So, I have been receiving many comments regarding the state of apps such as Viber, LINE and Google Calendar among others on the ThL W3+. I am sorry if your comments take a long time to be approved, I usually ignore the email notifications as I have been receiving some spam comments lately. So without further ado, let's get to the main point; how to fix the incompatibilities.
Warning/Disclaimer: This tutorial will completely wipe your phone so backup your data on your own. I am in no way responsible for any data loss and/or any damages done to your device. I have been reading the posts at forum.china-iphone.ru using Google Translate and there have been some reports of screen issues regarding the brightness/flickering. Personally, I have successfully done this procedure to my phone and everything was fine :).
This tutorial is basically a tutorial on how to flash a custom firmware (obtained from the aforementioned forum) by ink08. You can read more on this firmware here and even donate to his paypal account.
1) Backup everything you need from your phone to your computer. Make sure your phone have at least 50% of battery left.
2) Download this. It is basically a modified version of ModRecovery so that the phone can accept non-factory produced files. Rename this to update.zip.
3) Download this custom firmware.
4) Put the files into your phone's internal storage. Do NOT extract the files in the zip files. Just simply copy the two zip files.
5) On your phone, go to Settings, About and then click on the Reboot Recovery.
6) Once your phone displays an android icon with a red symbol in the middle, use the up/down volume buttons to navigate to Install zip from sdcard and then click the power button once to enter.
7) Select Choose zip from sdcard and the select the update.zip file you downloaded from step 2.
8) After it has done flashing, select Go back and then select Reboot system now.
9) Once it rebooted, repeat steps 5 to 6. However, this time choose the zip file you downloaded from step 3.
10) Reboot the phone by selecting Go back and Reboot system now.
Optional: I highly suggest you to format your phone storage at this stage to prevent any errors in the future. Make sure you have everything backed up somewhere else! You can do this through Settings, Storage and then Format phone storage.
And that is it! You can now customise your phone at will and Google Calendar will be working straight away. It is also rooted so you don't have to root it again. Viber and LINE can be installed straight away from the market.
One thing I noticed is that somehow the brightness of my device is a little lower which for me is a welcomed side effect as I found the lowest brightness before to be too bright. As always, if you have anything to ask post a comment below. Or if I helped you in anyway, donate to my paypal account by using the Donate button on the top of this site (shameless promotion :D).
Regards,
YS.
Hi YS, a noob question.
ReplyDeleteDo I need to have the phone rooted first before I do this ?
Rgds and tks.
Nope, you don't have to.
Deletethanks a lot. worked fine for me
ReplyDeleteGood to hear that :)
Deletesorry, is that firmware coming with multilanguage??
ReplyDeletebecause i need the italian language on this phone, but is coming with just English and chinese..can you help me maybe??
Hey there Andre,
DeleteYup, as far as i can remember there was always Italian language included in any of the firmware I have tried.
Hope that helps!
To have either Google Play Store, Google Calendar and Viber to work are these the correct steps?
ReplyDelete1) Update the firmware following your guide
2) Rooting the ThL W3+ following your other guide
3) Fixing the Play Store following your last guide
4) Make Viber and Calendar work with this "Fixing Incompatible Apps on ThL W3+ using Custom ROMs" guide
Question is: in the 1) and in the 4) there are different firmware is it? So will they not conflict or generate errors? Thanks a lot!
Just use this guide as it will automatically update everything + root your phone. Cheers!
DeleteYou mean this guide titled "fixing incompatible...." will either root phone, install google play store, google calendar and then install viber working or will get the phone ready for your other guide on installing google playstore? Sorry but in this last one the firmware looks different than in the first. What will then be the language? Don't wanna end up with a phone in russian or chinese...
ReplyDeleteLast post was right, is it enough to use the guide on this page so only the one with title Fixing... or each one in the order Anonymous stated?
ReplyDeleteThank you very much for the nice job you are doin!
Can you please tell what languages will be available in this firmware? I do need English not mixed with Cyrillic or Italian still not corrupted with Chinese or Russian...
ReplyDeleteHello YS,
ReplyDeleteThanks for this tutorial.
I ordered this phone from Aliexpress.com and it's on the way.
I'd use this ROM on it once it arrives.
Also, is there any hope of getting Jelly Bean 4.1 or 4.2 on this device?
Thanks :-).
Hi YS,
ReplyDeleteThanks so much and Appreciated your hardworks...This RUS Rom make THL-W3 alive so much...
Beside this, do u know which good china phone is running MTK6588 ?
Wong.
I finally got my phone. Play store and Viber apps work by default, I don't know about Line app.
ReplyDeleteThere was no single Chinese app on it.
In the phone's about menu, the model number shows as CJ THL so I contacted the seller on aliexpress and here is the reply:
"THL phone is from Changjiang factory, all THL w3+ with Russian language, all shows CJ THL ,It is normal, if you need to show THL W3,you can download english version Firmware from THL
website, but only english and chinese language."
Hi YS,
ReplyDeleteFacing problem ,
1. running update.zip on another THL-W3. Everything goes normal...
2. after reboot,
Now the recovery mode could not be access..and the screen turn to abnormal ?
Do you have any idea ?
Minleong.
I came across your blog while researching Chinese android phone. I'm trying to find a reliable online store. Was wondering which online store you purchase this phone from? Thanks.
ReplyDeleteHey there,
ReplyDeleteI noticed quite a few people asked where to buy the phone.
Personally, I bought this phone from Pandawill.com because there was a 10% coupon code at that time but normally I would recommend buying from a trusted seller on Aliexpress. I have updated the post with a link to a trusted and reliable seller on Aliexpress, just scroll down this post.
Regards,
YS.
Hey, this is kind of urgent. I followed this guide but now everytime I open the recovery my screen goes weird in all colours. What can I do? I cannot use the recover at all.
ReplyDeleteHey there,
DeleteThats weird, maybe your recovery was corrupted? You might have to restore to factory firmware first using this method http://randomness0110.blogspot.com/2012/08/updating-firmware-on-thl-w3.html (I am not sure if the links are still active, if not try this firmware https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B54qrfcEGSBbT2RFUEk1SllsdG8/edit?pli=1, you need 7Zip to extract the files)
btw, is your phone still working other than the recovery issue?
I had the same problem.
DeleteFor more I have do the format of the firmware and.. acc the phone not boot(but this is another story).
Don't panic.It seem that the point 8 is not correct.
When you finisch the first upgrade from sd card you dont reboot but proceed to upgrade with the second file.
Now for restore the funcion of phone and succeed to apply this upgrade is every possible to do http://randomness0110.blogspot.it/2012/08/updating-firmware-on-thl-w3.html
Hi i have the same problems with Viber on THL W1. Could I use the above...on my phone? Thank you
ReplyDeletePlz all the zip files in Russian sites so i coudn't download them plz, please another English site for these files!
ReplyDelete