Complete Guide to Install MIUI (KitKat 4.4.4) on Sony Xperia Ion (Lt28h)

Sony Xperia Ion (lt28h): A phone with Dual-core 1.5 GHz Qualcomm MSM8260 Snapdragon chipset,
13.2 GB internal memory, 1 GB RAM, 12 MP primary camera and Android v4.1.2 (Jelly Bean).
Jelly bean? Really!!? And what makes it depressing is Sony will no more update its firmware
to KitKat for this device. What a waste of such a good resourceful  phone. But, if warranty
of your phone is already expired or you are the one who doesn’t really bother about warranty of the
phone, you will be able to taste the sweet taste of KitKat. Custom ROMs are always there for your help.
What more? You will be the actual owner of your phone with total control of it in your hand. By far,
MIUI has the latest ROM (v4.4.4) designed for Xperia Ion. Besides this, there are plenty of other
options like Cyanogenmod, Slimkat, Carbon, etc.

Here, we give you a simple step by step guide to get rid of Jelly Bean from your Xperia Ion
and install the latest MIUI (KitKat 4.4.4).

Let’s get started with Prerequisites:

Software Required	Link to Download
FlashTool for Xperia	http://www.flashtool.net/downloads.php
Stock ROM (LT28h_6.2.B.0.211_Generic)	http://d-h.st/sSI
Android sdk	https://developer.android.com/sdk/index.html#Other
CWM Recovery	https://www.androidfilehost.com/?fid=13858085825318748212
Rootscript	http://d-h.st/Kmm
MIUI ROM (Version: 4.12.20 ?V5? )	http://en.miui.com/download-106.html
Fastboot Driver	http://developer.sonymobile.com/downloads/drivers/fastboot-driver/
Gapps package	http://d-h.st/TuV7

Step 1: Flashing the Stock ROM Using Flashtool

1. Download and install the Flashtool from this LINK.

2. Navigate to the “Drivers” folder where Flashtool is installed (D:\Flashtool\drivers).

3. Execute the Flashtool-drivers.exe file. Following window appears.

4. Select all the driver components and click Install. Installation takes 10-15 mins to complete.

5. Extract  LT28h_6.2.B.0.211_Generic.zip (stock ROM) and copy the
LT28h_6.2.B.0.211_Generic.rtf file to D:\Flashtool\firmwares.

6. Execute the Flashtool.exe file present in the D:\FlashTool folder.

Note: If you are using 64 bit machine, use FlashTool64.exe.

7. Wait until the following window appears.

8. Click the lightening icon at the top left corner of the application. Following dialog box appears.

9. Select Flashmode and click Ok. Following window appears.

10. Select the firmware LT28h at top left of the window and click Flash.

11. Wait until the following window appears.

Note: It is not required to connect your phone to PC till this step.

12. Unlock your phone. Navigate to Settings-> Security and select the Unknown sources check box. Navigate to Settings-> Developer options and select the USB debugging check box.

 

13. Power off your phone. Once it is completely switched off, keep pressing the volume down button. Meanwhile, connect the phone to PC via USB cable. Now, FlashTool will proceed with the operation.

14. Disconnect the phone and start it after the process is completed. Following window appears.

This completes the Flashing process.

Step 2: Unlocking the Boot Loader

1. Visit the page http://developer.sonymobile.com/unlockbootloader/ and follow the instructions to get the unlock code for your phone.

2. After getting the Unlock code for your phone, install Android SDK.

3. Navigate to C:\Users\<UserName>\AppData\Local\Android\android-sdk. Click SDK Manager. Following window appears.

4. Click Extras. Ensure that Google USB Driver is selected. Click Install packages.

5. Unzip the Fastboot Driver (downloadinf_v1.01.zip) and copy android_winusb.inf to C:\Users\<UserName>\AppData\Local\Android\android-sdk\extras\google\usb_driver. When the overwrite confirmation dialog box appears, click Yes.

