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Saturday, March 20, 2010

Samsung Spica (i5700) Android 2.1 update

Bought the new Samsung Spica (aka Galaxy Lite) i5700 yesterday. Amazing phone, great features, quite affordable and cost-effective (<13k in India)

Phone-spec Summary:
OS: Android (1.5)
Processor: 800 MHz
Screen: 3.2" TFT Full Touch
Camera: 3 MP AutoFocus
Internal Mem (User): 200 MB
External Mem: 2 GB Free, expandable upto 32GB microSD

Other main features: WiFi, 3G, A-GPS, BlueTooth, DivxPlayer, Accelerometer etc 

Cons: No hardware keyboard, No camera cover, No Radio(FM), 3G is HSDPA (max 3.6Mbps), No TV out, No Video Calls and a little short on inbuilt memory!

Android rocks, but 1.5 is too old and the latest is 2.1. Also 1.5 doesn't support Bluetooth file transfer (OBEX). Although here and there are a few glitches, it is mostly because of the software. Android 2.1 just got officially announced, but it is not available everywhere. They are doing it region by region, starting with some parts of Europe like Germany. Another major issue of Android 1.5 is that the phone is not supported by the software that it comes with (NPS -New PC Studio).... quite weird, huh?!  I tried different versions of PC Studio as well as Kies (newer version, to replace PC Studio in a while), but Kies kept on saying the device is not supported. Even though PC Studio detects the phone as i5700, it gives a message that only 'Update Service' will be supported. Well, even the update service doesn't work though :-(

Because of all the issues of Android 1.5 and hearing all the great features of Android 2.1, I was being restless to upgrade to this ASAP. After lots of googling, reading, researching, trials and many long frustrating hours later, I managed to do it!. Yep, my phone now is now an Ã‰clair (code for 2.1).

I will share the steps here, hoping it would help many frustrated people like me who desperately want to upgrade to 2.1 and don't want to wait till Samsung fixes their software and release the official firmware upgrade!!!

WARNING: These steps should be done by a professional only. I am not responsible for anything that MAY happen to your phone, because of your error or software issues!!!

Step 1) Since you can't install the latest firmware through any of the Samsung provided software (NPS, Kies), we will have to do it the hard way. You need the following to proceed:
  a) Firmware updater (Odin Multi Downloader v4.03)
      http://files.samdroid.net/files/i5700/Odin4_03-Spica_ops.zip#googtrans/auto/en
  b) The firmware (Android 2.1), get the latest from here (~90MB):
      I used version (I570EXXJCB, 2010 March)
      You can find more info on what is I570EXXJCB here:
      http://samsung-firmware.webs.com/samsunglettercode.htm
      In short, XX - Locale code (languages supported)
      eg: XX = Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Spain, United Kingdom 

Step 2) Backup your data, remove your SIM & SD Card

Step 3) Do a hard reset by typing *2767*3855#  on the phone. All your data, apps and settings will be erased and phone will be reset to factory defaults. This MUST be done for detecting and connecting your phone correctly by Odin. 
      
Step 4) Switch off your phone. Start up in "Download" mode by pressing following keys together "Volume Down + Camera + Power On)

You should see the following on your phone

If you have already installed Kies or NPS, the phone will be detected automatically and necessary drivers will be installed by windows. The drivers for this mode vs normal mode are different. In case your phone is not detected, you should download the USB drivers and manually install it.

USB Drivers: http://forum.samdroid.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=94&d=1264530070#googtrans/auto/en 

Another thing you have to make sure is that Kies or NPS is not running (even in background, check your tray/task manager). If any of these are running, it might prevent Odin from detecting and connecting to the phone. 


If you have all the right drivers, you will see the Samsung phone under USB and Modems in Windows Device Manager






Step 5) Start Odin and connect to the phone.
This is kinda tricky. Find yourself lucky if you get it right on the first try. It took me many tries to get the phone detected and connect. See below:

<1> setup connection...
[ A LONG WAIT... ~ 5 mins, disconnected phone]
<1> e - dll cannot setup connection with the target.
<0> Destroy instant..
<0> Killed timer


Odin detected the phone, but is not able to connect. In case you come across such an issue (if no progress bar/no logs for like >2 min), you can just disconnect the phone and reboot (remove battery and put back). I thought the first time that my phone is gone!

You may have to reboot/reset phone and also reboot your windows a few times to get it right! If the phone is detected, you will see a COM port with yellow indicator as show above.

