Differences between KG3 (2.3.3) and KH3 (2.3.4)

[Hawker]

I finally bit the bullet and installed KH3 over my stock Orange KG3.

This was my first Odin upgrade, and I was surprised how straightforward it was to install. I did get concerned that Odin doesnt actually tell you when the update has completed, and had a nervous minute waiting for the phone to boot, but all ok.

Lost a lot of icons on my home screens, but I think most of these were Orange related. Not too bothered about that.

Differences I have found so far:

1. A new System Power Saving mode (as discussed here)

2. "Data" has been replaced with "Sound" In the green icons you get when you drop down the notification bar. Cant seem to get "data" back at all now. Not sure I like this as I like to be able to quickly see if data is active. "Sound" here will mute/unmute the phone.

3. Previously when connected to wireless, if I pressed the power button it would say "data network mode deactivated" and pressing this option would not change this setting (which is what i expect, as i'm on my router) Now it DOES change. Worrying.....

4. Big difference when going into MTP mode. USB icon appears in notification area instead of a big usb graphic on the screen (not big difference in itself) BUT: the phone can still be used normally and it stays in MTP mode throughout allowing Kies to operate on the phone if required. Previously you would have to press the home button to use the phone after connecting the cable, whereby Kies would lose sight of the phone

5. I use a pattern to unlock, and the graphic has changed slightly. There used to be a slight blurred affect around the buttons which I liked. This has gone, and small arrow indicators show the direction you move between buttons.

6. when swyping, word suggestions pop up in a horizontal scrolling list between message and keyboard instead of a list of 4 or so suggestions that popped up over the message in the previous version.

7. Orange power on-off graphics now replaced with Samsung versions

8. I found that for some reason, if I go into Messaging, then click to add a contact, then the list shows all phone+sim contacts. If I go into Phone, Contacts, I only see my phone contacts (which is what I want). Could be a bug here? Or perhaps Hancent and GO SMS pro recently installed has done something with this.

9. I have the latest version 3 of Market installed and since KH3 I can't seem to install anything from the market place. Each different one I try seems to download but fails during the actual install. I've had to go back to version 2 of Market in order to successfully install something.
However, I re-installed the v3 .apk of Market when already on KH3, and this seems to work.

I shall add more changes here when I come across them...

 

[Twinn]

i`m about to do same but with KG5 in a moment then root... hope i won`t F it up

edit

done KG5 + rooted and works fine

 

[heshanj]

the biggest change for me from KG2 to KG5/KH3 would be battery battery battery u'll find out once u keep testing it

1. yeah system power saving mode is new, but i dont think i'd ever use these

2. i always had sound in the notification bar, i guess that must've been part of ur carrier firmware

3. not sure if i have this either

4. yes. its a big improvement, in my opinion. i can now use MTP instead of mounting

6. i think i noticed this earlier too, the new swype version. and i really think the old form of word suggestions popping up over the message was better. now when it opens that horizontal bar, ur message window gets resized, and once u select a word, it clears, and the window gets resized again! and that resizing process is not smooth at ALL, gives it a really cluttered clunky feel. i'd have changed if i didnt love swype so much.

 

[Blue1k]

Running KH3 on Bell S2. Right now at 16 hours on battery with 22% battery left. This is with new default power savings option checked.

 

[evohicks]

So with 2.3.4 is there the option to view webpages in mobile view and full view?

 

[Hawker]

Point 8 added above.

I was interested by shoeey's post regarding the Lite'ning ROM

What are the implications of installing this, as it looks very good.
I've just installed standard KH3, so could I go back to the standard KH3 if I cant get on with the Lite'ning version, as I noticed in the article it says that downloading this also roots the device? Not sure what the implications are of rooting. Would putting the standard KH3 then un-root the device?

 

[Twinn]

don`t worry too much, i had doubts as well but yesterday updated it (from KE7 to KG5) and then rooted and now just upgraded with Lite`ning rom so testing in progress but it seems faster than KG5 so far

id say u probably loose waranty if u root and upgrade with non official rom but not 100% sure, correct me if im wrong

 

[Hawker]

Cheers twinn mate
Yes your right, you will lose your warranty even if you upgrade firmware via a non Kies source, let alone rooting. (I was on orange firmware KG3 but decided to put KH3 on)

I'm still contemplating this litening rom. it looks very good.
I like the battery percentage icon in the top too. much more informative.

 

[Twinn]

so bye bye warranty in my case but i`m on only year contract so i dont worry too much anyway Litening rom is really great! FAST! and battery improved A LOT! thanks hawker for good idea with this rom i deffo don`t regret moving to it as i wasn`t fully happy with KG5. need more time for testing but as far as now it`s worth moving to

 

[Hawker]

I find the new style of word suggestions when writing an SMS a big backward step. The previous method that used to pop up a scrolling list of 4 or so words over the text I think worked much better. As heshanj said above, the window resizes for the horizontal list and resizes back to normal when the list is hidden, and its just not smooth at all.
Worse still, I frequently get wrong words in my message when suggestions pop up. For example, if i type a word that pops up suggestions and press space, the word I typed is not kept. Instead it gets replaced with the first word in the suggestion list. This is awful.

