Summary of status of Racer gen. 1 ROMs (& newbie instructions)

[Guest honeypot62]

green_hacker's GrEeN_MoDe_2.3.7_Rom (Jan. this year, 2.3 kernel) works very smoothly, however does not have the latest CM7 patches (which shouldn't be too much of a problem for most).

RacerMod-1.5-alpha-1-Racer.zip by mikeioannina (build from Jan. this year, 2.6 kernel)) works fine with the accompanying kernel update RacerMod-1.5-alpha-2-kernel-racer.zip. Note though the kernel update introduces a few seconds of screen corruption (green/ blue strippy lines) shortly after the green Android appears on boot. Builds after that and keyboard bugs (namely ghost characters) reappear (i.e., the 'phone is not usable).

mikeioannina's CWM-5.0.2.8-1.3.zip recovery image has input issues also (only the vol. up/down buttons seem to work, the remaining buttons somewhat erratically if at all) so I have fallen back on Raceroms' ClockworkMod Recovery 4.0.1.4.

Reading through the Jelly Bean threads, CM7 seems to be discontinued at this point, but it is believed that the only only issue to move to Android 4 is a build of a new kernel which should fix touch screen bugs. (At least a few months ago reported as being worked on.)

*** If anyone working on Jelly Bean would like to delegate some development tasks can I suggest they post here. ***

For newbies a quick refresh of install instructions:

- download a ROM (approx. 80M), and copy across to the SD card

- install fastboot ('apt-get install fastboot/unstable' on Debian 6; ref. also the Raceroms site under extras)

- download a recovery image (e.g., ref. above Raceroms link)

- attach to PC with USB cable, and reboot depressing the vol. up key (screen will stop at the green Android)

- run the command 'fastboot -w flash recovery [downloaded recovery .img file]'

- take the battery and cable out and reboot depressing the vol. down key into recovery, vol. up/down to select a menu option, left rocker button selects, right is back (may vary depending on version of recovery and 'phone)

- you can at this point (it might save some problems occuring later on) wipe data/factory reset, wipe the cache partition, under advanced wipe the Dalvik Cache

- finally install the zip from sd card

To reset the 'phone back to factory condition, source the original ROM (Raceroms has a collection of these) and follow the same instructions as above. It is sometimes useful after installing a mod'd ROM to extract the recovery image from the manufacturer's ROM and using fastboot flash it back to the 'phone (it then takes slightly more work to hack the 'phone - ref. instructions above to flash recovery).

By way of an anecdote, I bought a Racer when it became the first sub-£100 Android device on the market (thought I would have a look to see what it was all the fuss was about). I then asked for a refund on account of the VPN drivers not being installed (and a few other minor bugs, but I needed the VPN to work), and was duly referred by ZTE (China) to the carrier, who would not make the refund but however did leave me with a second Racer! I then complained to the consumer ombudsman (as I still would have preferred a refund), who concluded it was the responsibility of ZTE (who did not at that point have a UK website), to make the refund, not the carrier. And at that point exhaustion setting in I duly started to lose the will to live (the thought of going through extracting a refund from a Chinese manufacturer). Hence I am now the proud owner of no less than two ZTE Racers ;)

Thanks to the developers working on this 'phone :)

Edited July 5, 2013 by honeypot62