A review of the Spice MI-300, a budget Android phone (~10,000 INR) that doubles as a Linux hacking platform. Internally it is the Commtiva Z71 / Vibo A688, sold under different brand names worldwide.
Pros
- Excellent touch response — better than many branded phones at this price
- Compact size and thickness comparable with branded devices
- Decent camera quality at good distance with good ambient light
- Android 2.1 official update available from Spice
- Active community providing custom ROMs (Android 2.2 already in testing)
- Plenty of hacking resources available in the Android community
Cons
- Poor build quality — plastic body
- Poor battery life — 1 to 1.5 days at best
- Camera cannot focus at short distances (e.g. document scanning)
Hardware — same device, many brands
The phone is known as Vibo A688 / Z71 in the Android community. It is manufactured by Taiwan-based Commtiva and sold under many names:
- Apanda A60 (China)
- ChinaVision Excalibur
- Cincinnati Bell Blaze f800
- Commtiva Z71
- Muchtel A1 (Taiwan)
- Nexian Journey A890 (Indonesia)
- Orange Boston
- Spice MI-300 (India)
- Vibo A688 (Taiwan)
- Wellcom A88 (Thailand)
- Videocon Evolve V7500
Even Motorola sells similar hardware as the Motorola Quench XT502.
Rooting
After the official 2.1 update, Spice reduced the CPU clock from 600 MHz to 480 MHz (to improve battery life). Rooting the phone and flashing the FiretrapSugar 1.1 custom ROM from Boston Mania restores full control.
Rooting or flashing a custom ROM may void the manufacturer warranty. Do not attempt this unless you understand the risks.
With root access you can:
- Set CPU clock profiles to balance performance and battery life
- Use the camera flash as a torch
- SSH into the phone's Linux shell
- Use 3G tethering over Wi-Fi
- Run scripts in Ruby, Python, Perl, or JavaScript
- Cross-compile C programs with an ARM toolchain and run them on the phone
Recommended apps
- Root Explorer (paid) — file manager with root access
- QuickSSHd (paid) — SSH server for shell access over Wi-Fi (use PuTTY/WinSCP)
- SetCPU (paid) — CPU clock control
- Cache Cleaner (free)
- Alarm Clock Plus (free)
- WebSharing (paid version has more features)
- Astro (free file browser)
- Skype — VoIP calls over Wi-Fi
- Lookout — phone tracking for lost/stolen devices
- Barnacle Wifi Tether — turn the phone into a Wi-Fi router
Photos
Hi
ReplyDeleteReally nice and informative post.
Want to know if you can play DVDRips and standard TV show rips / movies on this. That is, without converting them. Any info on that would be appreciated.
Cheers
Deepak
Man U rock!!!
ReplyDeleteFiretrap is based on 2.2?
Firetrap is Based on 2.1, Soon we may expect 2.2 for this phone, as i said, this is already a hot topic on boston mania, check this link...
ReplyDeletehttp://boston-mania.blogspot.com/2010/09/a60-android-22-rom-updatezip-now-signed.html
those chinese font made me to wait for some more time...
Nice blog sir...
ReplyDeletekeep up the good work....
I'm Rehaan, who rooted this spice Mi300 for the first time...!!!
Hii,
ReplyDeleteI am currently running Android 1.6 without root access on MI 300 How do I backup this Rom.
And is there any solution to edge/gprs disconnection problem?
This is the post the need to read the most. Thanks!! :)
ReplyDeleteCurrently I'm changing the ROM, and let's see how it goes from there.
I've a lot of queries, I'll get back to you soon.
Dear Albert,
ReplyDeleteI dont know how i can take backup and it is stopping me from Upgrade.
Please tell me how to take backup before i upgrade to 2.1.
anurag01@gmail.com
Hello Anurag,
ReplyDeletewithout rooting, you cannot access /dev/mtd partitions.
On my MI-300, i updated with custom ROM and then took the backup.
Namaskar to all my frineds-Readers!
ReplyDeleteI m already using spice D6666 which is good in working and its feature.Obviously in term of priceRs7000 in year 2009 October.
Now planned to have an spice MI300,ur discussions here is so excited for me for this fone n brand an Indian brand which is from Meerut(Modi has its appearance on a large scale Mr.Guzzar Mal modi, My tution were behind to Modi continental Tyre factory in Meerut).
So i love Spice since 16 months.when i know abt this brand SPICE.
But is gud to wait for Mi 410 instead of Mi300 in extra few thousand.
Reply/ suggest me soon.
My pleasure to write here.
Proud to have an Indian Cell fone brand . But is earned and Fone to b Buy.So gud n cheap .M1410?
Namaskar
Excellent piece of information!
ReplyDeleteBTW do you have any idea about the chinese/ international counterparts of the newly announced but not released Spice Mi 410? it sounds like a fully loaded android device. But I wanted to know if even that could be modded/ rooted just like the m300. thx!
