Android moves pretty fast. It's important to know when, how and what to expect when you upgrade your device. Let's step through a recent upgrade from Froyo to Gingerbread on a Nexus One.
We are interested in a couple of areas here. First, we want to see what version of the OS we are currently running.
Checking the version
Notice that the current version on my phone is 2.2.2 and build FRG83G. Looking into that number a bit more it stands for Froyo and a variant of “GOOG”, with 83 in between the G’s. This is presumably a build iteration or number of the Google version of Android, as opposed to a version released by HTC, Motorola or others.
Let’s tap on “System updates” to see if there is anything awaiting us. Of course that’s a bit of a loaded question because we know there is an update waiting.
Manually checking for updates
Upgrading!
Regardless of how you arrived at this point (notification or looking for an update manually), go ahead and begin the download of the upgrade package.
Downloading the upgrade file
Once the download is complete the device must reboot for the upgrade to be applied. Note that we’ve got a few seconds to cancel the upgrade.
Reboot after download
Assuming we don’t cancel the upgrade, the phone reboots automatically.
Powering off
Please excuse the quality of the next two images as they were taken with low light via my son’s iPod touch — yes, Apple has creeped into my home….but we’ll keep the boy anyway. After all, he was kind enough to point out that the “P” in iPod is supposed to be upper case.
The first thing that takes place upon reboot is the downloaded upgrade file is unpacked.
Unpacking the upgrade file
Once unpacked, the file is processed and then the phone is restarted (again).
Processing the upgrade file
After the upgrade
Once the phone reboots it is obvious right away that something has changed because the look and feel of the OS has changed. Just for kicks, let’s again have a look at the Settings | About Phone information to check the version of the OS software. Also note the change in the appearance of the top status area — it is now lighter text on a darker background.
New version info
And checking for another update tells us that we are in fact already at the latest version.
System is up to date!
A (very) brief look @ Gingerbread
The new notification window has a slightly different look. Nothing here makes us say, “hmm where did the notifications window go”? It is simply a “different” look.
New notification look
And the dialer window has a new look also, among many other areas such as the keyboard and list animations, etc.
New dialer look
Please note that no real Androids were put in harms way or injured during this presentation. Nor were any iPod-toting youths.
If you have an Android device hopefully you will enjoy an upgrade soon as well.
Frank Ableson is an entrepreneur, writer and mobile software developer who probably should have been a hardware designer, but soldering got in the way. Frank's technical interests are in mobile and embedded computing. Frank is the lead author of
Unlocking Android 2e, an intermediate text on software development for the Android platform.
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Comments on "Upgrading Android: A Guided Tour"
Zero information.
man, you reply has zero information!
Waste of time, the article could had been:
1: Upgrade Icon apears.
2: Click on upgrade.
3: Reboots, end of story.
That or CLICK ON UPGRADE!
Not agreed, different devices have a different modes to do it. It’s good to see such a simple manner to do the job.
For myself, it’s good to see this, doesn’t matter how simple it may be.
You and others who posted here are completely mistaken. I have a Nexus One unlocked, bought directly from Google. When they pushed Gingerbread 2.3.3 out I saw the update and followed the normal steps. The system said it upgraded, restarted, etc. but after that the new o/s wasn’t installed, it was still 2.2.2. The phone is not rooted. Therefore I had to download the upgrade manually (plenty of articles showing how to do that on the net).
Conclusion: no, sometimes is not that simple, my friend :) although we all wish it were…
i thought this was about updating a phone when the career do no provide an update most probably by rooting the device (which would warranty)! updates are pretty straightforward and self explanatory – I don’t see the need for this article.
This article is a non-item. Unless you root, everything happens automatically. You don’t really have a choice about when and how it comes, or what to do with it. Android is still a very unstable system. On HTC phones, it killed two of mine. So I just switched to Nokia Symbian 3 (no weird desert name), and what it loses in apps, it sure makes up for in reliability – like I can always make a call – something that doesn’t happen on G2′s. Wanna tablet? Spring for an iPad they are flawless except when they are connect to bad networks.
Symbian? IPad? Must be getting confused, I thought I was reading Linux Mag….
the only time my g2 failed.. was when I had to call 911
If your phone is not rooted the upgrade is easier to do then to read this article.
Steve M
LINUCITY.COM
linucity.com
If your phone is not rooted the upgrade is easier to do then to read this article.
Steve M
LINUCITY.COM
linucity.com
If your phone is not rooted, the upgrade is easier to do then to read this article.
Steve M
LINUCITY.COM
linucity.com
Hi there, You have performed an excellent job. I’ll definitely digg it and in my view recommend to my friends. I’m confident they will be benefited from this site.
I just switched to Nokia Symbian 3 (no weird desert name), and what it loses in apps, it sure makes up for in reliability – like Side effects of Vicodin I can always make a call – something that doesn’t happen on G2?s.
a March 15, 2011 I siemtomes wonder if you chose the most loony people to write about. (For disclosure purposes, I wrote to you, but you never looked at my profile, much less even gave a “thanks, but no thanks” canned response.)I have no delusions of self-grandeur, but it seems like at worst, I would have been written up as a “nice guy, no chemistry”. Isn’t that what most first dates are like (internet and otherwise)?
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I think it’s a good idea to upgrade overall, unless you have the latest version of course. Thanks for the tutorial on this AG jeans.
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