After a series of speculations, finally the Gingerbread update of 2.3.3 arrives for the Droid 2 handset. There are a plenty of updates which this phone has undergone with in this update of Gingerbread 2.3.3 which we will see in the due course of this article. Please note that this update will only be pushed to all the owners who are currently on the Verizon’s network only and the devices which are not there will the Verizon’s network or have unlocked the device then you will have to wait for couple of days till the manual Gingerbread 2.3.3 update arrives. Please note that this update is the official update of the Gingerbread 2.3.3 and is dubbed as the 4.5.600 and this update can be applied by all of the Droid 2 handsets which has the current version of 2.4.330.
Improvements in Gingerbread 2.3.3 for Droid 2:
- An all new dedicated section has now been added in the form of “Downloads” which will help you manage all the times which you have downloaded on your phone. This icon will be placed in the applications folder.
- Get all the latest application as well as the management details within a flash as all data can now be centrally viewed and managed.
- Most importantly earlier there was no capability of multi touch Key chording which is nothing but close to the multi touch capability which now comes bundled with this new update.
- With improved selection of words and copy functionality, you can now enjoy the tools like Cut, Copy and Paste as soon as you select any word in your phone that is be it a text message or a contact or just anything.
- An all new interface just complements all the changes which have been either enhanced or infused with this update on your Droid 2 which has an all new colour scheme too and also not to forget when we talk of the Visual experience, this phone also comes along with the customizability capability of the Dock icons which gives a great sense of capability.
- Other standard features or enhancements which this phone comes along with is the Device as well as the SD card encryption and also the Custom application groups which allows the users to customize the way they want it.
- The list goes endless if we also add many other minute things which has been updated with this all new update such as the Updated calendar options which now carries the better overall layout and also the easy conference dialing is now a part of the phone as in this feature all you need to do is to just dial a code directly from your calendar which saved time in manually entering the code.
- Along with all of the above features, the battery life has been further tuned to match the expectations of the users but we think still there is a room for the improvement of the battery life. The best part being is that the VPN has been substantially enhanced so as to get integrated with the IP Sec VPN clients to the device security settings which is the most demanded feature asked by the users.
- Also, the list goes on with the enhancements in the email and messaging, new active sync email policy and also other stability fixes have been taken care of and are now stands solved. Google Books, Accu weather, Amazon MP3 Store, Adobe Flash 10.2 which can now be upgrade to the latest Adobe 10.3 version and V Cast apps are now a part of standard applications.
So, now let’s proceed and see on how you can easily update the phone with the latest version of Gingerbread 2.3.3 in your Motorola Droid 2 which was the most awaited update.
Pre Upgrade Instructions:
- The pre upgrade instructions are mentioned below, kindly ensure that you follow each and every instruction carefully which will lead to comfortable upgrade of the device.
- Please note that this update is only available for Verizon powered Motorola Droid 2 phones and not for any other phones.
- Since the firmware update process will take place it’s always advised to create a back up of all the data as in an unlikely even you may end up losing all the information which is present in your phone. Before proceeding to update, you need to ensure that you have synced all your contacts with your Google Account, all sms, applications, videos and music files which are there in your phone should be taken a backup or else the data will be lost. Anything which is in SD card will not be lost, so you can alternatively move to SD Card. If you are planning to store in internal SD Card then it’s preferred to store the data in computer as a backup as in an unlikely event the data in SD Card may get corrupted.
- If your device has undergone the rooting process then after the update you will have to again root the device as the rooting access is filled by this update. The users who have already updated their device has reportedly said about the increase in the overall quadrant ranks along with many other great set of features.
- Ensure that you have an at least 50% of battery power so that update gets successfully completed as the firmware update requires more battery life than the normal usage. Alternatively, if you don’t want to update via your 3G connection then you can also turn ON the Wi Fi to download the firmware over the Wi Fi.
- If you have rooted your device before then after the firmware update you will have to again root the device as the rooting access gets revoked.
Procedure to update Motorola Droid 2:
- There are two ways for upgrading the firmware update, one is the updation process which is the Over the air automatic one which is the server initiated one and the second method is the one which is the user initiated OTA (Over the Air) update one. So, let’s proceed and see both of these methods in the due course of this update. Please note that you will have to make sure that you either have a high speed internet connection in the form of Wi Fi or even the normal 3G internet connectivity will be enough so as to facilitate the smoother firmware update. Also, note that installation process might take long depending upon the data connectivity speed and also ensure that the current version of your Droid 2 is 2.4.330 and not to any other or else you will not get the OTA update release. The update size is 103 MB and according to the data speed, the files will be downloaded and installed and in all might take a maximum of 1 hour and not more than that in any case.
Firmware Update process (Automatic – OTA Server Initiated):
- As soon as you receive the update notification on your Droid 2 screen, you will have to tap on the option “Download” and then you will have to choose the option called “Install Now” and then after this the phone will be rebooting and will turn ON to commence the installation process and soon it will begin the process.
- Please note that, just in case if you wish to update the phone later, you can choose the option called “Install later” and selecting so will again take you back to the home screen and you can continue using the phone but after 12 hours you will again get the notification for the updation.
Now, if you have chosen to install now then the device will be powering on and then progress bar will show the installing icon wherein after the installation process is done the device will be powering off and then will be powered ON and as soon as the installation is done then you will get the notification like as mentioned below in the form of confirmation. All you need to enjoy the new firmware is to just tap on the OK button to confirm the update on your Motorola Droid 2 as shown in the below screen shot.
Firmware Update process ( Manual – Server Initiated):
- First up tap on the “Menu” and select the “Settings” after which you need to tap on the “About Phone” by scrolling down. Next up, after tapping on the “About Phone”, tap on the System Updates which is located at the top itself as shown in the below screen shot. After this, select the “download” from the notification window to proceed with the updation of the phone as shown below.
- The download of the firmware is initiated and so, once the download is completed you will now have to now tap on the option of “Install now” to apply this firmware update in your phone. The downloading process may take up to 45-50 minutes depending on the data rate / Speed. Now, within 10 – 15 minutes you will see that the update is installed, please note that while the update is being installed don’t interrupt as interrupting will halt the software update and will lead to unsuccessful update.
- So there you go, you have now successfully updated the Motorola Droid 2 with the latest version of Gingerbread 2.3 version. Please note that since in the firmware update process the APN settings gets cleared you will have to now ensure that you have configured all the required APN settings only with which you can easily access the Internet, in the process of firmware upgradation all the APN settings with which you can browse the internet gets cleared or deleted. Along with the Internet settings, you also will have to restore the back up of all the applications, messages, contacts etc so that your phone comes back to normal with all the data which was there before the firmware updation.
Do let us know if you face any issues while updating the device and just in case if the update is being interrupted due to the data connectivity loss or due to any other reasons then all you need to do is to just re follow the whole procedure which is mentioned above.