Awesome review! Bought the Mi300 and upgraded to 2.1
ReplyDeleteWill try the Sugar this week.
I have 2 queries:
1) will I be able to revert back to the stock 1.6 or 2.1 at any further stage.
2) Is it possible to backup the fone without rooting it? (As I would like to keep a copy of the current state 2.1)
Any flaws ? which update is better vanilla or sugar?
ReplyDeleteand what about gaming on the phone,
ReplyDeleteDear Albert,
ReplyDeleteI just upgraded my MI-300 with Android 2.1.
I use it primarily for app development. After updating, I am no longer able to do on the phone testing using MAC OS. Everything works fine on windows, but on MAC the Android Development Tools are unable to recognize the device.
Any idea, why this is happening.
Hi Albert, nice blog u got going here, BTW I have one question, I checked out the boston mania website where I see they have got mods for A688, A60, Apanda... etc. which I have read previously are similar to the spice mi-300
ReplyDeleteSo my question is, Will these mods work on the spice mi-300?? as they are basically same devices with different names
Hi Albet,
ReplyDeleteI have MI300 I have one problem with it, that is i am not able upgrade it to 2.1.
I tried upgrade process for user manual but while upgrading phone gets reboot in recovery mode and says E: can't open/cache/recovery/command
Please help me Thanks in advance.
Amit
HI Sir u r doing good job first i hav mi 300 which is not rooted & i hav 2.1 running.the problem is when i play mp4 vid in default player while playing it automatically restarts i tried in other players like real player i did the facrory reset but didnt solve it plz mail me if u get the sol at jadhavdinesh7@gmail.com
ReplyDeleteHI Sir u r doing good job first i hav mi 300 which is not rooted & i hav 2.1 running.the problem is when i play mp4 vid in default player while playing it automatically restarts i tried in other players like real player i did the facrory reset but didnt solve it plz mail me if u get the sol at jadhavdinesh7@gmail.com
ReplyDeleteSheldon:
ReplyDeleteyes all these devices are same, if want to experiment, try froyo(2.2) cynogen mod on your mi-300.
Already I have upgraded from firetrap-suger to cynogen build 15 - but this one is buggy and drains battery soon. I am waiting for stable 2.2 release on boston-mania.
Dinu:
ReplyDeletefor sure there were problems on 2.1 release, some heavy application were crashing, ex:i could not play angry_birds which was constantly crashing even on firetrap-suger. Now i have cynogen mod(2.2 froyo) and i am able to play angry_birds but this cynogen build 15 is buggy, i am waiting for a stable cynogen (may be you can try latest build from boston-mania to see if video players are stable).
Help please help i am unable to syncronize my contacts on mi300 i request you to help
ReplyDeleteerror states: please seee the connection between laptop and the device
sisson@yahoo.co.uk
sir i am unable to upgrade my spice mi 300......service center told me that it is some internal problem ......i just want a way so that i can flash my phone's internal memory....[its not going into recovery mode also...)
ReplyDeletesir please please reply to me,
ReplyDeletei hve root my phone with this and i am unable to connect it with the software updater tool it shows not connected and now i cn't unroot my phone plz help plz...
Hi Albert,
ReplyDeleteI see that boston mania has released a final version of Cyanogen Android 2.2 for Z71 devices.
Have you tried it out? Is it stable?
Thanks
Hi guys nd bros having such a wonderful phone giving us a enjoyment of Android 2.1 Those who want to backup data can use linda application manager. i had tried many but this one is a real thing, which can uninstall programs fastly than android inbuilt nd can save backup of apps in sd card. for sms try SMS BACKUP... But i want to root my phone nd am not afraid of warranty. had tried but unable to get into boot phase by pressingVOL UP + CAMERA KEY + POWER KEY.... plz help me , am dying to see my phone rooted nd do anyone knows how to change colour of clock in notification bar......
ReplyDeleteHi i tried z71 stable rom on videocon zeus. everything okay except battery drains really fast.
ReplyDeletevideocon-zeus.blogspot.com
Hi Sanjay,
ReplyDeleteI heard there is some problems with the Wi-fi and stuff... Have u tried it out?
@dinu i hav found a way to prevent the phone from crashing.....if u encrypt ur videos with mpeg codec then the phone wont restart....it restarts only when the framerate of the h.263 and h264 videos is above 15 fps.....mpeg can be played till 30 fps.....
ReplyDeletePlz plz help me......
ReplyDeleteI had rooted my spice mi 300 and using cynogen mod but i am facing problem with phone...it restart regularly when network not available of 3G....2G network not working...
So I want go back to official rom
How can I unroot and flash default recovery image and rom provide by spice?
Please help me...
