Sprint Optimus S gets a second chance at a Gingerbread update

[ab30494]

Last September, Sprint began rolling out the Gingerbread update for the LG Optimus S. It was quickly pulled as users were experiencing bugs with the data connection, charging, the keyboard, and worse. Since then, we've been waiting for it's return. Today seems to be that day, as Sprint says the update will begin rolling out Wednesday April 4 for Optimus S devices. Besides Gingerbread and all it's improvements, the following issues were addressed this time around:

Device not charging
SD card unmounting error
Device not recognized by Windows SP, Vista, or 7 operating systems
Predictive text with Android keyboard issue
Voice call volume issue
If you've been waiting for Gingerbread on your Optimus S, now would be a good time to get ready. If you didn't want to wait and have been following the incredible developers for the Optimus from the Android Central forums, you're golden. Don't attempt to flash any update you may be notified of. Your developers will take good care of you, and chances are you won't have to wait six months for it.

Sprint Optimus S gets a second chance at a Gingerbread update | Android Central

 

[jefboyardee]

Curious news. I was at the local Sprint store last week to ask about GB, as I froze myself at Froyo. They said stay there, don’t bother, ain’t worth the trouble. Perhaps I’ll have to go back after I see what people say here...

 

[BudDroid]

Curious news. I was at the local Sprint store last week to ask about GB, as I froze myself at Froyo. They said stay there, don

 

[jefboyardee]

Well, I’m sure they know how inept they look right now, and they know they have to get it right this time, so I look forward to this loaf of Gingerbread.

 

[jefboyardee]

Just got a form note from Sprint saying sit tight, gingerbread is on the way. They also said don’t pull the battery out, which was funny, considering that’s exactly what I did last time.

 

[RazzMaTazz]

It's possible that Sprint's new Gingerbread release break the current class of one-click rooting programs thereby preventing (flashing and rooting your phone) so personally, I wouldn't accept that update unless I knew for sure that it could still be easily rooted.

My wife, son, & I froze ourselves at Froyo ZVC by pulling the battery during the update (to preserve free Hotspot capability through the Quicksettings app) but my daughter (before I could stop her) upgraded to Gingerbread without problem (except no free Hotspot). As far as I could tell, Gingerbread wasn't any better than Froyo. Hardly any meaningful difference.

However, after 1.25 years on our stock Optimus S phones, last week a rooted my daughter's (ZVH) Optimus S and I flashed (Gingerbread-based) HydroROM. It was so easy and awesome that I then rooted my (ZVC) phone, took it up to ZVD, and installed (Gingerbread-based) Reborn ROM. Both HydroROM (for ZVD) & Reborn ROM (for ZVH) are SO much better than stock Froyo or stock Gingerbread, it's ridiculous. Our phones are faster, with lots more memory available (no more memory problems), more capabilities, no unwanted Sprint bloatware or nagware (but I still kept SprintTV), etc.

I wish I had rooted and flashed my phone a LONG time ago. The rooting and flashing process used to be troublesome, but nowadays it's so easy even I can do it.

And the custom ROM developers are making great progress on Android 4.0 (ICS). I test drove Kraven's ICS alpha build (based on the Cyanogen team's CM9) and it's lightening fast and freaking awesome in terms of looks and funtionality-- a HUGE step beyond Froyo/Gingergread. I can't wait until ICS works perfectly on the Optimus S, and I think it'll probably only be a few more weeks until it does. I'm pretty sure LG/Sprint will never release ICS for the Optimus S.

If you're still living on stock ROMs at this point in the Optimus S lifecycle, I strongly recommend that you consider rooting and flashing now.

 

[jefboyardee]

My wife, son, & I froze ourselves at Froyo ZVC by pulling the battery during the update.

Hey, me too, but only because the reviews here were so bad.

The rooting and flashing process used to be troublesome, but nowadays it's so easy even I can do it.

Good read, thanks. I suspected all along that the Optimus was a ploy.

after 1.25 years on our stock Optimus S phones, last week a rooted my daughter's (ZVH) Optimus S

I

 

[ab30494]

It's possible that Sprint's new Gingerbread release break the current class of one-click rooting programs thereby preventing (flashing and rooting your phone) so personally, I wouldn't accept that update unless I knew for sure that it could still be easily rooted.

