Acer Liquid E Owners Unite!

[xaueious]

I've had my Liquid E for a few days. I returned the Xperia X10 to Rogers. The Liquid E is a much better phone right now.

This is going to go on my blog after, but since that has no readers this is where I think I'll put it.

The Liquid E has 512 MB RAM! The X10 only has 256 MB available (might be an Android 1.6 limitation). Not only does it have more RAM, it runs much more efficiently than the X10.

Linpack on X10: Low 4.x @1 GHz
Linpack on Acer Liquid E: Low 5.x @ 768 MHz

I already rooted mine, but at the moment until we get the bin file there is no way back to the Rogers ROM. So do this at your own risk.

Status of Custom ROMs and Root
Rooting is very simple. Just get to fastboot and flash the modded recovery. From that point on either root the stock Rogers ROM, or flash a custom ROM!

Froyo Android 2.2 doesn't seem to be stable yet. I've the Acer Liquid Community Eclair Android 2.1 ROM on it right now, which I think is the best ROM out there for this phone. It has the usual goodies of a fully rooted ROM, including Apps2SD.

Here's the good stuff. Root!
I use Windows so Windows instructions only :P

I don't recommending following the Unlockr's method. Rooting the Rogers Liquid E is very straight forward. I have no idea what detrimental effects flashing older bin files intended for the non E version can do to your phone!

To root the ROM, download Malez recovery basically follow the instructions, but I'm going to explain some of those steps:
http://code.google.com/p/acer-liquid...i/howToInstall

Here we go!

Boot into your phone and enable debugging under Settings->Applications->Development->USB debugging

You must have proper ADB and fastboot drivers working on your phone. Here:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=IEZRXHZ0
Install x64 for 64 bit only if you didn't figure that out by yourself.

You also need to download the SDK tools pack to use some of the adb (Android debugging bridge) and fastboot (which sends commands to the bootloader). Extract it to someplace you remember:

Extract the files and open up a command prompt (cmd), and browse to where you just extracted the SDK and browse to the tools folder under command prompt. (if extracted to c:\tools and you are in c:, type 'cd c:\tools")

Download the latest malezrecovery custom recovery disk image and put it into the tools folder. Download from here:
http://code.google.com/p/acer-liquid...downloads/list

Now connect your phone to your computer. Then type:

adb devices

This shows you if your device is detected by your computer. If there's nothing showing under 'List", you don't have the drivers installed.

Now we install the custom recovery. Still in command prompt, type:
(replace malezRecovery_0.5.3.img with the filename of the malezrecovery custom recovery disk image you just downloaded)

adb reboot bootloader
fastboot -i 0x0502 flash recovery malezRecovery_0.5.3.img  
fastboot -i 0x0502 reboot

When you are done, it will say something like this on your computer: sending 'recovery' (4876 KB)... OKAY writing 'recovery'... OKAY

This will reboot your phone back into the normal firmware. Now you need to get into the custom recovery by typing into command prompt:

adb reboot recovery

At this point your phone will reboot. Now you can root your ROM or download any custom ROM you like. I recommend performing a backup by choosing Nandroid backup.
In this recovery mode, simply use the 'Menu' key to select items, and the Volume keys to move through the list. The 'Home' key confirms actions.

Getting back into recovery
This is a bit weird. With the phone off, hold the volume down key with the camera key down for a few seconds. Then still holding those keys, hold the power button until your phone vibrates 3 times.

Otherwise you can just run 'adb shell reboot recovery' through your computer, or there are other ways to get this. If you are still confused, Google first. Ask later.

Installing the Acer Liquid Community ROM
Before you install the ROM, I recommend backing up Docs2GoLite from your Rogers ROM if you haven't already, as it is not included in this ROM.

You can do that in various ways. I think you can use Estrong's File Manager to do this. (I used 'adb pull' from command prompt for /system/app)

Do a nandroid backup!

Then wipe your phone (wipe data/factory reset)

Now you do NOT need to flash a new bin file. Just take the ROM zip (LCR_1.7-signed.zip) and flash it in recovery.

Reboot then you are done!

Resources
Modaco Forum for Acer Liquid: http://android.modaco.com/category/4...id-modaco-com/
Acer Liquid Community ROM: http://code.google.com/p/acer-liquid...om-bugtracker/

[hgclim.online]

Excellent post. Thanks for the information.

[mobb_knight]

This may be a dumb question... but is the Acer Liquid Community Eclair Android 2.1 ROM better than the stock Rogers ROM?

I've been actually very pleased with the stock rom despite the rogers' apps

[xaueious]

This may be a dumb question... but is the Acer Liquid Community Eclair Android 2.1 ROM better than the stock Rogers ROM?

I've been actually very pleased with the stock rom despite the rogers' apps

It's themed, rooted, has Acer Stream features built in, install apps on the SD

Nexus One 1GHz speeds (need to install this http://android.modaco.com/content/ac...-v1-7-and-1-6/)


There's also a touchscreen sensitivity tweak. Pinch to zoom. It's so good.

[EddieWinslow]

The liquid E is an under clocked snapdragon correct? so you can easily overclock it to 1ghz

[xaueious]

Yep. That's why I'm not calling it an overclock.

[Carbon Molecule]

What is your experience with the overheating issue many are reporting? What about battery life? I've been reading a bunch of reviews and those two often-mentioned issues may be deal-breakers for me.

[EddieWinslow]

What is your experience with the overheating issue many are reporting? What about battery life? I've been reading a bunch of reviews and those two often-mentioned issues may be deal-breakers for me.

i am also curious as i wouldn;t mind changing my x10 for a liquid E

[mobb_knight]

I've had some heating issues in the beginning when doing a lot of gaming - specifically Let's Golf. It heated up a bit.

After I downloaded taskpanel to kill tasks regularly, the heating has dropped significantly.

The phone still heats up when i'm talking on bluetooth with my phone in the charger.


On a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being really hot. I would say 8 when its multitasking or doing heavy processing.
My X10 I would rate it at 6.5. However, the Acer is much snappier imo.

[Carbon Molecule]

Wow, sounds fairly toasty. Any observations on battery life?

[evilbaby]

could be a very exciting phone once it gets a proper 2.2 port. I wish all manufactures were like HTC and at least gave you the option to void your warranty so you can upgrade at your own risk. I'd have to have an x10 and be stuck on 1.6 although I heard it got rooted as well.

[xaueious]

my battery lasts about 2 days with mild usage on my kernel. You can use setcpu to clock the phone to anything you want if you are rooted. I find that 576 MHz is sufficient for most uses.

[jorg1]

The liquid E is an under clocked snapdragon correct? so you can easily overclock it to 1ghz

some have success some wont get it to budge, personally id under clock it but im weird like that lol

[xaueious]

I underclock on battery. You can undervolt too. That's why you get rooted

[judeh101]

hey people, I somehow really wanted to return to the stock image. How would I do that?