How to install Android Ice Cream Sandwich in Nokia N9 – Step by Step

[Offline]

Nokia N9 is one of the best smartphones available in the huge range of Nokia mobiles. It features Meego operating system by default. But as we all know Android is becoming the boom in users interest, there are many users who want to use Android (specially the latest Ice Cream Sandwich) without leaving the Nokia handset. Hence, here I’ll explain the step by step process of installing Android 4 on your Nokia N9 so that you can taste it without leaving your Nokia loyalty.

Before I start the processor I must say that the firmware Android ICS 4.0.3 released for Nokia N9 is still in Alpha version, that is also known as Project Mayhem is released for testing purpose that can contain some bugs. So don’t panic, just relax because we are going to do in dual boot that will not at all harm your existing operating system .

Things you required before going for the process:

• Backup your entire device including SD card and Phone memory, settings, etc.
• Charge your battery full, because if battery got down during process it may harm your handset.
• Download and Install dual-boot kernel.
• Download and Install sillyboot.
• Download and Install Tarball.

Now, once you are done with the above steps, time to go for the actual process.


Installing Android ICS 4.0.3 Firmware in Nokia N9:

• Make sure you have already installed DualBoot Kernel and Silliboot as mentioned above.
• While downloading Tarball, just make sure to check its integrity and md5 Sum for this archive. Its MD5 value should be “ee57d8c3b9199e87bb5c355e8c9d1cc3”.
• If it is ok, transfer/copy this archive to your handset using USB cable or Bluetooth.
• Now execute its ‘as root’ command like below:

Code: [Select]

tar xjvf /path_to_archive/nninedroid_ics_alpha1.tar.bz2 -C /home/   

• Now Reboot your handset.
• While booting as soon as you get the message saying “Press VolUp to boot alternative OS" , quickly push the "Volume Up" key.
• Now wait for few minutes until the device boots properly in the OS.
• As soon as boot up, first of all go to Settings > Display > Sleep. Change the sleep time to 30 Minutes. This is very critical because if your device went to sleep, it may be dead.
• Now download ‘Android Debug Bridge’ (ADB) on your PC and type in the below Commands:
  

  adb connect 192.168.2.15:5039 — connect to your device. USB/ADB is broken, but ADB works well over USB networking.
   adb logcat — for reading “main” log
   adb logcat -b radio — for reading “radio” log
   adb shell — to enter to shell
   adb pull/push — allow get/put file from/to the device
   adb shell rr — “restart radio” — restarts ofono and RIL
   adb shell bb — show battery/charging status

Thats it. You are now using your Nokia N9 with Android ICS.

[Offline]

Once you are done with steps mentioned above successfully, simply restore your backup taken before the processor. Now enjoy Android ICS on Nokia Device. 

As we always say in our articles, if you don’t have any rooting experience, than just don’t try the above steps. Because if made any mistake, your device will be dead. Any harm caused during this process will not be responsibility of the developers or us.

You can get more info about the same in this video:

[logitech]

Key Offline, thanks a lot for sharing such a great info step by step in simple and easy format. Really Appreciated.

Can you please also give some info on features we users can get with Android 4.0.3 Alpha on Nokia devices

[saanz]

Key Offline, thanks a lot for sharing such a great info step by step in simple and easy format. Really Appreciated.

Can you please also give some info on features we users can get with Android 4.0.3 Alpha on Nokia devices

Well buddy, you will get all the features you get normally on Android Smartphones. There is nothing extra in this, because after the above process it is same like a normal Android handset.

But anyways, there are some new features expected in the Firmware 4.0.3 Alpha, those are:

• Dualboot kernel (without reflashing), ability to choose OS after power on.
• 3D drivers, OpenGL
• Hwrotation (portrait mode only, accelerometer HAL doesn't work)
• Touchscreen (multitouch)
• Hw buttons (volume, power)
• ECI accessory (headset buttons)
• USB networking
• lcd off in sleep mode
• Alarm driver, RTC
• Mounting MyDocs as "SDCard" [realized; NOT FIXED, but HACK EXISTS]
• Basic video decoding (sw) and playback, youtube (choppy)
• Basic CellMo functionality: network registration, USSD, SMS, data (GPRS/EDGE/3G), signaling. Actually, ofono/ofono-ril stack is used: all things that it able to do on the n900.
• Bluetooth (scanning, can pair devices. I didn't test deeper).
• Charging (note: without any notification in UI)
• Sensors: accelerometer
• Audio: playback (audio routing to: loudspeaker, headset or earpiece)
• Lights HAL (lcd brightness)
• Root access (via adb shell; su/Superuser.apk)

[Zorra]

Thank you guys actually i had just heard that Nokia N9 was available with ICE-CREAM SANDWICH so i was just reaching how to install it as i have got a Nokia N9 and while searching i found this guide which was really helpful and also thanks to saanz to let us know the new features of this Firmware 4.0.3 Alpha

[krutart]

Thank you guys actually i had just heard that Nokia N9 was available with ICE-CREAM SANDWICH so i was just reaching how to install it as i have got a Nokia N9 and while searching i found this guide which was really helpful and also thanks to saanz to let us know the new features of this Firmware 4.0.3 Alpha

There is huge list of features in v4.0.3 but there major improvements are as follows:

• Custom number of Homescreens ‘
• Enable/Disable Persistent Search Bar ‘
• Separated Apps/Widgets in Drawer ‘
• Resize Any Widget ‘
• Show and Fade Scrolling Indicator in Homescreen and Drawer‘
• Enable/Disable Auto-Rotate ‘
• Drawer Apps Sorting (Title, Install Date)

[Ikhyd E]

Hey thats a great and interesting tutorial buddy, appreciated. Getting Android on Nokia is amazing. Is it only possible on Nokia N9? I'm having Nokia N8, can i install any version of Android on N8?

[HindusTaani]

Actually all NOkia Mobile phones running with Symbian Operating System have locked bootloaders, hence there is no way to put any Android version on them. However Nokia Np was the one which was running with Meego OS which has unlocked bootloader. Hence it was possible and simple to flash it with Android ICS.

So, to your question, answer is NO, you cannot install Android on Nokia N8.