A little while ago I decided that it was time to get a little more creative with my Sprint HTC Hero. I did some searching for custom ROMS that I could put on my phone. I started with one called Fresh ROM. I tried a few others and I have settled on DamageControl. It is nice to have Android 2.1 on my phone. Who knows when the official one will come out from Sprint. Anyway, I wanted to put together a start to finish Tutorial on the process. If you are brave enough, go for it.
Notes: This is for the Sprint Hero (CDMA) only. I don’t know what happens with other phones. I am also not liable if you screw up your phone in this process. That, being said, it’s not hard and I haven’t screwed up a phone yet. Also, you will have to wipe your phone. You will need to reinstall all of your apps. Now on to the instructions.
- On your phone go to Menu->Settings->Applications and make sure that “Unknown Sources” is enabled.
- Make sure you have a file manager installed. I use OI File manager.
- Download these 3 files. recovery-RA-heroc-v1.5.2.img flashrec-1.1.3-20091107-2.apk DamageControlv2.06.zip
- Copy the files to the root of your sd card
- Open your file manager, find the flashrec apk and install it.
- Start the flashrec app
- Click Backup Recovery Image
- When that finishes, click the empty box and type in /sdcard/recovery-RA-heroc-v1.5.2.img
This installs the most important part. This allows you to boot your phone into a recovery console with many more options like flashing the ROM. - Click Flash Recovery Image
- Turn off the phone
- Boot into the recovery mode by holding down the home key and pressing the power button. Keep holding it until it goes into the Recovery console.
- In the console, scroll down to wipe and click the trackball
- Click again on Wipe data/factory reset
- Press the Home key to confirm.
- Hit the back key to get back to the main menu.
- Scroll down to Backup/Restore and click
- Click Nand Backup. *Optional* (This will backup your current phone state so you can get back if you want)
- Home to confirm
- When that is done click back
- Click Flash zip from sdcard.
- Select the DamageControl ROM you downloaded earlier.
- Click Home to confirm
- Click back when that is done.
- Click Reboot system
- Enjoy!
That should be all you need. If you want to flash other ROMs, just download the zip file, put it on your sdcard and go back to step 11.
