[Q] noob questions about firmware - Galaxy S II Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Hi, i'm relatively new to this whole firmware thing and found it hard to work out what the newest and best stock firmware available is through odin and what the newest android firmware available is? I'm not interested in rooting my phone. Also i don't really want to wipe the memory off my phone while flashing.
If someone could post links to these, and what order i should do things in, that would be great. thanks.

I am not interested to Leaked/Beta/Unofficial firmwares, but if you ask about Stock firmware, then KF3 is the latest, and for some country like China, Poland, KG5/6 is available officially, which is GB 2.3.4. But worldwide 2.3.4 is still coming soon. And if you are interested in flashing Leaked firmwares via Odin, then you could search in www.samfirmware.com OR under Dev section here in Intratech's thread.
Regards.

at the moment the leaked firmwares from samfirmware changing every week. The last one is KG6 and it seems to roll out from Samsung over kies in the next time. The greatest thing that bothers me is the missing changelogs. So you never have a comparsion about the different firmwares.

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[Q] Noob question about firmwares

Hi guys,
This may be an absolute stupid question about firmwares but I don't understand why some people are able to updated to 2.3.4 or even 2.3.5 whereas my O2 branded handset is so far behind and is only on 2.3.3 and KE7
Anyone know why and how these firmware gets rolled out to different phones/providers?
Different firmwares for different regions. You can always flash a firmware of different region which may be 2.3.5, when your country/carrier might not have the latest one available.
Like, I am in India, using KI4 2.3.5, which is an European ROM as my country doesn't have the latest ROM available yet, officially.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk
tonynz said:
Hi guys,
This may be an absolute stupid question about firmwares but I don't understand why some people are able to updated to 2.3.4 or even 2.3.5 whereas my O2 branded handset is so far behind and is only on 2.3.3 and KE7
Anyone know why and how these firmware gets rolled out to different phones/providers?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm afraid if you want to wait for official O2 updates via Kies then you'll be in for a long wait my friend.
If you want the latest and greatest firmwares then I would suggest you read the 1st 3 posts of Intratech's thread here http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1075278.
Then read them again and then read them again! It's not as complicated as some make out.
Then decide if you want to take the plunge and take control of your own updates using Odin. I was a total noob and did it and I now now flash the latest firmware as soon as the legend that is Intratech posts them.
You can also get rid of the O2 branding if you want to.
Alternatively you can get the latest O2 branded firmware from Intratech's thread here http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1113928 but that's so far behind it's almost embarassing.
tacgls said:
I'm afraid if you want to wait for official O2 updates via Kies then you'll be in for a long wait my friend.
If you want the latest and greatest firmwares then I would suggest you read the 1st 3 posts of Intratech's thread here http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1075278.
Then read them again and then read them again! It's not as complicated as some make out.
Then decide if you want to take the plunge and take control of your own updates using Odin. I was a total noob and did it and I now now flash the latest firmware as soon as the legend that is Intratech posts them.
You can also get rid of the O2 branding if you want to.
Alternatively you can get the latest O2 branded firmware from Intratech's thread here http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1113928 but that's so far behind it's almost embarassing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for that, I used to have it updating via Odin but decided to go back to the Kies route to wait for the official upgrades. Silly move by me.
I'll update it to 2.3.5 tonight - thanks
It'll be like having a new phone coming from KE7.
Please use the Q&A Forum for questions Thanks
Moving to Q&A

[Q] 02 Branded SGS2 - Is it worth de-branding?