Step 6) Odin config and flashing:
Most of the new firmware packages are just one single tar file (unzip I570EXXJCB.zip). 
If there are multiple tars, configure BOOT, PHONE, PDA, CSC according to tar names. Otherwise just give the only tar in 'One Package' and enable the 'One Package' check box. You have to give OPS in both cases, follow the instructions in the site where you downloaded firmware, I used the "spica_jc3.rar"

Disable(uncheck) 'Debug' if enabled, cross your fingers... pray for a moment and click "START" :-)

You can see the logs in the "Message" area and a progress bar comes in the connected Port.

In pic above, flashing in progress


In pic above, flashing over... now restarting phone.....


Phone will restart and you can see the home screen with an initializing message if everything goes successfully!!!

Note: I570EXXJCB is European and the default language is German

Do the following to change it to English:
Click on the options/menu (left top) button, a menu will come
Click on the settings menu (right bottom) - Einstellungen
Scroll down and select Region settings – Gebietsschema und Text
Select Language setting - Gebietsschema auswahlen
Select – English (United States)

Viola, you are done!!!

Odin log... if successful...

Download Start...
<0> Create File...
<1> StartThread Detected : 1
<2> StartThread Detected : 0
<3> StartThread Detected : 0
<4> StartThread Detected : 0
<5> StartThread Detected : 0
<6> StartThread Detected : 0
<7> StartThread Detected : 0
<8> StartThread Detected : 0
<1> setup connection...
<1> odin mode.. check plcatform verification.
<1> START!!!
<1> check download environment.
<1> zImage download..
<1> 1/5 Finished.
<1> datafs.rfs download..
<1> 2/5 Finished.
<1> factoryfs.rfs download..
<1> 3/5 Finished.
<1> cache.rfs download..
<1> 4/5 Finished.
<1> modem.bin download..
<1> 5/5 Finished.
<1> reset pda..
<0> Started Timer
<1> Close serial port and wait until rebooting.
<1> PASS!!!
<0> Destroy instant






<0> Killed timer


Now Kies identifies and support i5700 (funny, right)... :-)

I tried upgrading the firmware again with Kies, but didn't work for now. Have to wait see, perhaps I don't have access to the official release yet...

Some pics of Android 2.1 on i5700...

All the best to the early adopters ;-)

NOTE: Click on the images to see them wholly, bigger and better!

  












Search Amazon.com for samsung spica

43 comments:

  1. Do you have your IMEI nr as it was? Do you have a SIMLOCK on new firmware (did You had it before?)

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  2. Yes my IMEI number is intact! In Kies it shows as 0000 0000 0000 0000, but phone has it and it works fine too.

    I live in a country where without a valid IMEI number the cell phone won't get service. I didn't have SIMLOCK before and the new firmware doesn't set it too.

    Visit this link to see how to check SIMLOCK status. IMEI num etc...
    http://think-tek.blogspot.com/2010/03/mobile-phone-secret-codes.html

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  3. Thanks for your reply. Mayby I will wait for the official version.
    PS. I have this phone frome a few days and I do not know everything yet. How to make it play divx files? Where have you unlock it?

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  4. It comes with default divx support. Just go to the gallery and all your videos and photos from SD card will be there... Select the video file and it will start playing...

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  5. I am doing something wrong, or I want too much. I tried all ways, I made *.avi and *.mp4 files, and telepfone did not act with divix / xvid codec. Mpeg4/h264 works without a problem. What settings you are using?

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  6. I had android 1.5 only for two days :) But I copied a divx movie (700MB) to the SD card, went to gallery and it started playing without any extra configuration. You have the Galaxy Spica, rite? One of the advantages of Samsung is default support for Divx without any conversion reqd and they even advertise this.

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  7. Do you why after odin reboot the phone, there is triangle icon? Previously I'm using DXJB3 firmware.

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  8. The triangle and the icon that you saw should be the recovery screen. You could touch the icon to restore it to factory settings or just press the Menu key to do the same. If it doesn't work try a hard reset (*2767*3855#).

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  9. i got a phone with deafault arabic language how can i change to english i dont nw arbic so its vey hard to find the language settings can u help me plz

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  10. There are two ways to do this

    1) If you have another similar phone, you can find the menu position and then navigate there and change...

    2) You may use a translation service (http://translate.google.com/#) and do it urself.

    Do you know which version of android you have? The menu has changed between versions slightly. But roughly... you can try this...
    Click on the options/menu (left top) button, a menu will come
    Click on the settings menu (right bottom, hammer icon)
    Scroll down and select Region settings (5 from last in my phone - android 2.1)
    Select Language setting - (first)
    Scroll & Select – English (United States)

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  11. HI i just did as you said ,but my phone did not reboot, so i disconnected and booted manually

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  12. is that ok ,seems i did something wrong its not going to home screen

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  13. Were you able to get it working? You have to carefully follow all instructions (here and the site where you download firmware from, for example you have to use the new OPS file "spica_jc3.rar" for the latest firmwares) per se, a small mistake could lead to a broken firmware/phone.

