[Galaxy Tab 7.7 Android Development] paranoiadk:
DXMD3 Stock Jelly Bean Phabletized!​

DISCLAIMER TIME:

First thing's first: I am not a chef, nor am I a developer of any sort. This was just an experiment and it worked. All I'm doing is sharing the results and the method of achieving them.

Also, I am in no way responsible if you mess up your device. That said, these modifications are mostly harmless and reversible, if you follow the instructions to the letter. (Worst case scenario: You flash stock JB again or restore a nand backup and you're safe.)

Oh and your device must be rooted. You can't go around changing things if it's not.

I do need a bit of help with some things, you can read the help wanted section at the bottom of the post,

If you're still interested, read on.

INTRO SPEECH:

I've always wanted the phablet experience on my 7.7, but all of the roms I've tried had imperfections (if ever so slight). If any developers are reading this, please do not take this as an insult. Your roms are wonderful masterpieces. I admit I couldn't even begin to understand how much knowledge and hard work is poured into them. I just wanted a 100% daily driver to have and to hold, meaning as few updates as possible (oh the irony). The closest I could find to a perfect rom was the PAC rom by [MENTION=4948627]daniel_hk[/MENTION], but it always started acting out after a couple of weeks. Might have also been my apps or a combination of apps that did this, I don't know. The customization options on PAC are… It's simply amazing. If you're up for it, do check it out in the development thread. Out of all the roms I've tried, I liked PAC the best. That was a message from our (non)sponsors (my personal opinion). Then I tried E-Robot, which is almost stock – I'd say it's a Note 8 rom modified for our 7.7. But it still didn't feel right. I went back to the stock JB rom and started thinking I could simply alter build.prop's dpi setting and get phablet on stock JB. I was half-right. I did alter it and got phablet mode, but a lot of apps stopped working, a few of them crucial (phone, contacts, …). So I started replacing those apps with apps from the E-Robot rom. And it worked. I've identified and replaced most of the apps and the rom is very smooth. I dare say it's even smoother than E-Robot.

List of apps that need replacing:

-	Accuweather

-	Most mini apps

-	Pen memo

-	Camera

-	Gallery

-	Calculator

-	S Planner / Calendar

-	Phone

-	Contacts

-	TouchWiz Launcher

-	Task manager

-	Memo (text memo)

List of apps I haven't yet found replacements for (HELP WANTED, see below):

-	Samsung keyboard

-	Reader's hub

APPS YOU'LL NEED:

I like ES File Explorer the most, you can use other file managers if you like. LINK

I find it easiest to flash roms with Mobile ODIN. LINK

If you're not interested in purchasing Mobile Odin, you can look it up on XDA forums. It's available for free.

7zip. You'll need to unzip the package. LINK

APP SUBSTITUTION PACKAGE:

LINK

Please, do not mirror this as these instructions are not yet 100% complete.

INSTRUCTIONS:

Read first. Then apply.

1)	Get the stock DXMD3 Jelly Bean on www.samfirmware.com

2)	I can't stress this enough: Back up all of your files on your internal storage. All of them. I will not be blamed for the loss your lolcat collection.

3)	Flash it with Mobile Odin and choose to root the rom and inject superuser

4)	A custom recovery is probably a good idea. Use either CWM or TWRP and make a full system backup. Just in case. Easiest to flash with Odin.

5)	Unzip the "PHABLETIZE!" package to your tablet internal storage.

6)	Default home to a custom launcher. Just in case. I used Apex. (You'll be replacing TouchWiz, remember?) Also, Install a custom keyboard. The stock keyboard isn't happy with 213dpi. I use Jelly Bean Keyboard.

7)	Turn on "Root Explorer" mode in ES File Explorer (side menu, accessible from the top left bluish globe icon)

7a)	Alternatively, you can use LCDDensity from Play. I haven't tested this personally. This is a recommendation from obbeguin. Skip step 8.