 

[cuteseal]

Worse still, I frequently get wrong words in my message when suggestions pop up. For example, if i type a word that pops up suggestions and press space, the word I typed is not kept. Instead it gets replaced with the first word in the suggestion list. This is awful.

I had that complaint too, but if you go to swype settings > word suggestion > auto-correction = off, it doesn't do the auto-replace thing when you press the space bar. All happy now.

 

[cuteseal]

Slight quirk with the swype keyboard though - I've changed the languages to english only, but when I type words that aren't in the swype dictionary, the blue text that comes up is in a foreign language.

e.g.

"xxx" aan woordenboek toevoegen

Very strange...

 

[id_mew]

Hi guys, I'm currently on KG5 and I'm just wondering is the KH3 an official release?
I checked the XDA forum but it seems that KH3 is under Frankenstein Firmwares and not the official firmwares.
Thanks.

 

[Twinn]

Hi guys, I'm currently on KG5 and I'm just wondering is the KH3 an official release?
I checked the XDA forum but it seems that KH3 is under Frankenstein Firmwares and not the official firmwares.
Thanks.

u just answered yourself KH3 is NOT official.

 

[id_mew]

u just answered yourself KH3 is NOT official.

Lol thanks for the fast reply.
I'll stay away than so I don't void my warranty.

 

[evohicks]

So with 2.3.4 is there the option to view webpages in mobile view and full view?

Any news on this in stock browser settings?

 

[Hawker]

I tried installing KG5 over KH3 and I couldnt get my phone to boot.
It kept looping in the Samsung startup splash screen.

I had to put KH3 back on again. Thankfully it booted.

Any ideas, as I didnt realise KH3 was a freankinstein firmware and wanted to put an official KG5 on instead.
HELP!

 

[Sydney99]

did you try flashing the whole package or just the stock kernal??

i have previously used unoffical frankenstein firmware (eg KG1) and found could simply flash the whole KG5 package (pda,phone,csc) directly on top and it worked fine

personally have found some functions not working properly on frankenstein firmware, so I now stick to the official stuff

 

[Hawker]

I downloaded the whole firmware using the Poland link (261 Mb) as you suggested here sydney. (please understand I'm not pointing any blame towards you whatsoever!!!!)

Followed the odin update instructions to the letter.
KG5 all went through ok on Odin, said PASS in green. The GS2 rebooted, did some unix-looking updating messages in yellow texts and after this was done, it then just continued to loop in the samsung startup screen. Waited for about 10 minutes while it kept doing this before I decided there was an issue. I tried pulling out the battery and rebooted, but made no difference. It just continued to stick on the splash screen.

So I was left no choice but to put KH3 back on. Used exactly the same method of course, and that updated fine and the GS2 then booted up normally (PHEW!!!). Seems for now I am stuck with this Frankenstien version

Not sure if I should stick with KH3 for now and download it again when it becomes official, or keep on trying KG5. Dont particularly want to keep trying, as this episode has made me very weary of updating firmware now. I thought my phone was shot!

 

[Sydney99]

can understand the heart-in-mouth moment - think would have been the same here!

never happened to me, but what you're describing sounds very typical of a boot loop, which is harmless and can happen at anytime and is just one of those things. the usual advice from those more experienced and knowledgeable is to just re-flash - you'd probably find just reflashing the KG5 firmware would work next time without boot loop. but can understand your reluctance.

if you're happy with KH3 stick with it for now, most people seem to agree it's as good as anything right now.

 

[Hawker]

Thanks sydney, you've been a great help to me this last week or 2.

When it first looped, I tried the procedure again and re-flashed with KG5, and exactly the same thing happened. It was at this moment I fully understood the term "brick", as I certainly was bricking it! Especially as I am only about 3 weeks into a 2 year Orange contract.

Thankfully re-flashing the frankenstien KH3 worked, so my heart dropped from my mouth back into the correct position.

I'll take your advice sydney, and stay with KH3 for now. Whenever the next official version gets posted up on that xda-developers site I might try giving that one a go.
At least for now I sort of know KH3 will load properly having done so after an apparent bugger up so I should have some sort of contingency in place. (so long as insted of myself, the GS2 doesnt actually get bricked in the process, of course)

cheers mate

 

[Sydney99]

it's good to share experiences/tips and learn from each other - esp when some of the detailed advice on XDA etc uses a lot of acronyms/technical geek speak!

 

[Hawker]

Point 9 now added above.

 

[Ageless Stranger]

Point 9 now added above.

I noticed a few days back that I couldn't download anything from the market, and I initially thought it was v3 of the market, so I downgraded. I was on KF3 at the time.

However, I updated to KH3 today and am using the new v3.1.3 of the market, and I am able to download so I do not think point 9 is an issue with the firmware.

 

[Hawker]

I noticed a few days back that I couldn't download anything from the market, and I initially thought it was v3 of the market, so I downgraded. I was on KF3 at the time.

However, I updated to KH3 today and am using the new v3.1.3 of the market, and I am able to download so I do not think point 9 is an issue with the firmware.

Your right mate, I just havent updated the list above.
I had to re-install the Market v3 apk when KH3 was loaded. This cured the problem.