[Android Software/Hacking General [Developers Only]] sto7:
Guys, I made some progress!

You should read my post below, that should help you flash the CWM recovery image.

That's a pity, but yes, CyanogenMod is not available on this phone... :(

Yeah the stock ROM sucks, but there is one Russian MOD (see below), that may be interesting.

Here is what I wanted to write. (Beware, long post is long!)

It appears that, that '_fg' suffix which bothered me every time I was looking for my original ROM (which I didn't save at first, because I didn't know it is possible) seems to have barely any meaning.

My phone, when I received it in my mailbox, was labeled in "About phone" menu as model e1901_v77_gq2002_9p017, and build number (firmware?) was e1901_v77_gq2002_9p017_20121119.

I finally got hands on full firmwares N9330-20121126_e1901_v77_gq2002_9p017_fg and N9330-20121203_e1901_v77_gq2002_9p017_fg (use Google Translate, as you'll have to find your way through Russian links), so I decided to give it a try.

If you're intersted, you can have a look at my previous post to know more about the way I proceed to flash my phone.

So I first tried to flash my phone with N9330-20121126_e1901_v77_gq2002_9p017_fg (using SP-MDT). It worked like a charm, didn't have to change any file to get it working. Both camera work, the charging LED too. I didn't have time to test the GPS. Moreover, the "About phone" menu displays something interesting: my model (and build number) are back to their original values (wrote above), without the '_fg' that I could see in the file name.

Then I tried the second firmware, same name, but date is a bit more recent. Trying to flash it as-is failed every time: flashing process ends succssfully, but phone won't boot. So I remembered a post telling that this version's preloader is bugged, and used the one from the previous firmware I tested (be sure to rename the file exactly, and to relaunch SP-MDT). Phone works (cameras, charging LED) and "About phone" says model: e1901_v77_gq2002_9p017_fg ('_fg' is back, weird, huh?) and build number: e1901_v77_gq2002_9p017_fg_20121203.

After testing for a few minutes, any of those two firmwares sounds like a good start, for those who have same device as me, or similar (I/you may switch from one to another after a few days, to compare the experience).

Actually, the very first firmware I'm writing about above goes in infinite loop at first boot. But CMW recovery is included (which also mean you can root it): you can boot it with power+volume up, then browse menus to "fix permissions", "wipe data/factory reset", then "reboot system now", and it should work.

Second firmware is not rooted, and doesn't even have a bootable recovery. Here is how to root it (this procedure also applies to never-touched-before phones without need to flash the whole firmware, so I guess someone may want to copy paste in first post, which I authorize and encourage, of course).

The procedure is the same as in original post, but here, I'm going to detail step 1: Flash CWM recovery.img to phone.

Download the firmware (even if unrooted) that matches your phone the most.

Download SP_Flash_Tool_v3.1224.01 flash software.

Download CWM_Bruno_N9330.rar.

Uncompress all downloaded files.

Launch SP_Flash_Tool_v3.1224.01, Download Agent should be set (if not, use the file MTK_AllInOne_DA.bin that comes with the soft).

Click "Scatter-loading file", browse to the folder containing the full firmware, and select the text file named MT6577_Android_scatter_emmc.txt (or something similar): the space at the bottom should fill with a list of images, all checked.

Uncheck all lines but RECOVERY.

Click on the word RECOVERY, then browse and select the recovery.img file that was in CWM_Bruno_N9330 archive.

Turn your phone off, remove battery and charger.

Click on the "Download" button, put back the battery then plug your phone.

Download should finish briefly.

You can now boot in recovery mode by pressing power button and volume up at the same time.

But it's not enough for me. I also got hands on a Russian modded firmware, JB_4.1.1_e1901_v77_gq2002_ov5647_MOD_RU_VER_1.2, which I'd love to use.

Smarter ones will see that the file name has a different component: ov5647 instead of 9p017. This is because the camera drivers included in this firmware are different. I tried to flash it anyway, with SP-MDT, which works. But as expected, cameras (and charge LED too) don't work: one is upside-down, the other not detected. On the other hand, this firmware is full of cool stuff:

Partitioning is different, and leaves 1GB to Internal memory (which is twice as much as the factory ~500MB, very good thing).

Some cool softwares included, such as Nova Launcher (and more).

Firmware is rooted, no additional step needed.

Fonts, icons, menus are smaller, which is an adequate size for such a big screen.

Interface seems more responsive.

But it's not perfect, so I'm calling for help here again, to know if anyone has some knowledge about the firmware images, and what file, from what firmware, may help me to keep this MOD, and have all components working.

Thank you for reading this very long post!

Edit: forgot my main source, a topic about N9330 on forum.china-iphone.ru (Russian: use Google Translate!).