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  14. After I press the menu key, it stuck at Samsung logo with progress bard. I also tried to do hard reset, the result is same.

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  15. I am stuck at <1> Setup Connection in the ODIN Window...Tried many times but with no Luck ..Pls Help!!

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  16. Even I had the same issue, you will have to keep trying (see step 5 in blog). Try resetting your phone, even a small change in factory setting could cause this. Also make sure that Kies, NPS (or even Nokia PC Suite) etc applications that connect to COM ports aren't running. If it still doesn't work, try rebooting windows and using different USB ports. I used Windows XP, Vista and 7 might prevent driver from loading correctly if you don't override the WHQL certificate warning... and in Windows 7 unless you run in Test mode, non-WHQL drivers will never work. I had trouble in my other laptop (Windows 7 ultimate 64 bit), though managed to get it working fine now.

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  17. G/day
    this was something amazing I have 2.1
    but my concern is: Android 1.5 is supporting Arabic & you can type Arabic & receive Arabic SMSs
    but here even browsing Arabic is a problem
    the old 1.5 has something called (Tffy Android Keyboard but 2.1 doesn't have it
    could you please advise on this
    thanks

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  18. Dilo, I assume you bought the phone from middle east. Languages (locales) supported are different in different regions of the world. For Arabic support the country/locale code is JP & JR. So you need a firmware with this code, eg: I5700JPxxx or I5700JRxxx (or I570EJRxxx, experimental version).

    I don't think there is a 2.1 Arabic firmware yet for Spica!

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  19. can u transfer files from/to other mobiles using bluetooth, in 2.1?

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  20. Yes you can. I believe you can do this in 1.5 also if you use the 'Bluetooth File Transfer' app from the market.

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  21. I was waiting for the official update. But no idea how to do it.

    The NPS 1.3 that came with the device does not seem to update it nor does PC Studio 7 which I downloaded. However, NPS 1.3 will at least detect the phone whereas PC Studio 7 won't.

    Is there a way to update i5700 to android 2.1 easily and officially without breaking the warranty?

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  22. Well me too waited for the official update and lost my patience ;) Official 2.1 for spica was released only in selected European countries like Germany and in Russia etc.. According to samsung you should use NPS for updating firmware to 2.1 and there after should use Kies. PC Studio 7 is old.. NPS = New PC Studio..

    You may try installing NPS from their site and set country to one of those where the firmware was officially released... not guaranty it would work though... especially if they check your IP to find location ;)

    Updating new firmware via Odin doesn't break warranty as long as u don't brick the phone :D

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  23. Finally, I tried flashing 2.1 to i5700 and it was successful. But internal memory showed up as 0.00 B :(

    Then following the clues given in forums, I tried to flash 2.1 again with "debug only" selected. Now, I am not able to hard reset using *2767*3855# as every time I do it, it ends in a triangle surrounded by exclamation mark.

    Tried going ahead without hard reset, but now the drivers are not being installed. I had NPC when I installed for the first time and the devices were recognized as Samsung USB Composite Device and Samsung USB Modem and the devices were recognized. But now, the second time, modem is not recognized properly, either it is not recognized at all or it shows up as SAMSUNG CDMA Modem #2. I try updating the drivers with the drv5700, but it fails as timeout period expires.

    After some rebooting and reinstalling NPS, I finally got the drivers correctly, but now Odin will get stuck at <1>setup connection. :(

    Any help!!! Is there anyway to get back to Android 1.5.

    Btw, I used I570EDXJC4 firmware.

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  24. Last time I updated, I used the drivers in Samsung Kies. Install Kies first, and make sure that it is shutdown and not running. When you connect your phone, windows should now automatically install the drivers. The drivers for phone in normal mode and download mode are actually different :).

    I get the odin connection error a first few times usually. Make sure no application which uses COM port is running (any mobile/phone application, including Kies, NPS or Nokia Suite etc). Try restarting your OS and hard resetting the phone too. A small change in phone setting could also cause this! Also remove all previously installed drivers.

    To get back to 1.5, you have to follow the same steps :). Get 1.5 firmware and flash it.

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  25. I flashed at least 3 times, and never set debug on (it was deselected). Luckily never had any other issues, other than the initial odin connection problem :)

    Make sure that you follow instructions closely and use new ops for latest firmwares.

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  26. I also have the same problem of 0B internal memory, i tried debug only mode but its not working. I have flashed it with I570EDXJC4.tar one package. Any help will be much appreciated.

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  27. I have tried.
    IT REALY WORKS.
    Carefuly with tha files and everithin is going grat.
    Thanks!

