Gingerbread update for Samsung Epic

[rundmcarlsonn]

Randall_O you are probably the most ignorant person on here. You are a perfect example as to why carriers DONT SUPPORT MODIFICATIONS. You root the phone, then don't even know how to use the recovery that YOU PUT ON. Its unfortunate that rooting is so easy, because people like you do it, and ruin their stuff. Then you get on some kind of smartphones suck and sprint updates are crap kick. The epic is an amazing phone, just because you don't use even a quarter of its potential is your fault. Also, the gingerbread update is a huge rewrite to android that improves the amount of resources required to run the phone. It saves battery life and improves performance. Its absurd to say that its anything other than a big improvement.

Fred, I code for this phone and you are wrong on the bricked issue. A boot looping phone is not bricked. Any phone that can be reflashed and recovered is not bricked. Bricked is only when you can not restore the phone to working order in any way. I am 100% sure that if you plugged into the computer and odined a brand new factory install the phone would work fine. Even if your phone wouldn't you are still wrong about your definition of bricked. And I don't understand why everyone thinks that sprint customer support and tech people are the end all be all of phone knowledge. You don't have to know anything about phones to be in customer service, and the tech guys mostly just know basic troubleshooting. Anything beyond that, they just send it out to a real repair company, and that company sends them a new one. It all works through insurance. They used to have to be certified to do real repairs but that ended. They don't bother with anything if it involves more work than some simple software troubleshooting or replacing a spare part. They hardly know how the devices function on a software level and no nothing about the hardware. Print out the specs page for one of their phones and go in and ask them questions. They don't even know half the info unless they read it off the placard on the phone.

[JPF321]

I'm just throwing this out there since it occurred to me today ... I had the "PDA Net" app installed prior to update .. however, when I attempted to reinstall "PDA Net" I got a Market error that said "Not supported by Carrier" .. so could it be possible that everyone that had PDA Net installed suffered from this "bug" ..

     Did anyone with update issues NOT have PDA Installed?

If it's the case that PDA Net caused the issues .. who's to blame? Sprint (for blocking the app), Samsung (not likely), June Fabrics (not likely, they coded for "android" not for "Sprint Android")?

FYI, my phone was STOCK UNROOTED and did suffer the update problems, I'm simply positing that perhaps PDA Net is the common cause.

[JPF321]

and taking it further .. if Sprint decided to block "PDA Net" perhaps they decided to block other apps which people had installed that was bandwidth or monetarily unfriendly to Sprint... did anyone else get any messages about an app that was "Not available from this carrier" ?? do you know what app it was?

[rundmcarlsonn]

This very well could be the cause. Its a stupid restriction to put on anyway, because you can still install the app from somewhere else. Sprints limitation is only on the market so if you get the apk, you can install it anyway. Thats how I have wireless tether. It would be rather annoying if this were the cause of all the problems.

[coasterphotos]

If the app was already on the phone, there isn't really a way to block it. All they can do is have it not show up in the market. The update only looks for files it needs to update, it doesn't care what else is on the phone. It would be possible though for people to have apps that weren't Gingerbread compatible and if the app tried to load when the phone booted it could cause problems.

[halcyoncmdr]

ashley921889 wrote:

Just received the update from sprint AGAIN. I clicked to restart and install. It restarted and is now stuck on the screen that says SAMSUNG www.samsumgmobile.com AGAIN. Should I just leave it on this screen or pull the battery and hold volume down camera and power like Ive been doing and do a system reboot? This is very frustrating. I dont kno y this keeps happening to my phone...

This issue is considered a Known Issue and does have a resolution available...

• 1. Pull battery on device
  
• 2. Install battery on device
  
• 3. Press and hold Volume Down, Camera and Power Keys until the Android System Recovery menu appears on the screen. This will take about 10 Seconds and the user will first see a “Samsung” screen and then it will load the System Recovery Menu.
  
• 4. Using the up/down volume keys, navigate to the “wipe cache partition” option and select is using the main “Home” (looks like a house) button.
  
• 5. The device will clear the cache.
  
• 6. Using the up/down volume keys, navigate to the “reboot system now” option and select is using the main “Home” (looks like a house) button.
  
• 7. The device will reboot and should complete a normal start up process.
  
• 8. If the device hangs again, continue troubleshooting with the following steps.
  
• 9. Pull battery on device
  
• 10. Install battery on device
  
• 11. Press and hold Volume Down, Camera and Power Keys until the Android System Recovery menu appears on the screen. This will take about 10 Seconds and the user will first see a “Samsung” screen and then it will load the System Recovery Menu.
  
