Custom ROM for HTC Explorer JaggyROM

Tutorial 3 Exploring HTC Explorer :Applying a Custom ROM (JaggyROM) to Your HTC Explorer (Pico) And Increasing Internal Memory of your HTC Explorer

I hope that by now you have rooted your HTC explorer. If not, then read here.


To understand the terms used in the article, read here.


Rooting gives you complete access to your phone. Now you can add a new custom ROM to your HTC Explorer (Pico), tweak your CPU, increase your phone's internal memory, uninstall bloatware (unnecessary apps installed by manufacturer) and do many more things.


Well, there are many custom ROMs out there, the most popular being the CyanogenMod (CM). But the latest version of CM doesn't officially support HTC Explorer as of yet, so I didn't try that one. I tried another popular custom ROM named JaggyROM (developed by jaggyjags and kernel by sakindia123) and it works perfectly well.


Here I'll also explain how to increase the internal memory of your HTC Explorer.  This will enable you to install plenty of apps in future without your phone showing 'low internal memory' notification.


Let's see how to install/flash JaggyROM in your HTC Explorer.


Pre-requisites : You will need following


-SD card reader. Yup, DO NOT use your phone to mount your SD Card and perform the process of making partition on it.
-download MiniTool Partition Wizard Home Edition
-download JaggyROM version 2.7.zip
-please see to it that you SD card is inserted in your phone and is accessible by phone.

Step 1: Create Backup Of Existing ROM

1. First of all we need to backup your existing ROM.
2. After rooting your phone, reboot into Recovery menu (remove-insert your battery, hold volume down+power buttons simultaneously and select recovery from the menu that appears)
3. Select "Backup and Restore" from the menu
4. Now select "Backup"
5. Once this is done, select the "Reboot System" option.
6. This time the phone boots normally.
7. Now connect your phone to your computer via a USB data cable and copy the folder "clockworkmod" from the SD card to somewhere on your PC for backup. This folder contains the backup of your existing ROM (the one installed by HTC).


Step 2: Partition SD card


Now its time to prepare your SD card for partitioning it to increase the internal memory of your phone. I recommend using MiniTool Partition Wizard Home Edition for this purpose. Here's how to proceed:


1. Take out your SD card from the phone (unmount it and then remove). Put it in a SD card reader and insert the reader into your laptop. DO NOT connect SD card to computer via phone's USB cable.
2. Backup your sd card- transfer all existing data on the SD Card to your PC and clean it completely by deleting all files from it
3. Open Minitool Partition wizard. You will find your SD card listed in it
4. You will see that the existing partition is FAT32 system. RESIZE (by dragging the mouse backwards in the bar) your existing FAT32 partition to a size where your unallocated space is at least 1GB but not more than 2GB. (I am using 16 GB memory card class 4, and I resized my unallocated space to 1.8 GB)
5. Create a new ext4 Primary partition using all the unallocated space. Note that the new partition should be PRIMARY, not logical and EXT4, not FAT32.
6. Click on "Apply".

Note: DO NOT try to delete and create the initial FAT32 and create ext4 from scratch. Just resize the existing FAT32 and create ext4 from unallocated space.


7.Once the partition has been made, you will see that the free space on your card has decreased by the amount you separated for ext4 partition. The computer will not show you the ext4 partition space. So, don't worry.


Step 3: Flashing JaggyROM

1. I hope you have downloaded the latest version of JaggyRom to your computer. Copy the latest version of JaggyROM.zip to the sdcard root. Don't place inside any folder, keep it outside. Rename it to update.zip

2. Disconnect the USB cable and reboot into Recovery menu again.

3. Select "Wipe data/factory reset" option.


Note: this option is present inside the Recovery menu and is not the "Factory Reset" option available outside of Recovery menu. Okay, don't get confused.

4. Select "Install zip from SD Card" >> "Apply /sdcard/update.zip" >> Confirm.

5. Once done, select "reboot system"

6. First boot takes a little longer than normal. So please be patient and don't try to reset the device. The JaggyROM boot screen will show up in some time with animation and HTC logo. Don't touch the device yet. 

