Showing posts with label find 7a. Show all posts

OPPO Find 7a Review & ColorOS 2.0.0.i Beta (KitKat) Overview


     If you haven't already read my review of the OPPO Find 7, I suggest that you head there as this review won't be as throughout as that one since they are almost a carbon copy of each other in most parts. This review will focus on the differences that the Find 7a has over the Find 7 as well as the ColorOS 2.0 beta which is currently running on Android 4.4 KitKat available for Find 7/7a owners to flash. Without further ado, let's get started.
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Map to the Custom ROMs: OPPO Find 7a


     This post will basically be an overview of a few of the custom ROMs that are available for the OPPO Find 7a: Paranoid Android 4.6 Beta 1, CyanogenMod 11, Omni ROM and Dirty Unicorn v7.9; and a micro how-to guide.

    Before you are ready to proceed, you need to get your device rooted and equipped with a custom recovery. If you have no idea how to do that, you can head over to my other guide over here: How to root your OPPO Find 7 & Find 7a. If you have everything sorted, time to bust out your command line for some fastboot action.

     After making up your mind on what ROM you are going to flash, download the main package, open it up and you will find something called "boot.img" inside the zip file. Put it into your fastboot folder established in my previous guide so you would have something like the folder below. You should also get a Google apps package from wherever your ROM dev recommends. For the Find 7a, it is recommended that you download the micro-modular package from Paranoid Android found here: Micro-GApps on Devhost


     Transfer the ROM's zip file and the Google apps zip file onto the your phone and put your phone into fastboot mode (Power off > hold power + volume up until vibration is felt.). Connect your phone to your PC over USB then fire up a command prompt and type the command below:

fastboot flash boot boot.img
     This will replace your device's kernel with something appropriate for the ROM you are about to flash. After that, unplug and boot into recovery (Power down > hold power + volume down until vibration is felt.). In the recovery menu, do a wipe user data and factory reset then select "Install from zip on sdcard" for CWM or "Install" in TWRP, then browse to the directory of the ROM's zip file, select and then install. After installation is complete, from the same menu, install the Google apps zip file as well. After that, you are basically set and have a new ROM installed on your device! With that clarified, below will be my opinion about some of the more popular ROMs out there.
NOTE: never ever ever use "fastboot erase cache" on this device, it will send your device into a bootloop and the only remedy would be a full wipe.



     Paranoid Android is currently my "flavour of the year" for most of my devices, reason being it simply has been one of the more innovative ROMs that introduces new ways to interact with a device. However, those glory days are over; so what is keeping me from switching to another ROM? Notice how PA has a "4.6" in their current release name? What makes this ROM two increments ahead of the current Android 4.4 KitKat. Apparently PA has implemented several Android L features like expandable heads-up notification, dynamic status bar and the new recent menu. If you are like the ever so impatient person I am, you will be thrilled to experience a piece of Android L before its time of release (which is pretty soon now). However, PA's implementation of a dynamic nav bar still has some polishing to do, while scrolling down, the nav bar will somehow change it's colour to an app's secondary colour, which makes it very uncomfortable to the eyes, you will understand from the screenshots below. To add on, PA also offers support for legacy functions on the Find 7a like the O-click, screen-off gestures and many more; so if you are a fan of OPPO's implementations on its ColorOS ROM, you are still able to utilize those.



     CyanogenMod... basically the staple name in the custom ROM scene. With so many years of experience developing ROMs, one can say that CM is the go-to ROM when stability is a main concern. However, stability is no longer a focus for the CM team as they are releasing nightly builds instead of stable builds on an interval. It also has been too long since anything has happened of note to CM. After incorporating into its own company, CM has been branded as a traitor to the Android spirit and I will be honest that it is also one of the reasons why I don't use CM on any of my devices any more. With all that aside though, CM11 is still a solid ROM for like PA, it also has support for legacy functions.



     This is actually the first time I have used an Omni release on any device. First impressions are that this flavour of ROM is actually pretty bare bones compared to CM11 which I already consider too basic already. What makes this ROM special is the implementation of something called OmniSwitch, think of it as Android's version of the assistive touch found on iOS. You can add your favourite apps onto it as well as access recent apps and also access hardware buttons on-screen. Legacy function support wise, Omni has much work to do as some of my favourite screen-off gestures like the arrow to skip track is not working as of now.



     What is Dirty Unicorn? If that's the question atop of your head, I will answer it for you; imagine a snowball rolling down the hill, picking up every inch of snow on its way down. That is what Dirty Unicorn is, it's a snowball of almost all ROMs known to man. Remember OmniSwitch? DU has it. Adblock? DU has it pre-installed. Anything you can imagine, already compiled into this neat package. However, nothing is perfect. The drawback of taking things from different ROMs and putting it together makes things seem unnecessarily cluttered, not to mention a few hiccups while playing around with what DU dubs as "Dirty Tweaks". If you want a taste of everything Android has to offer, this is the ROM for you. 