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  28. Kailash, I have flashed many times (atleast 5+) on my phone and for my friends, never failed even once. And I always leave 'debug only' unselected (means not in debug only mode).

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  29. thanx a lot
    is there a hope to upgrade this to FROYO (Android 2.2)

    cheers

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  30. I usually download my firmwares from this site:
    http://samsung-firmware.webs.com/WEBPROTECT-samsungandroidi5700.htm

    I don't think Spica is going to get Android 2.2 (Froyo) immediately. Samsung has other priorities :)

    More info:
    http://samsung-firmware.webs.com/apps/blog/entries/show/3854673-android-2-2-on-the-spica-
    http://androidforums.com/samsung-galaxy-lite/82405-will-galaxy-i5700-lite-spica-get-android-2-2-a.html

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  31. hi i did what you said and pass the ODIN but one proplem after i touch the recover icon(the triangle)it stuck in samsung logo can you help me anyone could help ?

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  32. I suggest you do a factory reset (*2767*3855#) and try again, following the instructions above correctly.... You shouldn't get the recover/triangle icon, if everything went correctly..

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  33. your tip to check for NPS in background processes was helpful, it did the trick.

    Many thanks.

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  34. wow....thanx for the help....chekd out so many other sites...but dis one did d magic for me...guys go thru each n evry step as given above n njoy the OS 2.1 eclairs to the max....believe d phone has now more potentials dan it had earlier wen i purchased dis phone a month bak with the old cupcake 1.5 version....cheers!!!!

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  35. guys....if u r still facing problems in installing the drivers as required n mentioned above....install the atest version of kies n den conncet the phone n den let the drivers installation take place on its own...wen u see tat d driver installation has taken place...chek tat the two devices r listed with the word android in dem....if u still ant see try dis also....enable usb debugging in applications in ur phone...

    also i got a severe error for tons of times before i was able to flash 2.1 in my phone....it was error code 87 - could not start serial port somthin something...n den the flashing hanged over dere in the step one only....so aftr a rigorous research n googling i found tat not only KIES and NPS needs to b stopped frm running in background but also all tethering applications installed by the user...aftr i unistalled the usb tether application on my laptop, i was able to flash successfully....note tat dere is really o need to uninstall KIES in any case...just remove it frm running in background...my next goal is to root my OS 2.1...ny one plz help me plz...n also tel me how to hav GDE installed nd d advantages of rooting...coz its a new term tat i hav been hearing since having 2.1 version...

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  36. i followed the instructions on this site and everything went well except one thing: i cannot download apps from the market. I find an app, hit install then go the downloads section. it shows the app with an indefinite progress bar and it does not download the app. i am doing this over wi-fi. any ideeas?

    Thanks,
    Dan

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  37. You can check the review of the firmware version you used to find any work around. I haven't come across this, but know that depending on your country, market restrictions are there, but I believe this is only for paid apps and free apps are available for all.

    You may try reconfiguring your wi-fi or try with another wi-fi.. if still fails, upgrade or reinstall your firmware...

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  38. Originally Posted by adrianopons
    Hello!

    Since I have installed the firmware I570EXXJE4, I'm having problems to download apps from market. It say's that "Download unsuccessful". Anyone can help me?

    markus75:
    try clearing cache from market + uninstall updates (applications menu)

    then it should work

    ehstbr:
    All times I install a new firmware, just after first start, I make a factory default reset to clean all configs. Try it, can fix your Market. ;-)

    http://forum.samdroid.net/f28/i570exxje4-en-1151/index4.html

    Hope this helps Dan...

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  39. THANKS.
    If you read carefully the instructions it works like charm!
    Thanks again!

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  40. Hi, I tried to upgrade my spica,the process was ok, except for after rebooting, the phone displayed the ‘triangle icon with phone in the side’ and hang up there.i continue the process until the window display says \\ pass,,, destroy instant,,,, killed timer.
    i think this was the last procedure.then i unplugged my phone and restart it,
    the problem now is, my phone only display the word ’samsung’ and the loading bar. i tried it 5x, same problem
    btw, i used the I570EDDJB2 firmware.
    Then someone suggested using jb3 baseband version. I found and download for jb3 as per suggested.
    Odin detected the phone, but is not able to connect even after a 15mins wait. Like you suggested above, I disconnect the phone and reboot both the phone and windows almost 10 times. Still no progress.

    Are there any possible solutions you could kindly suggest? Pls help.
    Many thanks.

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  41. I’ve finally managed to get the eclair after many godzillian trial and error + luck. Thank you for the sharing and advice. Have a good day!

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  42. I have lost my IMEI number of spica after installing firmware version 2.1 ....waht cai i do? ...help me...i cant use sim card services .....

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  43. You can try flashing again from scratch with a diff version.. else google on how to restore or use the paid service

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