[Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 Questions & Answers] JaFranchise:
Hello everyone,

tl;dr version

What's the best way to install a custom rom on the Redmi Note 3 out of the box with a locked bootloader. What is the best rom to use for maximum functionality.

I have been following these forums for a while, but haven't got around to creating an account and posting. I'm new to flashing roms, and my experience goes as far as following guides to flash a Samsung S4, and a Samsung S2. The Samsung phones were really easy to flash, and I just followed guides in a robotic way without ever actually learning anything. For the record, CM12 on the Samsung S2, which I'm using because I smashed my S4, is absolutely unbelievable in regards to the increase of performance.

One of my work friends was telling me that he has a mate who bought a Chinese phone really cheap and flashed it. Getting excited, knowing exactly where I need to look to flash a phone, I impulsively researched these phones and bought a Redmi Note 3 for $173 AUD. It's on the way in the mail. Having looked at the hardware specs, this price is absolutely ridiculous. I was more swayed to buy the Redmi Note 3, because multiple sites reported that the second sim slot can hold a micro SD card. The only downside I can see to this phone is the bloatware and stock rom that it comes with, and the reason for this post is to discuss the best way in which to flash a new rom. If you have managed to read this far, thanks for reading my life story!

Having limited experience in the phone flashing world, from researching it looks like the flashing process is something like:

Unlock the bootloader

Flash a recovery program

Use the recovery to flash rom/app

My understanding of the bootloader and why it needs to be unlocked is limited. I've done some research around it, and this is what I have found. The bootloader is the first thing that runs when the phone starts up, loads the kernel and the rom, and verifies that you have a legit recovery program. It needs to be unlocked so you can put a custom recovery on to your phone. Once you have that sorted, flashing roms from the recovery is a pretty straight forward process. If I'm wrong, please correct me, because this is what I have understood from looking around and I'm not confident about my understanding.

Unlocking the Bootloader On The Redmi Note 3

Having read on multiple sites, this looks like the biggest constraint when trying to flash a custom rom on the Redmi Note 3. This is because Xiaomi have locked the bootloader for this device, when most other phones do not have this problem. Most flashing guides for the Redmi Note 3 assume that the boodloader is unlocked or list it as a pre-requisite, so I'm unsure what path to take here. From research, it looks like there are 3 possible ways to move forward from here:

Official Bootloader Unlock

Unofficial Bootloader Unlock

Bypassing The Bootloader Unlock

Because my account is new, the following links aren't hyperlinked and in a good format due to permissions. Sorry! It'd be sweet if a mod could edit it.

1. Official Bootloader Unlock

This seems like the most legit way to unlock the bootloader. Apparently you just go to: endotmiuidotcom/unlock/ and apply for an unlock by using google translate and creating an account. People have reported response times taking over a month, not getting a successful application, or the unlocking process getting stuck at 50%. To me this doesn't sound appealing and I'm not too keen on waiting a month to find I'm unsuccessful in applying.

2. Unofficial Bootloader Unlock

This process is found here: endotmiuidotcom/thread-253680-1-1.html and looks to be a bit tedious. Apparently there is a high chance for a brick using this method, and some custom recoveries don't work well with it. My other concern is that if the brickrate is high, and this method was released around april, it could be possible that Xiaomi has made some further updates, further increasing the chance for a brick.

3. Bypassing The Bootloader Unlock

I found this process on a post from these forums, which then sourced a reddit post. The reddit post is pretty straight forward and can be found here: wwwdotredditdotcom/r/Xiaomi/comments/5611tg/psa_you_can_flash_twrp_and_subsequently_cm13/ .This process works by flashing a legit miui rom, but by flashing it with a modified recovery image, in particular, a custom recovery like TWRP. Having considered the three methods, this looks like the easiest way of getting it done.

My questions are: has anyone done any of these three methods successfully? What method do you recommend? Have I missed anything? Are there any other methods?

My understanding is once the bootloader is unlocked, you install TWRP. Then once that is installed you flash whatever rom you want, which leads into my next question. What is the best ROM to use?

It looks like the most viable roms are the CM roms. I've seen CM 13 and CM 14, are people running CM 13 instead of 14. Why? Is it more stable? Ideally I'm after the most functionality possible. Are there any other roms that you'd recommend flashing? When flashing roms are you supposed to do all the standard things that you would on other phones, factory wipe/cache wipe/davlik cache wipe, flash rom, flash gapps? I've also seen that CM needs firmware flashed before the rom, will this mess anything up and can it brick? Can you do all this stuff from TWRP with a locked bootlader (method 3)? I really like having notification badges too, what will I need to do for this to happen?

If you have read all of this, I really appreciate you taking the time. I hope I haven't broken any forum rules in the process.