     Before I end this post, I would like to say that all these custom ROMs have some bugs in common, after all they are still forked from the same sources so it's no wonder they have similar bugs.
  • Mic not functioning on speaker phone
  • Photosphere and panorama not working
  • SuperHD(50mp) mode not working
  • Screen lighting up randomly when charging on VOOC
     To summarize:

     What's my pick though? If you didn't already know, I have already make it inherently clear that my favourite is Paranoid Android. How about you? What flavour of ROM do you prefer? There is so many different ROMs to experiment with so do head down to XDADevelopers and have a go on your Find 7a!
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How to root your OPPO Find 7 (X9076) & Find 7a (X9006) Stock/Custom Recovery [Updated for ColorOS 2.0]


     Let me preface this guide with a little heads up that there is actually a lot of different threads showing different ways of rooting, a lot of which did not specify which method is meant for what specification of the phone. This post will clear up a lot of things in one page so you won't have to snoop around thread pages on XDA.
Note: If you are new to this whole thing, two rules to follow at all times: Have a charged phone if you're going to do anything; Stay calm no matter what message shows up.

 tl;dr: Method 1 for pre-updated Find 7a/ Find 7, Method 2 for All Versions of Find 7a, Method 3 for All Versions of Find 7a and Find 7.

Method for ColorOS 2.0 Users 10/11/2014 (Working for X900x & X907x)
As of now, the only method to root will wipe your storage, PLEASE BACKUP BEFORE PROCEEDING. If anything is unclear, refer to Method 2
Files Needed: 
platform-tools: AndroidSDK.zip
Root: JaCh0o_KG3.4.0.zip (courtesy of Oppo forum user: JaCho0)
Recovery Flasher: Find7_Recovery_Flasher_v8.zip

1.     Extract AndroidSDK.zip on your PC, you will have a platform-tools folder.
2.     Move openrecovery-twrp-2.8.0.1-find7.img into the folder.
3.     Plug in your phone to your PC and move JaCh0o_KG3.4.0.zip and Find7_Recovery_Flasher_v8.zip into your phone.
4.     Turn off your phone. Now, hold the power button + volume up button until vibration is felt. Your screen should have the words 'fastboot' written on it.
5.     Fire up a command prompt by holding shift then right click and select "Open command window here" (NOTE: In some instances this command prompt window will not have administrator privileges so I recommend going into your System32 folder, most likely located at C:\Windows\System32 and copy cmd.exe into the SDK folder instead and run the cmd as administrator.)
6.     In the command prompt type: fastboot devices
7.     If everything goes smoothly, your device should show up in a alphanumeric string.
8.     Next, in the command line, type: fastboot oem unlock
9.     Your bootloader is now unlocked!
10.    Reboot into bootloader by typing: fastboot reboot-bootloader
11.    Next, type: fastboot flash recovery openrecovery-twrp-2.8.0.1-find7.img
12.    If no error messages, unplug phone and boot into recovery by holding the power button + volume down.
13.    You should be inside TWRP interface, select Install and browse for Find7_Recovery_Flasher_v8.zip and install. This is to make the recovery changes permanent.

14.    Inside the installer, select TWRP recovery> TWRP 2.8.0.1> Whatever theme and proceed. After installation complete, select reboot into new recovery.
15.    You will return to TWRP interface. Select Install and browse for JaCh0o_KG3.4.0.zip and confirm installation. After installation is done, reboot normally.
16.    Once phone is boot up, check if  'Kinguser' app is on phone. Open root explorer and see if you have root permission. If all is well, congratulations, your device is now rooted.

Method 1: The Easy but Outdated Method

     This method is pretty easy because it utilizes the existing recovery on the Find 7a but the shortcomings are obvious. It ONLY works with ColorOS version 1.2.2i and from what I've observed, most people are having difficulties flashing custom ROMs onto the phone using OPPO's recovery so I suggest that you follow method 2.
1.     Download this file: Find7_ROOT4.3_bbs.oppo.cn.zip onto your Find 7a or Find 7 (yes it works for both phones).
2.     Turn off your phone.
3.     Boot your phone into recovery mode by holding down the Volume Down button and the Power button, once it vibrates, you can let go.
4.     Select the Install from SD option and browse for the zip file you just downloaded. Follow the prompts and if everything goes as intended, you now have a rooted phone!

Method 2: The Veteran's Method
NOTE: This method is strictly for Find 7a (X9006/7)
     This method, while being slightly harder, is the most common method for rooting any other phone, so you might as well practice if you are planning to do this for any period of time. It works for any version of ColorOS and the custom recovery we are about to flash will be much more full featured compared to the stock recovery. We will be utilizing fastboot commands to flash a custom recovery so we will be needing the basic fastboot files found in Android's SDK. If you did not understand a single word in the last sentence, do not fright, download the files below and you will be fine.

