Lenovo P780 ROM, Android 4.4.2, patched to work with Chinese version of the phone

This is a signifiant upgrade to Lenovo P780 ROW, The OS is upgraded to version 4.4.2 KitKat. It is a full upgrade package and will erase all user data. After update, the internal storage will no longer have the virtual SD card, the entire internal storage is partitioned as 'usrdata', the android data partition.

This ROM was initially released for the international version of the P780, I made 2 changes to it, to make it work with the chinese version (no 900 MHz), 4GB (non-ROW), which is now bundled with the VIBEUI ROM. Here are the changes I made: 1) I removed the device check from the installer, now the zip could (but I don't advise to) be installed on any device, and 2) the baseband used on this device is the one bundled with the VIBE UI ROM, the one that works with the non-ROW version of the phone. This ROM has all the apps which the international version has: Google play, more languages, etc.

Applying the zip update will also remove custom recovery and replace it with factory version. The first restart will take longer as usual, so be patient on the first boot. 'boot' and 'recovery' images are overwritten by the update, if you use root and/or custom recovery, you will have to reinstall them custom recovery with SPFlash Tool.

Before upgrading, back up your data (SMS, Call logs, Apps) with Lenovo Backup & Restore, you will be able to restore contacts/sms and logs later with the settings / backup and restore feature, and reinstall APKs from the SD card backup folder manually. APKs can be easily located with the file browser.

The 2nd package provided is in SP Flas tools format, it can be installed fast and easy, no matter what is your phone currently running. The package includes the factory ROM and apps, plus Superuser and Busybox. A custom recovery is also included.

What's new

- OS is upgraded to version 4.4.2 KitKat
- A new 'Lenovo Security' app is provided, this includes antivirus, privacy guard, data usage (and firewall), SMS/call anti-SPAM, speed-up, private space and anti-theft features
- new versions for most system apps (dialer, sms, calendar, email, power manager, etc), google play store, flashlight widget and app
- more privacy
- a memory cleanup button has been added below the task list
- SMS and home screen app can now be switched from the settins app
- 'Smart Scene' feature allows automated audio profile switch, either at a specified time or at a specified wireless network presence
- More theme-able (lock screen, system UI, boot animation, notification UI, contact manager and in-call app can now have different themes (even though a very low number of themes is provided).
- reboot option added to shutdown menu
- all audio volumes are available/adjustable when pressing volume-up/volume-down
- flip-to-mute incoming call alert, auto-redial option
- LED alert now flashes, instead of staying continuously lit (but still doesn't provide notification from other apps, such as facebook)
- the display colours can be tuned for saturation and hue (white balance)
- a 'wireless display' function has been added
- 'Smart Display' feature, preventing the screen to enter standby if the user is looking at the screen.
- Available languages: Bahasa (Indonesia & Melayou), English, Spanish, French, Vietnam, Russian, Chinese, Ukrainian, etc.
- the internal virtual SD card has been removed, now all the available internal storage is provided as a single partition

Notes

- The baseband contained within this ROM is for China version of Lenovo P780, you may lose the 900 MHz for 3G data band if you will install it on the international version of the phone!

- You have to backup IMEIs with MobileUncleTools before flashing. It's a known fact that sometimes IMEIs are lost when flashing ROM, it already happened with many ROMs and many MTK65xx devices.
- automatic updates will fail, due to changes Lenovo made in the update mechanism. For example, the update to ROW_S221 checks for the checksum of the modem.img file, thus making the update to fail.
- after installing Chainfire SuperSU onto this rom, you will gain root, but the current version of chainfire will complain about ‘not being up to date’, this will likely be fixed in a future version of SuperSU

- newer P780s use a different preloader image. I have uploaded both preloader.img on the spflashable ROW-s222 package, you will have to manually select the 2nd preloader.img file manually if your device is manufactured after march 2014.

How to install the ROM

Common prerequisites:

- Use lenovo backup and restore, do a backup of your data to SD Card (apps, contacts, messages, call logs), you will be able to restore them later with settings/backup and restore feature.

- connect the phone to PC, enable USB debugging, install Lenovo drivers if you didn't already, do a backup of your IMEIs with MTK Root & Tools app

1 – P780-S220, zip update – This package can be installed if your device is already running a factory ROM for P780. Versions P780-ROW S119-S124 work fine. You need to have installed a custom recovery able to install zip from SD Card. Download the zip, copy it to the phone card, Power off the phone, start the phone by pressing 'power + vol-up + vol-down' to enter recovery interface, apply zip update.
Recovery working with this ROM: Carliv Recovery v. 2.2 (even though it isn't perfect, it's able to apply zip/sideload updates), TWRP 2.5.0

2 – The SPFlash format package – This package can installed with spflash tools, regardless of what is your phone running. Grab SPFlash tools (version 3.12 or any higher 3.x version recommended) and the Mediatek USB VCom drivers, install the driver, unpack SPFlash tools and the ROM.
Power off the phone with 'Fast bootup' option disabled, connect the usb cable to the phone (only this cable end), start Flash_tool downloaded previously, make sure 'DA DL All checksum' option is enabled within app, click on 'scatter…' button, browse to the 'MT6589_Android_scatter_emmc.txt' extracted with the ROM, click on 'Firmware upgrade' button. Take a look to all memory partitions on SP Flash tool window, make sure all partitions are ticked and HAVE a file associated to them. SPFlash tools version 5 may not automatically check all segments!
Connect the usb cable to the PC end, watch the Flash_Tool how it's transferring firmware, until it displays a window with a green circle.
Unplug the cable, start the phone, wait for the initial setup (it will take longer than the usual start-up), enjoy!
You will notice requests for root from Lenovo Power and Security apps. It's absolutely safe to hit 'Deny', those apps work very well without root access.

Common post-update actions:
- use settings/backup and restore to bring back contacts/messages/call logs
- ignore update notifications, they will allow you to download future updates, but they will likely give errors when attempting to install the update.
- hit the 5 stars button under 'Author rating' on this page and take into consideration a donation!