• 12. Before performing the next step, please inform the customer that all the data on their device will be removed and they will need to reinstall applications and enter user credentials for their applications and services. User data stored on the SD card (music, photos, etc…) will not be affected but this action.
  
• 13. Using the up/down volume keys, navigate to the “wipe data/factory reset” option and select is using the main “Home” (looks like a house) button.
  
• 14. The user will see a “Manual Mode” screen and they will need to press the Volume Up key to confirm the reset option.
  
• 15. The device will complete a factory data wipe of the device.
  
• 16. Using the up/down volume keys, navigate to the “reboot system now” option and select is using the main “Home” (looks like a house) button.
  
• 17. The device will reboot and should complete a normal start up process.
  
• 18. If the device hangs again, the user will need to bring the device to a Sprint Retail Store so it can be recovered using a OTW update tool.
  

If wiping the cache works, you are done, if not then a full reset would be required.

rundmcarlsonn wrote:
This very well could be the cause. Its a stupid restriction to put on anyway, because you can still install the app from somewhere else. Sprints limitation is only on the market so if you get the apk, you can install it anyway. Thats how I have wireless tether. It would be rather annoying if this were the cause of all the problems.

This "stupid" limitation as you put it, is in your terms of service with Sprint. You cannot use your phone as a modem for another device without paying for the mobile hotspot plan on the phone. Applications like PDA Net subvert this carrier requirement that you agree to by using the Sprint service. By blocking the application from the Market and enforcing the terms of service, Sprint removes most people's ability to install it. Most people aren't going to know how to manually install it.

[rundmcarlsonn]

Sprint is what is stupid then. They openly stated on twitter that they aren't going to do anything about people tethering if the individual knows how to. So they either don't understand what that means, or they are hypocrites. Anyone could install the app manually, it takes seconds to find on google. For those who don't know, just copy the apk to your sd card, then go to it on your phone and click it. It will ask you if you want to install and its on. Not difficult in the slightest. 

Paying for tethering is also stupid. I pay for unlimited data. If it isn't unlimited don't call it that. The data used to display pages on the phone is exactly the same data as on a tethered device. And its the same amount of data, because I have my browser in desktop mode on my phone anyway because mobile pages suck. Theres no good reason for it other than money. Obviously it could take up bandwidth (in certain situations) but if they don't want me using that much, they should have limited my data plan, not my ability to connect one piece of hardware to another. If my cable company tried to charge me extra for cable depending on what kind of tv I plugged into it, I sure as hell would leave them for someone else in a second. Also, PDAnet doesn not make my phone a modem for my computer, it makes my computer a larger input device for my phone . What a difficult TOS work around that is.

Coaster, they could very well have the update check for certain apps, and automatically fail if they are detected. Once the factory restore happens, the user no longer has the app or the apk, so they won't be able to install it again (unless they can get it elsewhere). It would be sinister of them to do, and pretty hurtful to their appearance though. It would make them seem like they either didn't know what they were doing with the update, or that they were basically evil and didn't care about their customers or their data. So, I doubt they did, but it is possible to do.

[coasterphotos]

Sprint does have unlimited data...within the rules of your contact...and Sprint is the only carrier remaining with unlimited data. And unless you abuse it, you probably wont't caught tethering. All the carriers are cracking down on data use on devices other than the phone as well. There have already been reports on various forums of AT&T and Verizon cancelling accounts due to tethering.

The update does not check for certain apps, other than the ones that are supposed to be there. It checks for the version the phone is running and it checks to make sure the files it needs to update are there. If you have the update file, you can open it and find the install script that shows exactly what the update does and what it checks for.

[ashley921889]

Im about to try this..

[LafMoor1]

I updated my Samsung Epic 4G to the new OS, but has lost the ringtones downloaded through the Sprint Music + app.  The downloaded files are still there and can be selected in the settings for ringtones, but the phone is not recognizing them.  They do not play in the settings nor will the play in the phone's music player.  An error pops up in the music player saying the file is invalid and not recognized.  I've updated the Sprint Music + App and that did not help.  How do we get the ringtone back without paying for it all over again?

Also to clarify - I have gone through the sprint site to re-download the ringtones, but the test message just contains a link to the Sprint Music + app we already have.  It is not an update and will not allow us to re-download the ringtone.  Within the Sprint Music + App, the ringtone is also not recognized as a valid file. Any body HELP!

[RC1024]

I find that ringtones downloaded to phone from Music Plus are saved in SD:\downloads as a locked file, which is .dcf, had you already tried to delete these files from the SD card before downloading them again? you may also want to consider reinstalling Music plus from the market.

[mapesy]

FYI. I've removed some of the posts in this thread for their lack of respect for others.  Please be kind to each other.