7. Once booted up, let the phone stabilize before unlocking the screen.

8. If you've installed the overclocked version of JaggyROM, you can go ahead and install the latest version of setCPU. to change your CPU settings..

9. And now, your hard work has bore fruit. Go ahead and install as many apps you want and you will never again see "Low internal memory" pop up in the notification panel. I recommend using Titanium backup for moving apps and app data to sd partition. Then you can make the most out of your phone. About using Titanium backup in next tutorial...enjoy.


Readers are requested to leave comments/feedback/queries.

Rooting HTC Explorer Android : Step by Step Tutorial

Tutorial 2 Exploring HTC Explorer :Rooting Your HTC Explorer (HTC Pico)

Before beginning this step, I hope you are familiar with the term 'Rooting'. If not, click here.

Note: Rooting your HTC Explorer (Pico) will void your warranty. HTC will no longer be responsible for any dysfunction in your phone. If you wish to continue, it's your own wish. Rooting incorrectly may also brick you phone. You cannot hold me responsible for any kind of damages.

Note: Rooting process will NOT change anything in your phone, it just make root access possible, if you want overclock and ext-2/3/4 partitions possible you will have to flash (install) a custom ROM once you finish rooting with this tutorial.

Prime Requisites :

• Take Backup of your HTC Explorer phone contacts, your apps and your accounts associated with it. Also backup your sd card.
• Make sure Your Android phone is atleast 50-60 % charged so that it can’t get switched off during the rooting process.
• Download  A310e recovery.zip and  extract it in any window on your PC (ie: C:\HTC). This will work for HTC explorer, for other HTC phones, try finding the recovery.zip on xda-developers.com
• Download Superuser.zip and place it in your sd card prior to starting the rooting process.
• Disable Anti virus and other tools in your computer
• Enable USB debugging on your phone by setting >> applications >> development >> check USB debugging and Stay awake too.

Now lets begin with the rooting of your HTC Explorer.

Step 1. Install latest version of HTC Sync on your PC

I hope you have completed this step in unlocking the bootloader for HTC Explorer (Pico). You can download it from: www.htc.com/www/help/htc-explorer/#download
( it is needed so that computer recognizes commands properly)

Step 2. Unlock the phone's bootloader

- I hope you have done this one too. If not, follow the steps in my first tutorial. 

Note: HTC Explorer isn´t listed in the device list on htcdev.com but I have tested this myself and it works perfectly. Choose "all other supported models" when selecting your phone.

Step 3. Add a recovery to your phone 

(Adding recovery will prove useful later on in the case you want to install/flash custom .zip ROMs on your phone)


- I hope you have downloaded A310E Recovery.zip by now.
- extract it in any window on your PC (ie: C:\HTC)

-put the phone in fastboot mode ( after removing-inserting the battery and pressing "volume down" and "power" buttons simultaneously, select fastboot from the menu ) and connect it with your PC via usb cable.  See images below

- open the directory where you extracted the A310e recovery.zip and run the recovery.bat (on your computer) with the phone in fastboot mode and connected vis USB cable. See image below.

Done! You got the recovery installed if no errors occurs, you can now install any compatible .zip ROM or app on your phone.

Step 4. ROOT your phone

Now, disconnect your phone from the computer. power it down from the menu. Remove-insert battery, press volume down+power buttons simultaneously and select 'Recovery' from the menu.

- I hope you had placed the Superuser.zip file somewhere in the microSD card earlier.

- Now after getting into Recovery menu install Superuser.zip with the option "install .zip from sd >> choose zip from sd >> select superuser.zip" from the recovery menu. Once done, you will receive the message on screen of your phone that it has been rooted.

Congratulations, your HTC Explorer (Pico) is now ROOTED !! 

Note: after rooting do not press 'restore to factory setting' if you don´t want to end up in a bootloop.

Readers are requested to leave their feedback/comments/queries. This will help me in improving the blog