting your phone to the pc or a you using the sdcard in a cardreader attached to the pc?

Either way once connected it shows up as a drive in windows,say "Removable Drive (L)" open that and just place it in there,dont put it into any folder in there

Rock Paper Scissors

Use an SD card reader and connect it to your PC and copy and paste the file to the SD card

Or if you don't have an SD card reader email the file to yourself and move it to the root of the SD card

Or use an ftp app from the play store to ftp the file to the SD card

There are loads of ways to do it mate

dahat

wiz569 wrote: »

Are you connecting your phone to the pc or a you using the sdcard in a cardreader attached to the pc?

Either way once connected it shows up as a drive in windows,say "Removable Drive (L)" open that and just place it in there,dont put it into any folder in there

SD card is in the phone! I can do either, reader or pc, so will try that novice mistake it seems.

dahat

Installation aborted? oh ****...

Rock Paper Scissors

What happened?

dahat

"cant opeb sd card/Margato

---

"bad" it says..

How much bother am i in?

Rock Paper Scissors

I'm not sure

The files are good as myself and a few others have successfully performed the upgrade

Gripcasey had problems performing the upgrade but it was down to him using a bad SD card

He tried a different SD card and it worked first time

dahat

Using an Aldi one, only new and seemed fine, i can use another but where do i go from here,Reboot sytsem now?

Seems there was no files found to flash on so how do i get out of here?

Rock Paper Scissors

You could try to reboot but I'm not sure because I didn't run Into the problem you did

dahat

Into system re boot so hopefully something comes on so i can try again or back up to where i was,hopefully the phone aint ****ed

Saved the margrto on to the sim so it should have installed or maybe it wasn't saved correctly

Rock Paper Scissors

Let us know how you get on

dahat

And nothing only the NEO logo, oh god, looks like i have fooked the phone i'd say, how long before it reboots?

dahat

Rock Paper Scissors wrote: »

Let us know how you get on

Ok so, any idea/tips on how i attempt to recover the phone, seems to be displaying the logo and nothing else, wnt go to the home screen at all.

Rock Paper Scissors

Leave it for a while to see if it boots to the home screen

If that fails you gonna have to do some research to see how to restore the phone (I havnt done it before)

Go To the the thread on xda development forums that I linked to above and see of there's any info there can can help

wiz569

I would remove battery and take out sdcard altogether m8,leave for a mins then put battery back in,

Lets know ok?

Rock Paper Scissors

Did you do the upgrade wiz?

Did it go OK?

wiz569

Rock Paper Scissors wrote: »

Did you do the upgrade wiz?

Did it go OK?

Piece of cake m8,the only difference as I out lined above is I didnt use an sdcard,just made use of the onboard storage

I think thats where dahat is getting stuck,either he is not following the correct path to the rom or the sdcard is fecked,pity he is not in Dublin,I could of had a look.

Rock Paper Scissors

Battery life is so much better on Margarto rom isn't it?

wiz569

Rock Paper Scissors wrote: »

Battery life is so much better on Margarto rom isn't it?

Seems to be m8,I have been messing around nearly all day on it and the battery is still at 83% ffs,

But I have to be honest and say there are a couple of downers

1.Supplied cable is only for charging,its not a data cable
2.No headphones,even a cheap set would have been good
3.Camera is crap in the dark

But other then that its great lol

Rock Paper Scissors

wiz569 wrote: »

Seems to be m8,I have been messing around nearly all day on it and the battery is still at 83% ffs,

But I have to be honest and say there are a couple of downers

1.Supplied cable is only for charging,its not a data cable
2.No headphones,even a cheap set would have been good
3.Camera is crap in the dark

But other then that its great lol

No need for a cable at all. Just download an app called ftp DROID. I got headphones with mine

dahat

Phone saved lads, it was the sd card, used an old 2gb card i had and all went fine.....sorry bout the panic!

wiz569

Rock Paper Scissors wrote: »

No need for a cable at all. Just download an app called ftp DROID. I got headphones with mine

I like to have a wired connection at times,especially if you are using Flashtools or similar,I have plenty of spares but still think they could have put a combined data/charge cable in the box,

No headphones but I think we bought from different suppliers,its not a deal breaker but could still have been done,

The only thing I forgot to doin my haste to get it flashed is check the revision,but as the rom went ok then I must have the same version as you,

Hmm,wonder if that could be dahat's problem?

dahat

Quicj Question, the sd card i used to flash the rom has all my apps etc on it, can i now use that again before i return it?

Rock Paper Scissors

dahat wrote: »

Phone saved lads, it was the sd card, used an old 2gb card i had and all went fine.....sorry bout the panic!

So you successfully updated the rom or just reverted back to the old one?

Rock Paper Scissors

dahat wrote: »

Quicj Question, the sd card i used to flash the rom has all my apps etc on it, can i now use that again before i return it?

I used Titanium backup and all my apps are uploaded to Google drive

Save all your apps to your PC or somewhere before you return the card