Custom ROM Available for the LeTV X3 Series (LeEco)

Android TV is a mixed bag, for lack of a better term. Some people like it, while others just flat out hate it. What is more, there is not that much custom ROM development for this particular version of Android, which makes the developer community shy away from it. LeEco, which has been on the headlines for a slew of reasons, most of which are somewhat-negative, has been manufacturing their own Android TVs for the last couple of years, starting with the X3 series and most recently, the X4 series.

Not long ago, we published an article regarding a custom AOSP recovery for the LeEco (formerly LeTV) X3 series, which was developed by XDA Senior Member dipcore. At the time the article was written, not much was achieved other than a functional recovery. However, as it is the case with most devices that get a custom recovery, the doors to rejoicing in the endless opportunities of hacking open up. As for the case of the X3, dipcore decided to not stop at simply having made a recovery, but he also made a custom ROM for the set. The dev has offered various instructions in the thread on how to root and install other goodies (think Playstore), but if you are looking for a simpler solution, then the ROM in question is for you.

The ROM for the X3 is based off of an official release from LeEco and on top of being rather debloated (no more TV Manager!), it comes with familiar options and extras that do not come standard with EUI (LeEco's UI flavor). For instance,

Change default launchers and not be restricted to use EUI as default;
Google Services pre-installed (along with the Google Play Store);
Root via SuperSU;
An updated (and somewhat friendlier) UI;
Access to Android Settings (yes, the stock sw hides it);
Access to the Engineering Menu (half of it is in Chinese, so unless you understand it, messing with the options in there is likely not the best idea);

There are other goodies under the hood as well and, according to dipcore, another version will be coming soon. The ROM, however, is not without its hiccups. For instance, updating the Play Store (because we all know how much the Google's services and apps like to stay up to date) will cause, not only for the Store to not work properly (or at all) but it can also cause major system instability. The easiest way around this would be to install everything and anything you may need on the TV before the Play Store tries to update itself (and turn off automatic update). You can also install any other app by downloading the apk and installing it via a file explorer.

As far as installation of the ROM is concerned, you must first make sure that your recovery is properly installed.

How to flash recovery?

- TV is off

- Put LetvUpgrade928.bin from the archive to root folder of a usb drive and insert it to the TV

- Stay in front of the TV and point the remote to the center of the TV and press: SETTINGS, VOL+, VOL-, CH-, CH+, POWER (each button should be hold during 1-2 seconds, so no rush)

- TV will boot up and you'll get a blue progress bar. After flashing the TV turns itself off.

After that, installing the ROM is just a regular procedural ROM flash. You will need an external memory to do this. Luckily, the TV is furnished with 3 USB ports as well as a SD card port. Simply put the file under the root directory of the memory you choose and flash away. One word of advise would be to ensure that the ROM is compatible with your specific set as LeEco made several variants of the X3.

In order to obtain the ROM file to flash, you need to get in touch with the developer via pm and express your interest to test it. Be sure to include your exact model and current software version in the pm. Do you feel that your TV could do more? Then follow the link below!

[button link=https://forum.xda-developers.com/android/software/recovery-letv-x3-55-x3-55pro-x3-65-x3-t3559159 icon="Select a Icon" side="left" target="" color="f85050" textcolor="ffffff"]hop over to the thread, get in touch with the developer, and flash away![/button]