My wife, son, & I froze ourselves at Froyo ZVC by pulling the battery during the update (to preserve free Hotspot capability through the Quicksettings app) but my daughter (before I could stop her) upgraded to Gingerbread without problem (except no free Hotspot). As far as I could tell, Gingerbread wasn't any better than Froyo. Hardly any meaningful difference.

However, after 1.25 years on our stock Optimus S phones, last week a rooted my daughter's (ZVH) Optimus S and I flashed (Gingerbread-based) HydroROM. It was so easy and awesome that I then rooted my (ZVC) phone, took it up to ZVD, and installed (Gingerbread-based) Reborn ROM. Both HydroROM (for ZVD) & Reborn ROM (for ZVH) are SO much better than stock Froyo or stock Gingerbread, it's ridiculous. Our phones are faster, with lots more memory available (no more memory problems), more capabilities, no unwanted Sprint bloatware or nagware (but I still kept SprintTV), etc.

I wish I had rooted and flashed my phone a LONG time ago. The rooting and flashing process used to be troublesome, but nowadays it's so easy even I can do it.

And the custom ROM developers are making great progress on Android 4.0 (ICS). I test drove Kraven's ICS alpha build (based on the Cyanogen team's CM9) and it's lightening fast and freaking awesome in terms of looks and funtionality-- a HUGE step beyond Froyo/Gingergread. I can't wait until ICS works perfectly on the Optimus S, and I think it'll probably only be a few more weeks until it does. I'm pretty sure LG/Sprint will never release ICS for the Optimus S.

If you're still living on stock ROMs at this point in the Optimus S lifecycle, I strongly recommend that you consider rooting and flashing now.

im goint to install the update, Only 2 months away from a new phone anyway. I will try to root it using the VH method and see what happens.

I will let you know

 

[RazzMaTazz]

Nowadays, it's easy to root your Optimus S and install a custom ROM that will give you much better performance, more RAM for applications & data, etc. Following is a step-by-step guide for dummies (like me).

This guide is only for people on software version ZVD or ZVH, so figure out which software version you have installed first. (I may write a ZVC guide later after I update a couple ZVC phones.) From the home screen, hit the "settings" button, select settings, "About phone". The software version should end in ZVD or ZVH. Make a note of which one. This is really important because certain ROMs only work on certain baseband software versions. (Loading a mismatched ROM wouldn't damage your phone but you probably couldn't use it for phone calls or 3G. You could reflash the appropriate ROM, but you don't want to waste time doing that.)

I'm going to assume that you're using a PC, that you have a working USB driver for your phone, that you know how to connect your phone to your PC via USB, and that you know how to move files between your PC & your phone's SD card.

Here we go:

1) Make sure that you have about 500MB of free space on your SD card. You'll only need it temporarily, so if you don't have enough space, you might want to temporarily move music files to your PC.


2) Rooot your phone and install the Xonia CWMA custom recovery.
--A) Downoad optiauto-sfx.exe to the C: drive of your PC.
--B) Make sure your SD card is installed.
--C) Make sure USB Debugging is enabled. Menu->Settings-> Applications->Development->USB debugging.
--D) Make sure USB Storage Mode is off. (Drag down the notification bar."USB Connected" should be green.)
--E) Make sure that you have the LG/USB drivers installed.
--F) Make sure that the phone is connected to USB port and recognized by the PC.
--G) Make sure that the phone is turned on.
--H) Make sure that the phone screen is unlocked.
--I) Launch Optiauto.exe on your PC. Select option "A". The program will run and it will let you know whether or not it worked. If it works you'll have root access to your phone (thereby allowing you to run certain programs) with the Xonia Custom Recovery installed. (A custom recovery is a little program that you can invoke at power-on that does stuff like backing up, restoring, or loading firmware, etc.)


3) Install Titanium Backup (free app) from the Play Store. Start it. Give it root access and do whatever it tells you to do at startup. Then restart it, select "Backup/Restore", Hit the "Settings" button and select "Batch". Then hit "RUN Backup all user apps + system data". Now you've backed up all your apps and data so that you can easily restore it all to any new custom ROM that you load.


