Questions about Android

[BigAl-sa]

Only bad thing I can say about SE phones is the crap Display (Scratch easy) and personally I am not a fan of plastic bodies, but that's also the reason I dont like the S2.

I bought a 2nd hand X10 mini pro three months back (dunno how long the previous owner had it, but I think it was just after SA release) and there are NO scratches on the display. Mine lives in one of my pockets without a pouch/cover.

As mentioned, the biggest drawback to SE phones is the lack of updates. The X10 mini pro is stuck on 2.1

 

[Stickfigure]

If I remember correctly, SE have confirmed that their Xperia range will be getting an update to ICS in South Africa. Something Samsung and HTC haven't confirmed yet.

 

[Elimentals]

I bought a 2nd hand X10 mini pro three months back (dunno how long the previous owner had it, but I think it was just after SA release) and there are NO scratches on the display. Mine lives in one of my pockets without a pouch/cover.

As mentioned, the biggest drawback to SE phones is the lack of updates. The X10 mini pro is stuck on 2.1

Well put your phone in your pocket with your house keys, then we talk again.... yes I was an idiot for doing this but seeing that I have done so for ages with iPhone and the HTC's I did not think about it.

If I remember correctly, SE have confirmed that their Xperia range will be getting an update to ICS in South Africa. Something Samsung and HTC haven't confirmed yet.

True, but only in March and to be honest 2.3.4 is perfectly fine for normal use.

 

[warlokk3]

Arc s has a 1.4ghz processor + a few very small changes and is the same price-- if your looking at SE
That was the phone i wanted before the S2 took my gaze.

 

[SCHUMI-4-EVA]

Terrible UI. Unstable and ugly. And like you said, cheap build quality. And SE has a bad track record with updates.

Last I checked the arc was a few hundred cheaper than the sensation. And it's dual vs single core. I might be wrong seeing as you're saying its 2500 cash.

In any event if you're going cheap and single core, what about rbm's huaweis?

Sent from my HTC Desire using Tapatalk

You're honestly recommending a damn Huawei over an SE phone? You must be crazy.

Stock is perfectly stable and looks just fine though I will admit HTC tend to add even more polish and personal flair.

I guess he could look for a HTC Desire S but that means a weaker cam and most likely no more official updates.

 

[SanchoP]

If you guys wouldn't mind my jumping in here, how does upgrading to a newer version (specifically v4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich) work? I'm about to get the Xperia Active and I know they plan on officially upgrading to ICS some time next year, but is it fairly easy to just go and do it yourself?

 

[Elimentals]

If you guys wouldn't mind my jumping in here, how does upgrading to a newer version (specifically v4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich) work? I'm about to get the Xperia Active and I know they plan on officially upgrading to ICS some time next year, but is it fairly easy to just go and do it yourself?

All SE's released in 2011 will get ICS.

You will just get a prompt on your phone saying there is an update, and will happen around April from the reports I have seen.

To do it yourself you have to wait for CM 9 or such to release it and then hop on over to http://unlockbootloader.sonyericsson.com/ to unlock your phone so you can flash it manually or you could follow http://wiki.cyanogenmod.com/wiki/Sony_Ericsson_Xperia_Arc:_Full_Update_Guide when CM 9 is out.

 

[SCHUMI-4-EVA]

Depends on which method you choose. Never attempt an OTA update with a battery lower than 90%. Don't unlock your bootloader and then try to update via OTA. And then there's the third unofficial method of just loading a generic firmware from Wotanserver and a 4th where custom roms tend to get upgraded faster than official manufacturer releases though that requires rooting. O yeah and there's the 5th method where you obtain a stock ftf of the firmware and then use flashtool.
The easiest would probably be an update via PC Suite but know that it will erase your root. The only way to update keeping root access intact would be to do an OTA update or update via WotanServer.
Wotanserver updates will wipe all your data as far as I know so have backups before that.

 

[Elimentals]

Depends on which method you choose. Never attempt an OTA update with a battery lower than 90%. Don't unlock your bootloader and then try to update via the PC Suite. And then there's the third unofficial method of just loading a generic firmware from Wotanserver and a 4th where custom roms tend to get upgraded faster than official manufacturer releases though that requires rooting. O yeah and there's the 5th method where you obtain a stock ftf of the firmware and then use flashtool.
The easiest would probably be an update via PC Suite but know that it will erase your root. The only way to update keeping root access intact would be to do an OTA update or update via WotanServer.
Wotanserver updates will wipe all your data as far as I know so have backups before that.

Oooh crap, thanx for the reminder. If you root, do not under any circumstances run OTA or PC update, there has been many reports of bricking over at XDA. Unroot then run the update just to be safe. You can always root again after the update.

 

[SCHUMI-4-EVA]

The OTA bricks were primarily people who go caught by the 0% bug when rooting via the old Gingerbreak method which required downgrading to 2.3.2 and then they updated back to 2.3.4 and basically nuked their motherboard. Or people that did an OTA update after unlocking their bootloader (sorry I got it wrong in my post above, PC Suite update after bootloader unlocking is ok, it's OTA that's bad).
That said it's technically the least reliable method since your PC is more likely of being able to maintain a stable connection than your phone.

 

[SanchoP]

Cool thanks for that guys. Was just interested to know how it all works, but I think in all likelihood I'll wait for SE's official ICS release. Cheers.

 

[BigAl-sa]

This is totally OT now, but it may be of interest to anyone running linux. You have to run SE's PC Suite from a Windows machine to update a phone. You can't run it from inside a VirtualBox, even with the device attached directly to the VirtualBox. When you have to reboot the phone with the back button pressed during the upgrade, the USB connection is lost. So I assume the PC Suite software takes direct control of the USB port to monitor the reboot process.

 

[Elimentals]

One quick thing that I didn't quite understand: when SE decides to upgrade the phones to ICS, will we have to wait for them to include SA in this plan and then get the upgrade pushed through to the phones, or can we do it immediately through the PC Suite?

Both push and PC updates will need the OK from our SP's. Once your service provider gave the OK you will be able to download and install the official version from SE via the PC suite or OTA.

If you want to get it beforehand you will have to do it manually via root and flash if its a community ROM like CM9 of flashtool if its the official ROM that someone from another country uploaded it.

Also note it can be that MTN gives the OK before Vodacom, so if you have a MTN SIM in the phone you will be able to update and if you have a Vodacom sim you will have to wait for them to give the OK. This can be sped up by borrowing someone's MTN SIM card to do the quick update. I did this with my original Desire last year when MTN gave the OK about 1 month before Vodacom did.