I've got a galaxy s2 from 02 and it is branded and running o2's flavour of software.
I've attached 2 screenshots to show the version I have.
Is it worth it for me to debrand, what would I realistically gain? I've looked through the forums and it seems there is newer generic firmware available. But there also seems to be mixed opinion as to weather it's worth upgrading. From what I can see I have 2.3.3 KF3 if that helps
It also appears that by flashing generic stock firmware via odin I will still be able to use kies so any future releases will download through kies using the firmware update feature?
Answers as always appreciated.
IF you download, from here, the latest stock Samsung ROM, then you will be able to fool KIES into thinking that your phone is no longer an O2 SGSII but a unbranded one. Thus you will be able to get the next available update of the official stock ROM when it is released via KIES.
The most important feature is an improvement in battery life.
If you stick with the branded ROM, then you have to wait a few months for the stock update to be customised by the operator and released.
This is the most important: if you flash an unbranded ROM, then you have invalidated your phone's warranty. You can simply reflash the O2 branded ROM, again available on here, this will put you phone back in warranty.
ok I see is there a link to the post that has the most recent fw? I will ofc check the dev forum stickies Many thanks for the swift reply and advice.
Without a doubt, so many good custom roms available and more newer stock firmwares. You can undo everything so no need to worry about putting it back to stock o2
cheers
Yeah I think I'll flash to generic stock rom then take in the updates from sammy, I'm blown away with this phone as it is running stock roms.
Will wait for ICS to be available on a un-official rom before I debate custom roms,
As soon as I got my sgs2 from O2, I debranded it straight away
Wow what a difference my phone is marginally faster one booted on 2.3.4 bootup is way quicker internet also seems faster.
Unlike X10i flashing new fw didn't basically factory reset the phone everything was as i left it bar the fw.
Had slight issue where it seemed to hang at the last big galaxy s screen for a minute or 2 when first booted but all phones seem to do this when flashed.
One question - my market hasn't changed os there a new one and should it automatically update?
Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk

Is 2.3.3 really the latest software for bell gs2?

Been looking for an answer online and can't seem to find one, my girlfriend bought a used bell gs2 and when i plug it in kies it tells me it has the latest software yet it seems that 2.3.3 as been out for a long time and should have been updated by now no?
Thanks
Kris
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
If you check this thread here UGKG2 is the only firmware bell has put out, so if thats the one you have, then yes, thats the only firmware there is, blame bell for being slow.
If you want to flash a new upto date rom, follow this guide, it also has download links, KK5 is generally a good 2.3.6 firmware at the moment, dont go for the ICS roms, there buggy.
It also should be non wipe aka you shouldnt lose anything as its stock firmware to stock firmware, but no promises and you would be advised to backup stuff first.

[Q] I'm Not 100% Sure witch stock I need.

Hello,
This is a fantastic site with very knowledgeable people. You are all fantastic (Please don't flame me for being a numpty)
My question is, I have a SG2 that I got from dialaphone in the uk. I understand that even though it's on O2 it's an unlocked rom (tried diffrent simcards) I've tried so many roms and such I was hoping to get back to stock for the official ICS update.
I've trawled through samfirmware and this site and google to try and find the correct stock rom/firmware I need but I;m getting confused by the different UK roms and firmwares on samfirmware.com
Can one of you fantastic folks please point me in the right direction of the official stock rom for my phone, preferentially gingerbread. If it is an older version that would be cool too as I could then easily update via Kies.
Thanks lots in advance,
Henshu
By the way, sorry for the spelling.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1113928
Do I use the open europe roms?
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA
Use Check Fus (http://fus.nanzen.se) to find the correct stock firmware.

[Q] When is ICS avaliable?

I bought the phone in January sim free, for full price from my local mobile phone store. It is running stock android 2.3.4 (build number: GINGERBREAD.XWKI4). Its been in the online news a lot that ICS would be available by the end of Q1 but still, i am unable to update. I get a message saying my firmware is the latest available.
I live in New Zealand and as far as i understand you (USA) have ICS but what about for me? I'm assuming my phone is the international version so i thought i would have the update by now.
So does anyone know the full story?
Thanks
ICS hasn't been released by any of the NZ telcos yet (I checked with Checkfus). You can pretty much run any ICS stock (or custom for that matter) rom you want. Lots of Odin (mainly stock roms) & CWM flashable (mainly custom) roms on here (search the development sections).
One thing to bear in mind if you do flash a stock ICS rom from another region tho, you may have problems getting updates via Kies in future. If that happens, you'd need to flash a stock rom for your region in order to get Kies updates again. Or you could do what the majority of people on here do, bypass Kies completely (horrible excuse for software) & flash all your roms manually.
As long as you've got an I9100 or I9100T you can flash any firmware for these phones.
Fellow Kiwi here mate, just flash any ics rom thru odin. I've had no issues whatsoever, the latest Lp7 rom with speedmod kernel is the best I've had. You wont regret it.
I'm with telecom, they wont update anything quickly at all.
Hope this helps your decision

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