[Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] JMCamacho:
Install Google Play on Gionee S5.5L (and S5.5) NO CWM required

Hi folks,

Steps described earlier for S5.5 using MTKTools won't work to root and install Google Play Store on Gionee S5.5L (TD-LTE versions) cause it runs on a Qualcomm Snapdragon chipset instead of a Mediatek.

Yet, Mediatek S5.5 user may find interesting this tutorial as it provides the same result, it can be done without PC and without generating a recovery.img for MTKTools.

Here is what I did.

WHAT YOU GET: Google Play Store running and installing APPs on Gionee S5.5L (TD-LTE version) with Chinese Stock ROM.

WHAT YOU NEED: You'll need the highest compatible version of the following APKs for your phone. In my case, the S5.5L runs an Android JellyBean 4.3 based ROM.

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- Towerlroot (avail. at towelroot dot com)

- Google Services Framework APK (avail. at apkmirror dot com or any other source of your preference)

- Google Play Store APK (avail. at apkmirror dot com)

- SuperSU and ES File Manager (I download them from Amazon App Store. You can install Amazon App Store from www dot amazon dot com foreslash getappstore)

WHAT TO DO:

Disclaimer: Doing these steps is at your own risk. The process will root your phone. No CWM recovery will be installed.

If you have already installed Google Play Store on an Amazon Kindle Fire Table 1st Generation you'll be familiar with these steps.

1.- Go to System Update and upgrade your S5.5L to the latest Amigo version (tested on 2.2.2).

2.- Download Towelroot and run it.

This should root your device right away. Reboot your device.

(OPTIONAL) If you want to check that your device is properly rooted, reboot it, before the ELIFE sign shows up press the Volume Up Key. You'll enter the recovery menu. Use the Volume keys to get to the 'Is Rooted?' entry and press the power key. At the bottom of the screen you'll get a prompt that tells you whether your device is rooted or not.

3.- After rebooting your device install SuperSU and ES File Manager.

Your can do this by either downloading and installing the stand alone APKs, or if you are lazy like me, download and install the Amazon App Store and install SuperSU and ES File Manager directly from it. The drawback, you need an Amazon Account.

(NOTICE) I tried with Root Explorer instead of ES File Explorer without any lack. It was crashing as I was trying to change ownership and permissions to the APK files. No clue why.

4.- Go to Settings->Apps and stop any process related to Google Services that is currently running in your phone. Clear the cache date of these processes.

5.- Go to the folder /system/app and rename GmsCore.apk to GmsCore.apk.bak .

You may need to reestablish this file is something goes wrong. Check also the ownership and permissions of the file as you'll have to apply them to the replacement apk.

6.- Go to your Downloads folder. Rename the Google Play Services APK to GmsCore.apk. Change its ownership and permissions to the same that you found in the original file. Move GmsCore.apk to /system/app and reboot your phone.

(NOTE) If everything went fine, you should have now a 'Google Settings' app icon in your desktop.

7.- After rebooting, go again to your download folder. Rename the Google Play apk file to 'Vending.apk'. Set ownership to user=root group=root. Set permissions as 0644 (owner can read/write/exec, group and others read only). Move the Vending.apk file to /system/app . Reboot.

And TA DA!! You should have now along with your Google Settings, your Google Play Store app icon.

So far I only encountered and error install the Swiftkey Keyboard app (not even sure the failure is related to the Store app). Other apps downloaded from the Play Store app in your mobile, as well as apps installed by entering play.google.com in your Desktop PC (and selecting your Gionee GN9000L device as destination) are installing correctly, so far.

Cheers!

Here a short list of apps I've got installed, updated and working,

- Gmail

- Maps + Nav (updated without problems)

- Google Keyboard

- Youtube

- Flipboard

- Netflix

- Express VPN

- Spotify

- Djay2

- CS Scanner PDF

- BBC Apps

- Shazham

- Passwallet

- Yatse

- Hangping Pro

- BIDI

- Dropbox