Spaced Out ::

I won’t pretend to be an expert on the Android OS, but if you really do know what you are doing then it is relatively easy to entirely change the OS currently running. Why would you want to do that?? Well one obvious scenario is to run the same OS, but with modifications applied to it, such as root access, new standard apps, remove carrier apps. Perhaps the biggest driver is to run a newer version of the OS than is currently available for the handset. This is becoming increasingly common as handset vendors cease to support an OS beyond a set level… take the Galaxy S stuck at Android 2.1. Perhaps this is a good reason to purchase a Nexus…. Google has been using the phone as a reference platform and updates have rapidly been rolled out to the platform. Of course there are plenty of other Android phones out there that haven’t been updated, so what can you do?

Well, replace the OS of course! And Google has been a busy bee this year with the best part of 4 point releases in just over a year. v2.0 didn’t last long before 2.1 came out and this has been a stable and safe-bet for many vendors. v2.2 arrived in the summer and contrary to the point release is a major improvement. 2.3 arrived just before Christmas although this is less substantial. So if your vendor hasn’t updated your phone, there’s a good chance that a custom ROM exists allowing you to upgrade it yourself (with all the obvious caveats about bricking your device).

A good starting point is to find a web forum that supports your phone. For the San Francisco, the Modaco forum does a great job. In particular this thread runs through how to install a ROM from scratch and lists all the main ROMs available for the phone. In particular, note that the original ROMs installed on the two main versions of the phone are available for download. This is important if you want to take it back to its original “factory” state. Obviously you can read the thread, but there are two main steps (once you have USB drivers installled for your phone ):

1. Install clockworkmod: this allows you to access a custom bootmenu that enables the installation of ROMs. For some reason 2.5.13 doesnt work, so the latest 2.5.18 is recommended. Download the IMG file (and fastboot) to a directory. Turn the phone back on with ‘volume up’ held. The device will stay at the ‘green android’ screen. Now connect your SF. Once attached run the following command line to install it:

fastboot-windows flash recovery recovery-clockwork-2.5.0.9-blade.img
fastboot-windows reboot

If all the commands complete in the command window (i.e. you don’t see FAILED or ERROR) then all is good.

2. Install the ROM: copy the ZIP file of the ROM you want on to the SDcard, then uplug the SF from your PC. Now press the ‘volume down’ button when powering on the phone to get to the ClockworkMod menu. Navigate the menu to select “install zip fom sdcard”, then “choose zip from sdcard”. Select the file you want to get it installed. Finally go back to the main menu and reboot the SF.

The nice part about this whole process is that its entirely reversible: you can put your old stock ROM back in place, put the standard bootloader back on and remove root access. This makes it good for selling on your phone or returning it to the carrier.