HTC did a great job with the Incredible S. This smartphone is nicely built from the inside out. The device is packed with a decently powered 1 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor and a 4-inch Super LCD display. Combined with its sleek design, the HTC Incredible S made it to the list of popular Android smartphones.

One of the things that made this device popular is the ever-dependable Sense UI which is preloaded on the device like most HTC smartphones that run the Android platform. And, as popular and dependable as it may seem, we still have to acknowledge the fact that there will be people who’d prefer something else. This is where the idea of building custom ROMs come into play.

The highly customizable nature of Android made the concept of custom ROMs possible. When it comes to custom ROMs, MIUI is one of the best. The ROM originated in China and eventually made it to the U.S. through the efforts of the Android community. MIUI is known for its stability, its fast processing speed, and its iPhone-like user interface.

You may already have some idea of where we’re heading right now. And yes, your hunch is indeed correct. We are going to look into the steps on how to install or port MIUI into the HTC Incredible S. You may now be asking: why bother? Basing on experience and user reviews, putting the two together did generate a very good outcome. The Incredible S seems to run a bit faster with MIUI and the battery seems to last longer, too. So, are you up for the challenge? Go ahead, read on.

Preparing the Device

As in any other Android hacking endeavor, we have to prepare the device first so that things will be smooth and orderly. The preparation stage will involve a lot of processes; please do carefully follow these processes to avoid messing up the device.

• You need a computer with Windows Vista or Windows 7. This will be used to download MIUI.
• The device needs to be rooted or “S-Off”. For details on how to do this you can go here.
• The Incredible S should have the latest version of its radio. This will prevent issues about not being able to make phone calls after MIUI is installed. The details on how to install the latest radio firmware can be found here.
• The ROM Manager app should be installed in the device. The app can be downloaded from here.

Now that everything is already set, we can now install the MIUI custom ROM into the HTC Incredible S. Just to reiterate, please proceed with caution and do thoroughly read the steps before proceeding.

Steps to Install MIUI

1. Download the MIUI custom ROM which will be in a ZIP file. Just follow this link for the download. Just save the file on the desktop.
2. The downloaded ZIP file needs to be copied over to the Incredible S. This can be done by connecting the device via USB cable. The ZIP file has to be stored in the root directory of the SD card of the device.
3. Boot the Incredible S into recovery mode. Just open the ROM Manager app and then tap on “Reboot into Recovery”, which is one of the options in the app.
4. Reset the device to its factory default. This can be done by choosing “Wipe/Factory Reset” option from the recovery mode menu.
5. This is now the part where you install the MIUI ROM. Go back to the main menu of Recovery Mode and then select “Install Zip from SD Card”. To start the installation, choose the ZIP file (i.e., the one that you copied into the device earlier).
6. Everything will now be automated from here on, so you just have to sit back and wait.
7. After the installation completes, you have to reboot the device. The device will ask for the preferred language when it boots up again. Once done, it should be good to go.

The steps in porting MIUI into the HTC Incredible S may look somewhat long, but they are worth it. Have you tried putting MIUI on your HTC Incredible S?