CyanogenMod 11 for Xiomi 1S

I had replaced the ROM for the Xiomi 1S from the official MIUI flavoured Android Jelly Bean 4.3 based to the CynogenMod 11 (Android Kit Kat 4.4.4). I actually had flashed the Mokee ROM (another custom rom - based on the CynogenMod 11) but later decided to use the pure CM ROM.

So far, the ROM is preety stable and the 1S is performing well. One thing that I need to highlight is that if I changed the CM11's runtime from Dalvik to ART, the 1S does not receive any carrier /operator signal nor any wifi signal. Maybe it's just me but some users on the 1S MIUI forum reported that they are able to run CM11 with ART.

Below are some screen capture of the ROM.

Home Screen - CM 11 Default Launcher

Free RAM - around 300MB

About 18K - score in Antutu Benchmark

Optimizing MIUI

Now I own a few phones with different specification and rom running on each one. The Lenovo A766, Xiomi Note and Xiomi 1S are running different version of MIUI, a highly customized Android.

Since 50% of my blog readers are from chinaphonearena, the chances of you, the readers are already or had or considering of flashing MIUI are very high. So, Im going to share one simple and fast method of improving the MIUI,which are known to be a little bit laggy (even with a quad-core processor and 1GB of RAM).

Disclaimer - As usual, you are responsible if anything bad happened to your phone. I had tested this methods on all the three models stated above with success.

What you need

1. A rooted smartphone running a MIUI rom (in my case, the 1S, with JHCMIBF37 firmware).
2. Any backup software capable of freezing apps (especially system apps) such as the Titanium Backup Pro (TB). I would recommend you to freeze the apps first before deleting them. If your phone behave normally (and with better performance), go ahead and delete the apps, if necessary.

I was inform that the App Freeze can also get the job done for free but untested by me.

Steps

Lets freeze so apps!

1. Reboot into your custom recovery (CWM or Carliv or TWRP) and do a nandroid backup. Safety first. You can fall back on this backup if anything goes wrong.
2. Boot into MIUI and launch the TB app.
3. If you are connected to the Xiomi Cloud service, go ahead and log out of the Xiomi account.
4. Search for "Mi Cloud Framework" and press on it. A popup menu will be displayed with various options. Select the Freeze option.
5. Repeat the freezing process for "Sync with Mi Cloud" and "Xiomi Assistant".
6. Reboot your phone.

Find and freeze those apps

Optional apps to be frozen

1. All the live wallpapers & live wallpaper picker (if you dont use them).
2. Home screen tips.
3. System (MIUI) launcher - make sure you have other launcher such as the Nova/Apex Launcher installed and set the them as the default launcher first!
4. Other apps that you dont really use (such as Google Play Movie, in my case, at least)

Before freezing the apps - 17+++ mark

Good luck!

Xiaomi / Redmi 1S

Yup.. another phone to play with. Behold, the Xiaomi / Redmi 1S.

Xiaomi / Redmi 1S

Specification wise, it's almost the same as the THL T6S. In the next few days (If I can resist myself not to do it sooner than that), I'll be comparing it with the T6S.

My early observation are the Redmi wins in terms of screen quality & after sales support. In terms of stock OS performance & value for money, the T6S wins.

Image of Masjid Zahir, Alor Setar taken with the 1S