“That wizard is just a crazy old man. Now, tomorrow I want you to take that R2 unit to Anchorhead and have it’s memory erased. That’ll be the end of it. It belongs to us now.”
After seeing the Nexus-One receiving the Android 2.2 a.k.a FroYo update last week, I decided to not wait for Motorola and Verizon any longer and take matters into my own hands, upgrading the Motorola Droid to FroYo. But before going into details, Tom and I made a short field-trip yesterday.
While we don’t currently have an iPhone 4 and we are not really in the market to buy one in the next couple of weeks and months, after watching Steve Jobs’ Antenna Gate press conference Tom and I still wanted to see it for ourselves that “Phones aren’t perfect”. Fortunately, we live in an area with a high Apple-Store density, so off we went to the nearest one, checking out the newest iPhone.
Holding it wrong?
At the store were plenty of iPhones to play with and we really enjoyed FaceTime, a beautiful application for making video calls over WIFI networks. The Retina Display was not as overwhelming as all the media hoopla wanted to make us believe. Maybe it’s because I’m using a Motorola Droid, which too has a pretty incredible display or maybe it was the lighting inside the store – the display looks great but not overwhelming.
While playing with the new iPhone, we of course noticed the quickly disappearing bars. Even with the updated iOS4, no matter how we were holding the iPhones, starting from all 5 bars, bars were dropping to a single one or disappearing altogether in a matter of seconds.
Taking the DROID from Android 2.1-Upd.1 to Android 2.2
After installing the flashing tools on Windows, the whole update process can be done in the matter of minutes. Starting with an Motorola Droid running stock Android 2.1 -Update 1, putting Android 2.2 on the device is a two-step process, requiring a Windows (XP or later) host computer - a Windows VirtualMachine, using VM-Ware-Fusion for instance, does suffice.
Step 1
The first step uses RSD-Lite to install a new recovery image onto the phone. This replaces the stock Android recovery image and allows the installation of new ROMs, e.g. ROMs with root access. This process is demonstrated nicely here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9udWx-KXwGY
Step 2
The second and last step is much simpler (no Windows needed here):
- Download the FRF84B-Released file to your SD card root folder and rename it to update.zip.
- Reboot into recovery mode (hold the power and “x” button at the same time).
- Using the volume up/down switch highlight “Wipe data/factory reset” and select with the camera button.
- Choose “Wipe cache partition.”
- Choose “Install.”
- Choose “Allow update.zip installation.”
- Choose “Install /sdcard/update.zip (deprecated).”
- After the install process finishes, select “reboot”
This process is demonstrated nicely here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UL167EAIYjc
Andorid 2.2 FRF84B on the Motorola DROID
After working through the two steps, a stock 2.2 rooted ROM has been installed and all accounts need to be set up again. However, after the google account has been set, all previously installed applications will install automatically, it’s just going to take a few minutes.
There are still quite a few shortcoming with this release. Only USB Tethering (which is not supported on OS-X) has been implemented, i.e. Tethering over WIFI is still missing.
Booting up the DROID seems to take longer than it used to and not all applications seem to be available in the Marketplace, but the DROID certainly is a lot snappier now!
Downgrading back to Android 2.1
Since the hacked Android 2.2 version will not be able to pick up over-the-air (OTA) updates, the phone will not receive the official Android 2.2 update once Verizon makes it available. I.e. if you want to put the official Android 2.2 on the phone, it needs to be run stock Android 2.1 again.
Instructions:
- Install RSDLite 4.6 AND the 32-bit or 64-bit Motorola USB Drivers (Depends on your system most will need 32-bit some will need 64-bit)
- Connect your phone to USB and turn it off then while your phone is booting hold up on the DPAD.
- Run RSD Lite 4.6 as Administrator.
- Set the .sbf file mentioned above.
- Hit start and below it should give you completion progress and all of that.
- Once your phone is done being flashed (It may take a while so don’t unplug it) it will reboot and you will be back at stock 2.0.1.
After 2.0.1 is back on the phone it needs to be reactivated, which is a pretty much fully automated process. However, if it does not kick-in automatically you can initiate it by dialing *228.
My name is Wolf Paulus, a photographer, hiker, hacker, technologist based in Ramona, California.
