Craving for an official Ice Cream Sandwich
update on your SGS II? Wait no more as we show you how you can do it in a few
simple steps.
Android
4.0 for your Samsung GALAXY S II
Owners of the very popular Samsung GALAXY S
II (SGS II) have been eagerly waiting for the official release of the latest
Android version - Ice Cream Sandwich. Downloading the ICS update for your phone
is no big task. There are two methods to implement the ICS update for the
Samsung GALAXY S II. Here's how:
Method 1
This method is applicable to those who have
the official Android Gingerbread OS that came along with the phone. It won’t
matter whether the phone was rooted or not, so long the firmware (OS) is the
official one. All you need to do is install the Samsung Kies utility on your
PC, plug in the phone to your USB port and update. OTA updates are also
available, but if you have brittle or slow wireless internet or 3G network, you
could end up with retries and delays. The best option is to do it via the PC as
it will be safer and faster.
Download Kies and install it on your PC. If
you don't have Kies, you can download it from the Samsung website. Once done,
connect your SGS II to the PC's USB port. Make sure you have your phone's
battery charged to at least 80 percent before attempting any updates. This will
ensure your phone does not lose power while updating, and you don't end up with
a bricked device. On connecting to the PC, your phone's notification bar will
highlight: MTP connection enabled. This ensures that drivers are successfully
installed and the phone is recognised by Kies. Once done, Kies will check the
phone's current firmware (OS) and display a message stating that a new firmware
(ICS) is available for your phone and to start the update procedure. Before you
move ahead, ensure a proper backup of all data on the phone. Press the cancel
button and then click on the 'Back-up/Restore' tab in the Kies window. This
will allow you to backup data before proceeding. Choose what you need to back
up by checking the required fields and hit the backup button. Once done, you
are ready to install ICS on your phone. Head back to the 'Basic Information'
tab in the Kies window and click on the 'Firmware Upgrade' button. Follow the
on screen requirements and start the upgrade. The initial stage of the
procedure involves downloading the necessary updates, which is around 350 MB.
Once done, you will notice your SGS II automatically rebooting and going into
download mode. Don't worry, this is all automatically handled by Kies and you
don't need to do anything at this stage. Just relax and let Kies handle
everything.
Note
If the SGS II was not completely updated
with all the Android Gingerbread updates, then Kies will update them first
before installing ICS. This is normal as the procedure involves a series of
updates prior to getting the handset ready for the final update. After a while,
you will notice that your phone automatically starts running a few scripts similar
to the DOS command prompt. Don't panic! The upgrade has been transferred to the
phone and is being applied. This will take a while and your phone will restart
with the new operating system. You can now safely disconnect the phone and
check out the new features of ICS. Your data will be completely wiped off and
you will need to restore everything by connecting it back to the PC and running
Kies. Head on to the Back-up/Restore section and restore your data.
Method 2
The second method involves using a third-party
utility called Odin. This utility is developed by open-source developers and
helps flash the firmware directly to the phone without going through Kies.
However, you will initially need to install Kies for the necessary drivers to
be installed. Odin is strictly not for the fainthearted. If you are using this
method, do it with a lot of caution, and if you are doing it for the first
time, read up on related articles on the XDA forums before proceeding. Using
Odin for flashing ICS is for those who have migrated from Samsung's official
firmware and are using third-party ROMs for their SGS Ms. Before you proceed,
you will need: The Odin utility: http://tinvurl.com/odin-for-S.G;
The ICS firmware for SGS II: http://tinvurl.com/lCS-SGS-ll.
You can also hunt for different versions on the XDA forums.
Take all necessary backups of your data,
then download the utility and firmware and save them on your desktop. Once you
have the two files, create a folder and extract the downloaded files within
that folder. You will be left with a few files, of which the most important are
the Odin (.exe) and the firmware (.tar.mdb) files. Next, you need to switch
your phone into the download mode. To do this, switch off your phone and then
press the following buttons - [Volume Down + Home + Power]. Now connect the
phone to your PC and let Windows install the necessary serial drivers for your
phone. Once done, start the Odin utility.
If your phone has successfully been
detected by Odin, you will see the box with the header 'ID:COM' has turned
yellow and is highlighting the phone connected via a COM port. This states that
the phone is now ready to be flashed with new firmware. Next, go ahead and
check the box next to 'PDA' and hit the 'PDA' button. Now, choose the
'.tar.md5' file you extracted from the downloaded firmware file.
Note
Do not check any other boxes and leave all
settings as they are. Once done, hit the 'Start' button and your SGS II will be
flashed with the new firmware. If successful, the phone will restart into ICS
automatically.
