Smartphones

The apps you do get:

AllSharePlay	Calculator	Camera	ChatON
Clock	Contacts	Dictionary(Dio)	Downloads
Email	Flipboard	FM Radio	Gallery
Game Hub	Help	Internet	Logs
Messaging	MobileQQ	More Services	Music Player

My Files	Navigator	Phone	Browser
S Memo	S Planner	S Suggest	Samsung Apps
Samsung Services	Search	Settings	Straight Flush
Video Player	Voice Recorder

Day 5: Dammit!

The concept was: find the latest and greatest i9300 firmware, download, then use Odin to flash it over the Google-bereft firmware this phone came with. It could have worked too.

Protip 1: firmware includes PDA, PHONE, and CSC sections. You want the PDA. And you want to avoid the CSC. The CSC--or "Customer Software Customization"--includes such useful information as the APNs that work in your area. (And if you flash a CSC from, say, Europe, your phone will be all set to use European infrastructure to send messages and make telephone calls--not good if your carrier isn't European). But whatever. You can get your APN information from your phone before you flash and type it back in after the... flash.

Protip 2: none of this works if your phone is rooted.

Thus, "dammit!"

Before trying this flash jaunt, I installed Clockworkmod on my i9300 (which action does NOT root your phone, but does in any case void your warranty). I intended to use it to make a nandroid backup (a complete backup and archiving of the whole system), and thus have something to fall back on if the flashing should fail or screw up. But clockworkmod (and any other nandroid backup utility, I guess) needs root access before it can make that nandroid backup. Thus, I rooted, then backed up the phone, then did commence to flash the very latest 4.1.2, which is, as it happens, intended for Poland.

And... nuthin.

Well, something. The flash via Odin went through the whole business, but choked at the last minute. I had to re-flash clockworkmod before I could get the phone back the way it had started out, some four hours earlier.

Sooo... pffft. No more official updates for my phone.

I'm still assuming flashing an out-of-country firmware via Odin as an update would do the trick provided one were using a never-been-rooted phone, but perhaps we will never know.

Day 6: Booyah!

First: The Un-rooting

Required: Kies, Odin, Triangle Away, a flashable version of Clockworkmod, a flashable version of YOUR ORIGINAL CHINESE FIRMWARE

1. Backup your phone data
2. Shut down Kies
3. Do Triangle Away
4. Boot to download mode and use Odin to flash YOUR ORIGINAL CHINESE FIRMWARE
5. When the phone reboots, do a factory data reset

And bazinga!, your phone is now just as you bought it. To confirm, take a look at Settings > About device > Status > Device status. (If it still says "modified", then something went wrong. It should say "official" or something similar.)

Second: Teh Flash

Required: Odin, a flashable version of clockworkmod, ANY i9300 FIRMWARE YOU LIKE! (I chose I9300XXELKC, because it's Android 4.1.2 and the fact it's intended for Poland makes no difference.)

1. Boot into download mode and use Odin to flash your new firmware (PDA only! Not CSC)
2. Watch the flash fail on the last "write" operation
3. Boot directly into download mode again
4. With Odin, flash clockworkmod
5. In the clockworkmod recovery menu, select reboot device now.
6. Be amazed.

As of now, my phone has Android 4.1.2 installed. I added a gmail account and the phone registered itself with google. I have Google Play, and did browse. My APNs didn't change. The number of installed languages increased vastly (from 3--Chinese, Korean, and English--to [lots] including 5 kinds of Chinese and 8 kinds of English).

CAVEATS:

I screwed with my phone quite a lot before un-rooting it. If you've never rooted your phone, you may not experience that final write fail, and steps 3-6 with clockworkmod would be unnecessary.

But what that write fail was, I don't know. According to Odin it means the flash failed. According to the phone, the flash succeeded. As of this moment I have once powered the phone off, then on: it booted normally. I have played with it for about ten minutes. Is something crucial missing? I don't know.

Also, I don't know if clockworkmod is necessary--maybe you can recover using Kies instead.

And, since putting the new firmware on the phone this way means the phone counts as "modified", it will not register for software updates.

Lastly, the biggest caveat of all..... THIS IS NOT A DETAILED GUIDE! Consider doing some research.

Day 6: Booyah!

First: The Un-rooting

Required: Kies, Odin, Triangle Away, a flashable version of Clockworkmod, a flashable version of YOUR ORIGINAL CHINESE FIRMWARE

1. Backup your phone data
2. Shut down Kies
3. Do Triangle Away
4. Boot to download mode and use Odin to flash YOUR ORIGINAL CHINESE FIRMWARE
5. When the phone reboots, do a factory data reset

And bazinga!, your phone is now just as you bought it. To confirm, take a look at Settings > About device > Status > Device status. (If it still says "modified", then something went wrong. It should say "official" or something similar.)

Second: Teh Flash

Required: Odin, a flashable version of clockworkmod, ANY i9300 FIRMWARE YOU LIKE! (I chose I9300XXELKC, because it's Android 4.1.2 and the fact it's intended for Poland makes no difference.)

1. Boot into download mode and use Odin to flash your new firmware (PDA only! Not CSC)
2. Watch the flash fail on the last "write" operation
3. Boot directly into download mode again
4. With Odin, flash clockworkmod
5. In the clockworkmod recovery menu, select reboot device now.
6. Be amazed.

As of now, my phone has Android 4.1.2 installed. I added a gmail account and the phone registered itself with google. I have Google Play, and did browse. My APNs didn't change. The number of installed languages increased vastly (from 3--Chinese, Korean, and English--to [lots] including 5 kinds of Chinese and 8 kinds of English).

CAVEATS:

I screwed with my phone quite a lot before un-rooting it. If you've never rooted your phone, you may not experience that final write fail, and steps 3-6 with clockworkmod would be unnecessary.

But what that write fail was, I don't know. According to Odin it means the flash failed. According to the phone, the flash succeeded. As of this moment I have once powered the phone off, then on: it booted normally. I have played with it for about ten minutes. Is something crucial missing? I don't know.

Also, I don't know if clockworkmod is necessary--maybe you can recover using Kies instead.

And, since putting the new firmware on the phone this way means the phone counts as "modified", it will not register for software updates.

Lastly, the biggest caveat of all..... THIS IS NOT A DETAILED GUIDE! Consider doing some research.

I wish there was a 'my hat does doff to thee' emoticon, as I am highly impressed that you managed that.

my hat does doff to thee, you will just have to picture the motion yourself.

*doff*

Therefore it's only reasonable I should be the one to announce.... compared to Android 4.1.1, there is a recognizable lag introduced by Android 4.1.2. This is apparently due to a bug in the code. You can reset the bug and remove the lag by filling up your sdcard with junk, then deleting everything... but since the s3 uses an internal sdcard which also houses the operating system, I don't immediately see how the bug can be addressed at the moment. It's back to the 4.1.1 for me....

Therefore it's only reasonable I should be the one to announce.... compared to Android 4.1.1, there is a recognizable lag introduced by Android 4.1.2. This is apparently due to a bug in the code. You can reset the bug and remove the lag by filling up your sdcard with junk, then deleting everything... but since the s3 uses an internal sdcard which also houses the operating system, I don't immediately see how the bug can be addressed at the moment. It's back to the 4.1.1 for me....

*doff-undid*

so will the workaround situation above not work with 4.1.1?

My understanding is the problem, a slight but noticeable delay between touching the screen and having an action occur, is a result of a coding error introduced in 4.1.2. Only 4.1.2 has this particular error. I imagine someone will come up with a working fix eventually, but for now I find it sufficiently annoying that I'll be flashing a 4.1.1 rom in place of 4.1.2.

but you can still use Google play with 4.1.1?

You know, if you wanted to get a billion hits on your blog, you should set out a play-by-play with all the relevant links (and even screenshots) for what you did, so that mongos like me could do it to.

Then you could put a link to your blog here.

Or just do it here.

 

I don't know if I could/should really recreate what I did.... for one thing, the only firmware that ever flashes properly is the one intended for China. Every other firmware I try doesn't go completely through the Odin flash process. It's just that there seems to be a working dodge. I was, for instance, today, trying to get a UK 4.1.1 to work.... and it goes a little something liek this...

When the flashes fail, and I'm left with a stalled update screen and a mostly finished blue line, there's a procedure that seems to work but can't be called "professional"...

1. Leave the phone attached by USB to the computer
2. From the stalled update screen, boot to the "Download Mode" warning screen (press: Vol Down + Home + Power)
3. Restart/Reset Odin
5. Initiate Download Mode (press: Vol Up)
6. Flash clockworkmod
7. Wait and see...
8. If the phone boots to the Samsung logo and no further, reboot to clockworkmod recovery mode (press: Vol UP + Home + Power)
9. And in any case, if/when the phone boots to clockworkmod recovery screen, do "wipe data/factory reset"
10. Still in clockworkmod recovery menu, do "reboot system now"
11. See what happens...

You should start seeing messages about Android updating and apps being optimized, and after a while the phone should boot to the normal first screen. And this is true even though flashing the operating system to the phone formally failed! Today's attempted flash of the UK 4.1.1 for instance failed with 30 seconds left on the flash procedures clock, but the dodge outlined above has me now using that same 4.1.1 on my phone as if nothing went wrong.

BUT I DON'T KNOW IF THIS PROCESS IS SAFE! Nor do I know if it only happens this way because of some quirk of my phone or things I did to it earlier.... SO MANY IMPONDERABLES!!!!!!

Maybe I will blog it...



In any case, the key in all this not the Android version number, but lies in acquiring a firmware that's intended for anywhere but here. It's almost embarrassing...

Thanks for posting all this it's a great read.

I still haven't rooted my phone becuase I still dont have a computer but last year when I rooted my previous phone it was an adventure just like this.

11. See what happens...

I wouldn't do that on an aircraft (or around any ballistic missile subs).

so why are there so MANY apps that only work on iphone and not on android?
Fer example can't find that train app that was recommended on here dongdong, or mybus (app that tells you when your bus is coming) or even whatsonxiamen which I need since I live there.
I really don't want to buy the iphone as I have been assured that android is far better..but what can I do if those apps are ONLY for iphone?
signed
bewildered and bothered cochon

They should have those on android, you'll have to search in Chinese though. For android I use 火车票达人 for train tickets, and for the bus there's one called 8684公交. More Chinese people use Android than iPhone and there are plenty of daily convenience Chinese apps for Android.

What sort of app store do you have on your phone? My phone came with one called MM that seems to have a load stuff.

I haven't bought one yet-that's the thing! I am still hesitating between the android and the iphone
all those ones mentioned don't appear in the google play website. The whatsonxiamen for sure is not there that's an English app.

I bought my phone in China, so I don't have access to Google Play and I'm not really tech savvy enough to go around rooting it or anything of that sort in order to get Google Play.

I will say though, if you want easy access to foreign/English apps, an iPhone is probably your best bet. I have an iPad and an Android phone. In hindsight, I kind of wish I'd spent the extra money and gotten an iPhone. My Android (a Lenovo) is great for what it is but I feel like there's much more content available (with less hassle) to me on the iPad.