Read up on warnings and risks before updating your Android OS

With Android devices, it is very easy to fall two or three releases behind if you depend on your carrier to release new software. For me personally, I decided to update to the Honeycomb release on my Samsung Galaxy tablet in order to get the front-facing camera to work with Skype. It turned out to be a big mistake on my part and I am here to tell fellow Techerator readers how not to make the same mistake I did.

I performed a couple of quick Google searches about Honeycomb on my specific tablet model. I then came across a great website called XDA Developers, which is a great site for users who want to root their phones and install custom ROMs, and it’s also great for finding out about any risks and warnings when updating the OS on your mobile devices (which I failed to do).

I ended up following a bunch of leads and downloaded a flash-loading program to update to Honeycomb. I followed all of the instructions on the screen, and before I knew it, my tablet went from this:

Samsung Galaxy Tablet

To this:

7-inch Brick (Mantoles creation)

Yes, that’s a 7-inch brick. I don’t consider myself a magician, but I somehow managed to magically transform my Samsung tablet into a really heavy paperweight.

It turns out, I was being negligent and didn’t read the rest of the thread on XDA. Sure enough, there were tons of warnings about using the method that I used and also a couple of errors in the sequence of executing the steps.

So, my lesson to you is, read through the entire thread all the way to the end and read up on all the warnings about bricking your tablet. If you don’t educate and remind yourself of the risks involved with changing around the software, bad things are likely to happen.


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3 responses to “Read up on warnings and risks before updating your Android OS”

  1. Kevin McCaughey Avatar

    What was it that bricked it? I mean, what did you miss? I haven’t managed to brick an android device yet and am curious about why it happened. I hope you got it working again somehow! usually there is a way to unbrick.

    1. Sophronis Avatar
      Sophronis

      Hi Kevin, I agree with you it is very difficult to lose access to the bootloader (2 different ways to access it – with holding power on and volume up or down button).  Somehow I lost access to both of those options. It has been a while but I remember it was a two step disaster.  One time I lost access to the recovery menu and the second time to the bootloader.    Luckily my device was still under warranty so I ended up sending it back to Samsung repair center.  They were not able to repair it so I received another unit.

        

  2. Kevin McCaughey Avatar

    What was it that bricked it? I mean, what did you miss? I haven’t managed to brick an android device yet and am curious about why it happened. I hope you got it working again somehow! usually there is a way to unbrick.

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