Hi Adav,
ReplyDeletemy name is sourabh and i bought the mi300 few days back. i also found the same problem of running MP4 vids on the handset, but its crashing all the time. is there any solution available for this problem, as the phone looks quite powerful with kind of processor and RAM.
Hi Adav,
ReplyDeleteAnonymous also said to covert the videos into the 30fps conversion rate, but even though, the same phone crashing problem persists. Is it possible for you to provide the Video conversion specs for AVI to MP4 for mi300.
Hi Albert,
ReplyDeleteThanks for your post, I was rooted my MI-300 using this info. Should have stopped there but updated to 2.2 using Cyanogen 1.5 mod but as you rightly pointed out the battery is draining too fast (if I charge it in the morning by late evening it drains off completely even if I don't use the phone). I have reverted back to Firetrap Sugar but looks like cyanogen boot loader is still active...battery is still draining fast. Do you have any suggestions on how I can revert back to stock 2.1 from spice?
Thanks.
Dear Albert,
ReplyDeleteVery informative. I am planning to buy android phone costing < 10 K. Is this currently best android phone ? Would you please inform at kuppa_raghunath@yahoo.co.in. Thanks
Try the Micromax a60 and do a review
ReplyDeleteYou can get the all updates for Z71 on my blog.
ReplyDeletehttp://boston-mania.blogspot.com
PS: Rom 2.3 for Z71 and clones is coming
Hi
ReplyDeleteThis is sridhar, i rooted my spice mi 300 phone, i was in middle of restroing a backup rom file when i accidentally removed the battery from then my phone got stuck at android screen and not going where....can we do anything, im worried about this...rooting made my phone no-warranty
This is sridhar Breifing the previous issue, i as restoring a rom file and i interrupted the process from then phone got stuck at android, took battery off/on, doesnt go to recovery mode, it just stays there, please help me..
ReplyDeletePlz Guys HELP ME I have rooted my MI 300(2.1) and installed ROM Manager and flashed clockwork recovery of z71 and now i cant go into recovery modei have tried using software updater tool given by spice but it displayed error.Even i cant install cynoggen 6.1.2 from ROM manager
ReplyDeletePLZ Anyone having MI 300 Recovery Image and tell me how to use that
PLZ Guys HELP ME
ReplyDeleteI have rooted my MI 300 to install ROM Manager.In ROM Manager I installed clockworkmod recovery of z71(MI 300 is a variant of z71) so i thought it would fine but NOW I cant go into Recovery when press pwr+vol_up+cam it stuck onto spice logo screen for hours of time even i am not able to install cynogen 6.1.2 through ROM Manager.
Anyone having Spice Recovery Image and intructions plz send me on jadhavdinesh7@gmail.com
http://z71-mania.blogspot.com/
ReplyDeletehow i want install back official spice mi300 software...i using [Rom 2.3] Cyanogen MOD 7 RC0 for Z71 - Build 08/01/2011....plzzz help me....
ReplyDeleteHi ,
ReplyDeleteI recently upgraded to Firestrapsugar
for my SPICE mi300 mobile
I Found it is very good ,even battery back up is good
more faster and i love
Hreat info
My Question is if i want to try Cynaogen etc builds also is it done same way as you had described or for these Builds the process is different
Anyways im looking for Froyo release soon from Boston
hey Sir...I rooted my phone using fire trap sugar.... all is working fine... how to enable app2sd on sugar....
ReplyDeleteGuys check this site it offers full guide to update your spice MI 300 to 2.2 & 2.3 update
ReplyDeleteandriod-help.blogspot.com
can i update mi 300 spice to android 2.2
ReplyDeleteHi,
ReplyDeleteI have upgraded to 2.1 (from 1.6) provided by Spice website. It did not create a rom backup. Now I find I neither like the cap on processor speed nor the interface. I somehow feel I was much better off with the 1.6 (donut) Please help if you have the backup of the spice 1.6 ROM so I can rollback. Grateful if you can share.
Hi
ReplyDeleteIts a very nice self-experience review about Spice Mi-300. congrats Albert. Thank you for the information given. It's helps me a lot. But one thing, the "cons" about this phone is the 5 megapixel camera as u mention about, it can't focus an image with the distance of 10cm-16cm. I think, this problem due to the camera lens. The 5 megapixel didn't support "auto focus" mode because the lens type is EDOF lens which in the other word "Fixed Focus" lens.
Cheers
Habel
hi, i m a newbie for spice m300 and android.
ReplyDeletemay i know do we must ROOT the device to use camera flash as TORCH?
Thanks!
Any flaws ? which update is better vanilla or sugar?
ReplyDeleteHi Albert, The Touch/Touch Screen on my Spice MI300 is broken, I would need help in Buying a new Touch, Can you guide me the Specifications of the Touch so that I can approach Repair/Others for getting its Replaced. I literally took the Phone and none could find one, Service Centers are greedy Charging Rs.3000.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete