So I finally got my Samsung Moment earlier this month. I admit I was worried about a few things. I had heard about several problems a lot of people were having with the phone and I wasn’t sure of the severity of these problems. Most of the problems were before the CL14 update which mine came with since I bought mine well after the update.
I had been using it for a few weeks just the stock settings. I downloaded many apps from the market and transferred my Wallpaper addiction from my laptop to my phone (I can never have enough wallpapers!). I never made any huge changes to the phone out of fear of “bricking” it (rendering it completely inoperable). I was fully aware of the leaked Android 2.1 ROM that has been made available almost anywhere, but I was too intimidated to actually do it.
Since it’s a Google phone all your contacts and emails are synced to your Google account. So you don’t have to worry about reentering all your contacts. All your pictures, videos, music, ringtones/sounds and many other files are stored on your memory card so you don’t have to worry about losing all your stuff. It’s mainly the apps. I had downloaded a lot of apps and most of them didn’t have data stored on the memory card. I didn’t want to have to re-download them all, then do it again when the 2.1 update is officially released.
Fast forward a bit (to last night) and I finally decided to just do it anyway. I am glad I did it too! I expected it to be much more complicated that it actually was. I’ll give you a simple summary so you can see how simple it is:
1) Download AND INSTALL the Samsung Updater from Sprint (SamsungMoment_Update.exe)
(click “More Details” then “Download” at the bottom)2) Download the Android 2.1 ROM for your Samsung Moment
(SPH-M900_MR2_DD03_REL.7z)3) Unzip the “SPH-M900_MR2_DD03_REL.7z”
(you can use the free 7zip program to do this).4) Put the unzipped “SPH-M900_MR2_DD03_REL.tar” file into the following directory:
“Samsung Electronics\SWUpgrade\Models\Binary” in your “Program Files” folder.
(this is the 2.1 operating system that will be downloaded to your phone)* Move the file that’s already in there to a safe location. This is the Android 1.5 ROM if you need to restore back to it for some reason (you probably wont but keep it just in case)
5) Run the “SWUpgrade” program (there should be a shortcut on your desktop.
6) Follow all the steps as they appear on the screen.
This is just a basic summary. I found a very detailed step by step walkthrough video on YouTube. There are three parts to this video. Here is a link to the first part:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86-FbAEGqtw (parts 2 and 3 will appear in the side menu).
If nothing happens when you get to the final step where it downloads the file start over with the phone plugged into a different USB port. Sounds unusual but it really helps. The first time I did it nothing happened for about ten minutes. I started over in another port and it started up right away and only took a few minutes to complete.
It downloads then the phone will restart (which will take a long time for this first reboot) then you’ll have Android 2.1! I recommend doing another reboot after it starts up. It seems like it takes a little bit longer to boot now but not much.
After installing that, go to the Market and search for “Helix” and download the Helix Launcher. This is a free alternative Home app that will allow you to add more screens (up to 7 home screens instead of 3). It also changes the icon of the App Tab to the grid-like icon the Nexus One uses and you can place four permanent shortcuts on either side of it. These icons will stay in place no matter what screen you’re on. I put my Browser, Gmail, Handcent (text messaging), and Calendar so I have quick access to them no matter which screen I’m on. Even cooler is if you double-tap on any of your home screens a small preview of all your screens shows up at the bottom so you can click and go straight over to that screen. So if you’re on screen 1 and want to quickly jump to screen 7 without having to swipe through them all, this makes it much faster.
I’m really glad I decided to go ahead and do the update. It’s like a brand new phone and it’s so much better. If you’re debating on whether or not you want to do this, just go for it. It doesn’t take that long to reinstall apps from the market. Don’t forget the Market remembers anything you’ve purchased so you can download them again if you need to. I bought the Better Keyboard app when I had 1.5 and after I upgraded I was able to download it again without buying it again. So don’t worry about the apps you paid for!
….Now to wait for the official release of 2.1 in case there’s anything this leaked ROM doesn’t have….