4) Download a custom ROM to your PC and then move it to the top level of your SD card. For ZVH you probably want to choose gROM or HydroROM. (I slightly prefer HydroROM.) For ZVD you probably want to choose Reborn ROM, sROM, or Kraven's CM7 ROM. (I chose RebornROM.)


5) Do a "Nandroid backup". A Nandroid backup creates an image of your current ROM for added safety. If you save this you can always return your phone to EXACTLY the way it was at the time of the Nandroid backup by doing a "retore" of that Nandroid backup. So don't fear! To do a Nandroid backup:
--A) Turn off the phone.
--B) Boot into recovery mode by simultaneously pressing the power button,
----Home-button, and volume-down button until you see the "LG" screen.
----After several seconds you should be greeted by the Xonia Custom Recovery main menu.
----(Note: You'll move the highlight up and down with the volume up/down keys.
----Select with the "Settings" key, and go back with the "Back" key. The "home" key toggles the screen off & on.)
--C) Select "backup and restore".
--D) Select "backup". (It'll take a a minute or two and give your some feedback. Don't worry.)


6) From Xonia's main menu, select "wipe data/factory reset" and confirm. Then select "wipe cache partition" and confirm.


7) From Xonia's main menu, select "install zip from sdcard", then "toggle signature verification" to "off", then "choose zip from sdcard" and select the custom ROM that you loaded onto your SD card. Confirm. The ROM will load. Sit tight. This takes a minute or two.

8) Reboot into your new ROM. The first time (only) takes a really long time. Don't worry.


9) Walk through the set up procedure. Turn on WiFi if available. And install Titanium Backup from the Play Store.


10) Launch Titanium Backup. Give it superuser access and do whatever it says. Select "Backup/Restore", hit the "Settings" button, select "Batch", and "Restore Missing Apps and All System Data".


11) Enjoy! If you didn't choose gROM, consider installing "No Frills CPU Control" from the market so that you can overclock. (You should be able to overclock to at least 806MHz-- maybe faster depending on your phone, but if it starts glitching or crashing, then back-down the clock speed.) And with all that extra speed and memory, you may want to consider downloading and installing Adobe Flash for ARMv6 from here. You may also want to consider installing FoxFi (free app) which gives easy WiFi tethering/Hotspot capability.


12) Clean up. From your PC (via USB) you may want to move your Nandroid backup onto your PC for safekeeping and to free up space on your SD card. You will find your Nandroid backup on your SD card under "clockworkmod/backup". It will be a folder named with a date. DON'T RENAME IT (or the checksum won't work). You may also want delete the custom ROM's zip file from your SD card (since that ROM is now loaded into your phone). And if you moved music (or something) off of your SD card, you may want to move it back.


That wasn't so hard was it?

 

[BudDroid]

RazzMaTazz, you're saying the update started itself automatically?

If so, do you get any warning?

I got a message from Sprint yesterday that an update was available, but I just deleted it and kept going. I'm still on 2.2. I don't really want the "new 2.3" until some users get some time with it to see if the previous problems with it have been resolved.

 

[jefboyardee]

I was also scared to do root and flash a custom ROM, but once I took the plunge, I realized that it's no big deal.

Easy for you to say! But I

 

[jefboyardee]

I don't really want the "new 2.3" until some users get some time with it to see if the previous problems with it have been resolved.

You and me both.

 

[checkers]

The rooting instructions seem easier than i thought and Im thinking of rooting for the first time. My opstimus s has 2.3.3 on it now and the SW version is LS670ZVH. Will I be able to root with the above instructions ??

Thanks In advabce

 

[RazzMaTazz]

RazzMaTazz, you're saying the update started itself automatically?

If so, do you get any warning?

I'm referring to the old Gingerbread update that happened months ago. (That's the one my daughter accepted before I could stop her.) Sprint displayed an alert about the update and she chose to install it. The rest of us pulled our batteries to prevent the update from happening and to stop the nagging alert. I imagine that this update will work the same way. I would strongly advise against accepting it. I can't guarantee that the above rooting and flashing method would work with the new update-- in fact I'd guess it wouldn't.