  1. Transfer the Update-SuperSU-v1.94.zip onto your phone first for convenience purposes.
  2. On your PC, extract AndroidSDK.zip to anywhere, preferably on your desktop. Then browse into the folders until you come upon something that looks like what I'm showing below.
  3. Move the recovery image file of your choice (CWM or TWRP) into the folder. So you will see something similar to the screenshot below (I chose to go with CWM).
  4. Fire up a command prompt by holding shift then right click and select "Open command window here" (NOTE: In some instances this command prompt window will not have administrator privileges so I recommend going into your System32 folder, most likely located at C:\Windows\System32 and copy cmd.exe into the SDK folder instead and run the cmd as administrator.)
  5. Turn off your phone. Then hold the Volume Up button and Power button until you feel a vibration. The phone will boot up and show the word "fastboot" on screen. 
  6. Connect your phone to your PC via USB cable.
  7. Wait for a moment then in the command prompt type:
    8. fastboot devices
  8. If everything goes smoothly, your device should show up in the list as a random string of numbers
  9. Rename the X9007_CWM_Recovery or X9007_TWRP_Recovery to something simple like recovery for ease of work later.
  10. In the command prompt, type:
    11. fastboot flash recovery [imagename].img
    Replace [imagename] with actual name of image
  11. Something like this will show up if recovery is flashed successfully.
  12. Unplug your phone from your PC and hold Volume Down button and Power button to boot into recovery.
  13. Select Install zip from SD card
  14. Browse for Update-SuperSU-v1.94.zip and install it.
  15. Reboot and your phone is now rooted!
Method 3: The Simplest Method

     This method requires you to download something O-team developed so if you're not comfortable with that, use Method 2 instead. This method will work for all versions/variants of Find 7a & Find 7 and it's pretty straight forward.


  1. Transfer Update-SuperSU-v1.94.zip onto your phone.
  2. Boot phone into fastboot mode by pressing Volume Up button and Power button together until vibration is felt.
  3. Connect your phone to your PC via USB
  4. Run Recovery_Installer.exe and install the program.
  5. After installation successful, this window should pop up.
  6. Enter option number to install recovery of choice. (Find 7a users options 3 or 4; Find 7 users strictly option 5)
  7. Wait for process to complete.
  8. Boot into recovery via the program or Volume Down + Power button
  9. Select install zip from SD card then browse for Update-SuperSU-v1.94.zip and install it.
  10. Reboot and you're rooted!
I used Method 2 if you're wondering, because I am familiar with fastboot anyway. Do recommend you using Method 2 if you are looking into rooting/flashing more phones in the future as it's a common tool when it comes to rooting Android phones.
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KENYSL.com @ OPPO Find 7 Launch Event



     Yesterday, I was at the launch event for the much anticipated OPPO Find 7 that was held at Pullman KL Bangsar. Media registration started at 3:30pm but the event didn't start until 4:30pm; too much of a leeway in my opinion and I overheard people who share the same piece of mind. At least OPPO Malaysia provided enough spring rolls for everyone on scene. Two showgirls holding the Find 7 and Find 7a were also there for people to take photos of.
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OPPO Find 7a to arrive in Malaysia - Pre-orders start 16th April


14TH APRIL 2014, Petaling Jaya - Setting the standard for what is to come and as boisterous newcomer, now we're pleased to announce that we're now taking offline shop pre-orders for OPPO Find 7a nationwide! OPPO Find 7a will be selling at RM 1,598.00 and will be in town on 15th May 2014.

OPPO Find 7a pre-orders will begin 16th April 2014 and to end on 11th May 2014. Meanwhile, in return to thank Ofans who have been overwhelmingly supportive, OPPO Electronics will be giving away attractive premium gift package consists of bluebooth speaker, screen protector and as well as phone casing worth RM 258.00 to the FIRST 500 PRE-ORDERS!

All you need to do is fill in your details at the pre-order card and submit to sales-representative or dealers. A deposit of RM 100.00 is needed to be paid alongside the pre-order. Only Find 7a Pre-order only available with WHITE COLOR! For those fancy white for their mobile phones, dont miss the chance! During pick up, all pre-orders participants need to present with the pre-order card and identity card.

Terms & Conditions
1. Pre-order is limited to ONE UNIT PER PERSON.
2.Pre-order period: 16th April - 11th May 2014. Pick up date: 15th May 2014.
3. A deposit of RM 100 is to be paid immediately to confirm your pre-order.
4. Free gift package (bluetooth speaker, screen protector, and phone casing) is limited to first 500 pre-orders only. Free gift package is neither transferable nor exchangeable for cash or other products.
5. In the event that a pre-order is canceled, deposit is not refundable.
6. In the event that a delay to launch date happens due to unforeseen circumstances,  OPPO Electronics Sdn. Bhd. with prior notice, reserves the right to postpone the pickup date.
7. Oppo Electronics Sdn. Bhd. reserves the right to use the participant's name, address, photograph and mobile number for all forms of advertising, promotion and/or publicity from, participants information is confidential.

Pre-order will be available at all mobile phone outlets, please call OPPO Malaysia Service Center at 03-2110 3488 or walk into your nearest mobile phone store for more details.

List of dealers available here: Dealers/retailers list

For more information about OPPO, feel free to check out their official accounts below:
Official Website           : www.oppomobile.com.my
Facebook                       : https://www.facebook.com/malaysiaoppo
YouTube                        : http://www.youtube.com/OPPOMalaysia
Twitter                           : http://twitter.com/oppomalaysia

UPDATE: OPPO Malaysia just announced that they have expanded pre-order availability from just selected dealers/retailers to all authorized dealers as well. 
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