8)	Make a backup of your build.prop file. Edit the build.prop to be used by the system (/system/build.prop): "ro.sf.lcd_density=160" changed to "ro.sf.lcd_density=213" (the one between rild.libargs and ro.lcd_brightness)

9)	Restart and marvel at the half-finished glory of phablet mode.

10)	Here is where you would see TouchWiz crash and you'd be stuck if you hadn't defaulted to a custom launcher in step 6. Luckily, you did.

11)	Open ES, navigate to /system/app/ and start replacing the apps from the package. Yes, manually. I don't know how to make a CWM flashable package, so again, yes, manually. (HELP WANTED) I'd also recommend backing up the original files (just copy them to a backup folder on your storage). All apps should replace just fine, since they crash when launched anyway. You should also backup and delete their odex counterparts. Do not replace those.

12)	I haven't included the camera and gallery apks. The gallery wasn't working well and I found a replacement here. Not sure yet if I can hijack his files to use in my zip so I'm posting a link for the time being. Also, I've found I like the SGS4 dialer and messaging app much better than the tablet apps from Note8. Look for it here.

13)	Restart

14)	If you have any issues with any of the apps, first try clearing their caches and data or wiping dalvik cache and cache in recovery mode.

I'd also recommend SkyHigh's custom kernel. I like it and it allows me to use ExFat on my external SD card. It's no NTFS, but large files (>4GB) get across just fine and it works on my computer and in my tablet without a hitch.

And for that extra "Startled Android" effect, I went with Xposed framework and per-app dpi settings. Not quite paranoid but does the job ok.

If you like the Samsung keyboard, you might want to give this one a go. Suggested by [MENTION=1348718]stenny[/MENTION]

HELP WANTED SECTION:

As written before, I need some help. It would be tons easier to just flash a CWM package over the stock JB and get phablet mode. Trouble is, I can't build it. Getting around to this one. Got around to it. Now I'm having scripting problems. If anyone is script savvy, please check out the code below.

I have no clue where to find a replacement Reader's hub app – one that works on 213dpi instead of 160dpi If anyone knows where I could find it, please leave a comment.

Don't hesitate to leave your feedback in the comments.

Unhide to see the script code.

#!/sbin/sh

# remove old backup

[ -d /sdcard/phabletize/backup ] && rm -r /sdcard/phabletize/backup

# backing up original apk

echo "Backing up /system/app/"

busybox mkdir -p /sdcard/phabletize/backup/system/app

busybox mkdir -p /sdcard/phabletize/system/app

cd /sdcard/phabletize/list/

for f in $(ls)

do

echo "Processing $f"

busybox cp /system/app/$f /sdcard/phabletize/backup/system/app/

busybox rm /system/app/$f

done

echo "Backups done for system apps"

# backing up original build.prop

echo "Backing up /system/build.prop"

cp /system/build.prop /sdcard/phabletize/backup/system/build.prop

echo "Backup done for build.prop"

# delete odex files and old apk files

echo "Deleting original odex and apk files from /system/app"

cd /sdcard/phabletize/list

for f in $(ls)

do

echo "Processing $f"

busybox rm /system/app/$f

done

echo "Original odex and apk files deleted. Don't worry. You still have your backup."

# for each of the system apps needing processed

echo "Copying modified apks to /system/app"

cd /sdcard/phabletize/system/app

cp -p * /system/app

echo "Finished copying modified apks"

# copy modified build.prop

echo "Copying modified build.prop to /system"

cd /sdcard/phabletize/system

cp -p build.prop /system

echo "Finished copying modified build.prop"

# the end

echo "All done. Enjoy you Phabletized 7.7 JB"

The above left my tablet in a bootloop stuck on the bootanimation turned landscape and distorted/stretched. I was trying to accomplish the following: back up the original apks and build.prop file to a folder on the sdcard. The list of apks needing backups would be determined from the list of apks in the replacement folder. And copying the replacement apks and build.prop file to the proper folder in /system.

I hope I've proofread this enough times so that it's decent...