Android KitKat (4.4.2) on the Huawei G300

I pulled my Huawei G300 out of the drawer today and did a bit of long overdue tinkering.

My Huawei Ascend G300 running CyanogenMod 11

After updating the custom recovery, and installing the CyanogenMod nightly build and the minimum Google Apps package I have a fully functioning KitKat device.

My impression is that the device is snappier and more responsive, and all the usual day to day apps work great. I now just have to choose which sim card to pop into the device.

Thanks to Dazzozo, the CyanogenMod community and the MoDaCo forums for enabling me to make an older cheap device much more useful, long after Huawei and Vodafone started pretending the device doesn't exist.

You can get everything you need to update your Huawei G300 from here.

As usual, feel free to leave comments and/or feedback in the comments section below.

Jelly Bean on the Huawei G300

I've had a Huawei G300 since May 2012. I've recommended the handset to friends and family because it is excellent value for money and has a pretty good spec sheet. Since mid December 2012 I have been using Dazzozo's excellent CyanogenMod 10 port as the operating system on the device. While not perfect, it has been good enough to use the G300 as my Ingress device (yes, a device just for Ingress).

This morning I installed the January 14th update for CM10 by Dazzozo and was surprised by how much smoother and more responsive the G300 now is. In just one month there seems to have been a massive improvement. The MoDaCo community has come up with a masterpiece again.

If you have a Huawei G300 and want to take Jelly Bean for a spin, I recommend using this ROM. Thanks to Dazzozo and everyone involved in the development of this CyanogenMod ROM. Check it out here.

Huawei Ascend Y201 Preview

I've been playing around with a Huawei Ascend Y201 on Tesco Mobile recently. Here are some snaps of the device, the accessories that come with it and the device beside some of my other devices.

Huawei Y201 Homescreen

The Huawei Y201 has a 3.5" HVGA (320x480) screen, 800 MHz Cortex-A5 processor, 256 MB RAM, 512 MB ROM (with 146MB available to the user) and a MicroSD slot. I've tested the device with a 32GB MicroSD card and it works fine. Out of the box, the Huawei Y201 is bundled with a 4 GB MicroSD card. On the back there is a 3.15 MP camera with no flash

Huawei Y201 Homescreen

Huawei Y201 customised Android app drawer

Huawei Y201 back

Huawei Y201 top with on/off button and 3.5mm headphone jack

Huawei Y201 bottom with microUSB port

Huawei Y201 clean side

Huawei Y201 with Galaxy NExus

Huawei Y201 with Nokia Lumia 710

Huawei Y201 with HP/Palm Pre 2

Huawei Y201 with Huawei G300

Huawei Y201 with Huawei G300 (backs)

Huawei Y201 customised Android lockscreen

Huawei Y201 weather widget

Huawei Y201 "About Device"

The Tesco Mobile Huawei Y201 runs on Android 2.3.6 and has a designated model number of U8666-1. I believe this to be a rebranded Huawei Ascend Y200 for Tesco Mobile.

Huawei Y201 dialer

Huawei Y201 bundled headphones

Huawei Y201 bundled mains/microUSB charger

Huawei Y201 packaging

Huawei Y201 back removed

I'll be writing a full review soon, so check back on www.todoleo.com before the weekend.