How to Upgrade Motorola Droid 3 to Android 4.0 ICS Using CyanogenMod 9

We’ve already heard a lot of stuff about how great Ice Cream Sandwich is. This has been proven further when the Samsung Galaxy Nexus came out. True enough, the latest version of Android is indeed one of the best, if not the best.

Many of us are already waiting for the Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich update for our devices. There are even those who are already saving up for brand-new Android devices, hoping to get ICS out of the box. A lot of us are really itching to get hold of this latest iteration of Google’s famous mobile OS.

Sadly though, a lot of the makers are not yet certain on when updates for ICS will be delivered to their respective devices. Many of them are targeting the first quarter of 2012, but even then, the schedule is not yet sure. Good thing we have the Android community. Thanks to these guys, some of us can now enjoy Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. People who own the Motorola Droid 3 are one of the lucky ones. The developers behind CyanogenMod just recently released the latest alpha version of the popular aftermarket ROM and it’s pretty much built around ICS. The latest CyanogenMod 9 just made it to the Motorola Droid 3. It is not yet a perfect match, but for sure it will get there.

For those Motorola Droid 3 owners who would like a taste of Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, read on and check out the steps on how to install CyanogenMod 9 into your Droid 3.

Prerequisites

• The Motorola Droid 3 should be rooted. For the rooting process, you can check out thislink.
• There should be no Bootstrap apps installed on the device. Please uninstall the apps if there are any.
• You need a PC that runs Windows Vista or Windows 7.
• You also need at least 170 MB of free storage space in the device’s SD card storage.
• The Droid 3 battery has to be fully charged to avoid interruptions.

Installing CyanogenMod 9

1. Download and install the SafeStrap app to your phone. You can download it here.
2. Run the SafeStrap app and then choose the “Install Recovery” option. A number will appear at the bottom of the screen after you tap “Install Recovery”. Make sure it is 0.92. If not, you should abort the process.
3. Download the latest build of the CyanogenMod 9 ROM to your PC. Use this link to download.
4. Connect the Droid 3 to your PC using the USB cable. Copy the ROM that you just downloaded into the root directory of the device’s SD card.
5. Disconnect the phone from your PC and turn off the phone.
6. Turn on the phone again and while it is booting up, you will see a splash screen. While the splash screen is still displayed, press the Menu key. This will put the device into recovery mode.
7. Create a backup of your Droid 3 by choosing the appropriate options found under the recovery mode menu.
8. Enable the “Safe System” option in the Safestrap menu.
9. Then, go to the “Mount” menu and choose “Format system.”
10. Install the CyanogenMod ROM. To do that, choose “Install ZIP from SD card” option, then choose the ZIP file containing the CyanogenMod ROM.
11. After the installation completes, choose “Wipe data/factory reset” from the menu.
12. Reboot your phone. It will now be running on CyanogenMod 9.

Since this is the alpha version of CyanogenMod 9 for Motorola Droid 3, there are some features that are not working properly yet and some don’t even work at all. One of the issues of this build is the device’s losing audio once Bluetooth is turned on. And, for now the camera is not yet working. All the rest seem to work quite well.

Now you have a way to tinker with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich on your Motorola Droid 3. Having ICS on the Droid 3 is already a wish come true for many. It needs more improvements, but if you’re backed with an awesome community of developers, definitely things will always get better.

How’s ICS on your Motorola Droid 3?