6. On your phone, go to Settings-> Developer options and select the USB debugging check box.

7. Open the command prompt in Windows and navigate to platform-tools folder (C:\Users\<UserName>\AppData\Local\Android\android-sdk\platform-tools).

8. Enter the following command and ensure that you get an answer back without any errors.

> fastboot devices 

9. Enter the following command and ensure that you get an answer back without any errors.

Note: In this case, 4D0000000000F8 is the unlock code.

This completes unlocking the bootloader for your phone.

Step 3: Rooting the Phone

1. On your phone, ensure that the Unknown resources option in Security and USB debugging option in Developer options are selected.

2.Download the rootscript from this LINK. Unzip the rootscript zip file (DooMLoRD_Easy-Rooting-Toolkit_v17_perf-event-exploit.zip).

3. Execute runme_win.bat. Following screen appears.

5. Connect your phone to PC via USB cable.

Script completes the execution.

7. After the script execution completes, phone will reboot. After it reloads completely, you can observe the SuperSU app icon in the app drawer.

This confirms the successful rooting of your phone.

8. Tap on the SuperSU icon. Tap on Default access and select the Grant option.

Step 4: Installing CWM Recovery

1. Download  CWM Recovery from this LINK. Extract CWM6_Ganesh_Jb_Xperia+ION_v1.zip, run cwm-install-en.bat. Press any key 3 times. Following screen appears.

2. Connect the phone to PC via USB cable. Installation proceeds and finishes with the following screen.

3. Press any key and the window closes. Now, you can disconnect the phone.

CWM recovery is successfully installed on your device.

Step 5: Installing MIUI on the Device

1. Download MIUI Rom from this LINK.

Copy the downloaded MIUI ROM (miui_28_kin_4.12.20_f1e64a9554_4.4.zip) into the phone’s internal SD card.

2. Power off the phone.

3.To boot the device in recovery mode, switch on the device, as soon as SONY logo appears, continuously press the volume down button. Phone’s LED light will first blink with blue color and later will turn into green. The phone will now enter into recovery mode.

4. In the recovery screen, navigate to wipe data/factory reset and select the same (Use Vol+ and Vol- buttons to navigate across the menu and Power button to select a entry. Back button will navigate to the previous screen).  Select Yes in the next screen.

5. Navigate back to the first screen and select wipe cache partition. Select Yes in the next screen.

6. Navigate to the first screen, select advanced > wipe dalvik cache and select Yes.

7. Again navigate back to the first screen and select install zip > choose zip from /storage/sdcard0. Select  the ROM zip file you have previously copied. Wait till the installation completes.

8. Select Reboot System now in the first screen.

9. Wait until the phone boots with the MI logo.

Congratulations!!! You have successfully upgraded your old Jelly Bean stuffed Sony Xperia Ion into refreshingly funky MIUI.

Step 6: Installing GApps 

First thing you notice after installing any custom ROM is that, you will not find any option to add Google account under Settings->Accounts section. Neither Google play nor any other google apps are installed. Follow the below steps to get it all back.

1. Download GApps from this LINK. Copy the downloaded GApps zip file (pa_gapps-modular-micro-4.4.4-20141214-signed.zip) into the phone’s SD card.

2. Tap on the Tools folder present in home screen of the phone. Tap on Updater.

  

3. Following screen appears (Fig. i). Tap on the menu button of the phone (Hard button), the options appear (Fig. ii). Select the Reboot to Recovery mode option. Select Ok on the confirmation pop up (Fig. iii).

     

4. Phone will reboot into recovery mode. In the recovery screen, select install zip > choose zip from /storage/sdcard0. Select the GApps Zip file you have previously copied. Wait until the installation completes.

5. Navigate back to the first screen and select Reboot System now.

6. Phone will reboot and your phone will be ready to use.

Thank you for reading and please comment in case if you face any issues.