For all the owners of Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc there’s a great news for all you guys as you can now update your devices with the most awaited Android’s Gingerbread 2.3.3 version. This handset joins the alliance of the phones like Google Nexus S, Google Nexus One and many more like Samsung Galaxy S GT I9000 to receive the Gingerbread release. With many added enhancements up in sleeve, Sony this time ensured that it followed no delayed release of Gingerbread 2.3.3 and hence launched pretty much earlier than expected. With the launch of second generation Xperia series along with the recent update patches to those also sparked the need for updating the existing devices so that all of the current smart phones are being updated with the latest. Though there is no Estimated time of official roll out of the Gingerbread firmware of
Soon after this update for the Xperia Ace, the following update will be released for other phones like Xperia Play etc. If we have a look at the changes this update has bought along then there are many to follow the suit which are mentioned below,
Enhancements in Gingerbread 2.3.3 Update:
- The first and the foremost thing which has been optimized is the facebook which now allows one to share, like as well as connect on Facebook in a faster and easier way that hasn’t been possible before. The Facebook inside Xperia features works perfectly side-by-side with Time Scape which is one of the most popular concepts and the Facebook for Android app too is now improved with faster user interface algorithm embedded within. The time scape which now has been refreshed and now you can call it as may be the Time scape refreshed.
- The second biggest thing which includes in this update is that many bugs have been solved which ranges from slower performance to the better optimization of the overall user interface and also all the feedbacks which Sony has received on the Arc has been tried to accommodate the same in this update release.
- Other features which improves is the battery performance, general software stability, Wi Fi has been substantially improved and is made much more stable and also the touch responsiveness has been optimized to deliver.
- Xperia Arc now also comes along with the added quality of HD video recording as the HD video recording has been successfully optimized and now no force close errors will be reported. Camera application now comes along with the advanced tools and also the bug of pink spot for some of the users have now been fixed and also now you can enjoy the benefit of better image quality as well as the greater zooming of image levels have been induced in this.
- Now, the free RAM too is increased and it also releases more RAM to the users directly so that the phone becomes much faster as the RAM availability has been increased to the users so that apps can make use of it and also the start-up time has been marginally reduced by two points. The quadrant speeds have been substantially improved and also the user interface is now much speedier than before. This update is considered as the major update with almost all the fixes.
- Now, all new flash update of 10.3 Adobe flash comes packed along with this update and also most importantly the Google Maps are now updated with this update so as to deliver the 3D Map view.
- Many user also reported the issues regarding the Android Market Place where in users we getting error messages while they are on the slow internet speeds or even sometimes on Wi Fi which now has been solved by this update.
Note: Since the firmware update has been updated, all the APN Settings will be cleared. So, to access all the data services / MMS / Internet, you will have to get the Internet settings from from your Service provider.
Pre Upgrade Instructions:
- So, let’s check out on how you can proceed and install the latest Gingerbread 2.3.3 version on your Xperia Arc but before that you will have to follow the procedure to unlock the boot loader which will open up the device to enable the loading of Gingerbread 2.3.3 update.
- 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.
- After this pull out the SIM card as well as the external SD cards if any in your phone, just to make sure that in an unlikely event the data in it doesn’t get corrupted. Note that you have kept original USB cable handy which you have got with your Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc,
- Additionally, ensure that your phone has at least more than 50% of battery power left, this is just an advisory which if followed then you will not experience any difficulties as while updation of the device the battery consumption is at a maximum,
- Ensure that your computer / laptop which runs on a XP, Vista or Windows 7 OS the firewall and other antivirus programs are disabled and also you should have admin privileges to download and install the software including the drivers and also along with this you will be requiring the USB port on your computer which supports USB 2.0.
- Last but not the least, you will have to ensure that you follow the instructions carefully. Kindly note that by doing this process you will not be voiding the warranty and also if you have earlier rooted your Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc before then after the firmware update the root access will be revoked and then again you will have to root the device. Please note that if you have rooted your device earlier then the root access gets revoked, so after updating the device you will have to again root the device so that you can enjoy the rooted Xperia Arc.
Procedure to update Xperia Arc with Gingerbread 2.3.3:
- After getting the bootloader unlocked, you will have to now download the Gingerbread ROMs as per your choice which are mentioned below. Depending upon the location, operator and choice you can select any one ROM of your choice for downloading it before proceeding to the next step which are shown below,
Global Version
Hong Kong Version
Native Docomo Version
Unrooted Hong Kong Version (Recommended)
Unrooted O2 Version
- After downloading you will have to setup the Android SDK and then you will have to extract the file which is named as android-sdk_r10-windows.zip to C:\ after which you will have to extract the system.zip file to the path C:\android-sdk-windows\tools and you will get the SYSTEMFILE.img file. Please note that the file name here will be different.
- Now, after doing this you will have to unplug the USB cable and simply power off the phone and then unplug the USB cable and power off the phone.
- Now, you will have to press the “Menu” key from your phone and then you need to plug in the USB cable after which you will see that a Blue notification light will be glowing.
- After this, just go to the Start menu and click on the Run option and just type in the cmd and then press Enter key from your keyboard as shown in the below screen shot.
- Up next you will have to type in the command in the command prompt as,
Cd\android-sdk-windows\tools
Fastboot devices
after which you will have to type in the enter key from the keyboard.
- Now, if you have got XXXXXXXXXXXX fastboot that means your phone successfully connected and if not then you just will have to whole process which is mentioned above again and if its succeeded you will get to see the screen as shown below,
Now after getting the above screen, it means that you can now flash the system image to your phone by keying in the command below,
fastboot flash system SYSTEMFILE.img
Now, after keying in the command which is shown above, you will see that after a time of few minutes you will have to change the SYSTEMFILE.img to the file which you have extracted as shown in the below screenshot.
So, that’s it you have now successfully installed the latest firmware of 2.3.3, you will have to pull off the phone from the computer which is connected with the USB and then all you need to do is to just switch ON the device. Please note that the phone will take up to 10 minutes in booting the phone as this is the first start of the device as the firmware update will initiate the process of starting the device in the normal mode and also it applies all the critical updates which happened in the firmware update process.
If just in any case you are unable to complete the whole process and due to some reasons if you failed to upgrade the device then don’t panic and instead just re follow the whole procedure from the start to facilitate the smoother firmware updation process. So, in this way by following the above instructions carefully you have successfully updated the Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc. Do let us know in the comments section below if you face any kind of issues as we will try our level best.