 

[RazzMaTazz]

I made some edits on the above how-to guide and posted it over on the "All Things Root" section of this Optimus S forum. It's at the following link. From now on, if I make any edits, it'll be on that thread so you should probably refer to that one.
http://androidforums.com/optimus-s-...ep-step-rooting-flashing-guide-optimus-s.html

 

[checkers]

Thanks for the quick response, my phone was updated a while ago ( i never saw it come ) so i assume your rooting method will work. Thanks again.

 

[RazzMaTazz]

Thanks for the quick response, my phone was updated a while ago ( i never saw it come ) so i assume your rooting method will work. Thanks again.

Yeah, the old update came around November. (I just looked it up.) If you have that November-era ZVH software installed, you'll be able to root and flash new ROM per the instructions above.

 

[RazzMaTazz]

For anybody who wants to refuse the new "ZVJ" update, following is the method that many of us used several months ago. I guess this method still works.

1. When you get the update notice, go into the "More Info" page of the update.
2. Pull the battery (I think immediately, while the phone is trying to get to the page).

Pulling the battery after clicking "More Info" on the update notice prevented any future nagging notices to update.

One possible downside of doing this is that if you ever do want to do an over-the-air (OTA) update, I don't know how to invoke an update. I'm sure there's a way, but I don't know how. I actually tried to do an OTA update (from ZVC to ZVD so that I could root and flash from there) using the built-in menu options, but it said there was no new firmware available. I ended up having to manually install the ZVD ROM.

 

[jefboyardee]

Pull the battery (I think immediately, while the phone is trying to get to the page.

That’s what I did, and left it out a good thirty seconds.

One possible downside of doing this is that if you ever do want to do an over-the-air (OTA) update, I don't know how to invoke an update.

I never figured that out either.

Meanwhile, I guess we’re about to get that exciting notice any minute now. This time, I don’t think I’m going to yank the battery, but just tap LATER, over and over, for a week as I read reactions here.

If the reactions are good, I’ll tap NOW, but if they’re horrible again, it’s yank time again.

I wonder if this time I could just use my trusty Connection Manager to stop the process.

 

[RazzMaTazz]

Jeff: I'll be interested to hear whether or not you get the update notice considering that you defeated (and somehow confused) the update system for ZVD by pulling the battery.

I'm not sure, but it may be possible to "de-confuse" the system by going into Settings-> Applications ->Manage Applications -> All and clearing the data and/or cache on the various updater processes from LG, Sprint, & Google. (May require a reboot.)

There's a big buzz about ZVJ on THIS thread at Android Central, so you might to check that thread for more info. As of today (page 14) nobody has reported getting the update.

I'm probably going to root and flash my wife's phone and my son's phone tonight before they accidentally accept the ZVJ update.

 

[jefboyardee]

interested to hear whether or not you get the update notice considering that you defeated (and somehow confused) the update system

I figured I’d never get one, but got the heads-up notice yesterday, and that either means something or it doesn’t. And one interesting morsel within warned us to be absolutely sure not to yank the battery or really bad things will happen.

may be possible to "de-confuse" the system

The closest thing I could find that actually has cache data I can clear is called Sprint Installer... maybe that?

I'm probably going to root and flash my wife's phone and my son's phone tonight before they accidentally accept the ZVJ update.

Could you please stop by my place and root mine on your way there? I’m in Tierra del Fuego... kidding.

 

[jefboyardee]

There's a big buzz about ZVJ on THIS thread at Android Central

You ain

 

[jefboyardee]

one interesting morsel within warned us to be absolutely sure not to yank the battery or really bad things will happen.

From the horse

 

[jefboyardee]

The closest thing I could find that actually has cache data I can clear is called Sprint Installer... maybe that?

Without knowing what

 

[RazzMaTazz]

From the horse’s mouth:
Do not remove the battery during the download. Doing so can damage your device.

It makes sense that you shouldn't pull the battery during the download or during the install. But the instructions above (that we used to prevent the ZVD & ZVH updates) was to pull the battery after hitting the "More Info" button.