OTA updates bionic still on gingerbread

[danlayman]

I'm thinking of buying a bionic which is unused and likely still has gingerbread on it. Couple questions:

1. Will I be able to get to 4.1.2 with OTA updates since the OS on it now is a couple updates at least behind.
2. Is best approach to just swap sim cards from my current bionic to new one.

Thanks in advance

 

[mjf55]

Hi. I just did the exact thing. Took 3 upgrades to get from factory reset to 4.1.2. No problems. Used the sim card that came with it. Good luck, although none is
needed.

Sent from my DROID BIONIC using Tapatalk

 

[Lefty Drummer]

Look for Sam's House of Bionic in the forum here. Will upgrade you to latest firmware from any version painlessly, IF you follow all instructions as written.

Sent from my SCH-I605 using AC Forums mobile app

 

[BlueLions81]

I'm thinking of buying a bionic which is unused and likely still has gingerbread on it. Couple questions:

1. Will I be able to get to 4.1.2 with OTA updates since the OS on it now is a couple updates at least behind.
2. Is best approach to just swap sim cards from my current bionic to new one.

Thanks in advance

Leave Gingerbread on there. It's way better than the upgrades. I had a Bionic and regretted updating my phone. It didn't work right after the upgrades.

 

[Mooncatt]

He may not have a choice unless rooting and changing the build properties asap. Otherwise, the OTA could get pushed and installed on its own. Like when I got ICS, it did it over night while I was sleeping, never giving me a chance to decline it.

I do second the House of Bionic suggestion so long as all directions, cautions, and warnings are followed. It isn't hard to use, but many people try to shortcut the process and then run into problems. It also can help fix problems stemming from OTA updates that went fubar. I know there were a few things I preferred on GB, but over all I've preferred JB. My biggest gripe was Swype being broken on the stock web browser, but going to the Play store and installing the stand alone Swype keyboard works and worth the money.

 

[JoseGui]

Leave Gingerbread on there. It's way better than the upgrades. I had a Bionic and regretted updating my phone. It didn't work right after the upgrades.

FWIW, my experience with the Bionic has been different. It's been really good on JB. Yes, it's a bit laggy and not great on battery life, but the enhancements of JB have made an upgrade less urgent for me. I should add I think I got lucky with one of the more trouble-free Bionics. I've never rooted or otherwise had it anything other than stock, but I did do a full data reset after each update which may have helped.

In any case, good luck!

 

[danlayman]

Completed the process last night using original sim card.. Took quite a while and was a real pain, several software and operating system updates that took a couple hours to complete. Only negative is I lost my pictures which I thought were on my external SD card but apparently weren't, all my music is still there. Pics must have been on the internal storage of phone although I don't believe I had things set to store there.. I have not been able to access the internal memory of the old phone since it was deactivated to see if they are there either by looking on phone or by connecting it to PC as a mass storage device. ended up at 4.1.2 same as where my deactivated bionic was but there appears to be A LOT more Verizon bloat, and a number of apps that I had downloaded weren't visible anywhere through the my apps section of the play store but only in the general google play market. I thought things would sync a little better with my google account but this is how it turned out. I likely needed to do a better backup before I did this. Battery life on new standard battery appears quite a bit better than I was getting on my original or second extended battery. Appears I did not lose unlimited data according to Verizon's website

 

[Mooncatt]

I have not been able to access the internal memory of the old phone since it was deactivated to see if they are there either by looking on phone or by connecting it to PC as a mass storage device.

That just deactivates it on the network so you can't make calls or use cell data. As long as there is nothing physically wrong, you should still be able to boot up and access the internal memory or connect to your computer.

...but there appears to be A LOT more Verizon bloat, and a number of apps that I had downloaded weren't visible anywhere through the my apps section of the play store but only in the general google play market.

Yeah, there there's a lot of bloat, but one thing added in ICS and kept in JB is the ability to go into the app manager and disable them. They still take up storage space, but are locked so they don't initialize and take up memory and process power. If you ever do want them back, they are placed at the bottom of the list in the ALL tab of the app manager.

For the missing apps, have you checked the different options in the app drawer? In there, look in the upper left corner. There will be a title for the type of apps to display. It could be all, only downloaded, only Verizon apps, etc. It may be that it's on something other than all, which would hide some. You can also make your own custom groups to only show certain apps if you want.

 

[danlayman]

Thanks Mooncatt -

I did eventually find the internal storage by USB to my laptop. Not sure why it wouldn't show before. It did take a long time to pop up. The pictures were there and I was able to move to the new phone. It also contained file folders of all my apps. I wasn't sure what if anything I could use these for as far as installing on new phone, and I've re-installed most of what I want anyway now. Unfortunately, trying all options on the app drawer, the missing aps do not show up. Even when I use downloaded, my apps, installed etc., they don't show (Accuweather was a big one that never showed up) and there were a number of others.. Even a number of them did not show in installed, which I understood meant everything I had ever got from the play store, even if I later uninstalled. I'm slowly getting everything together. I am impressed with speed and battery life on the new phone. Better on standard battery than extended battery was on old phone. I assume because it isn't cluttered up, since It had nothing on it when it started the lengthy process of all the updates. Thought about doing factory reset, after it was done downloading, but there was so much else to set up, I didn't bother and it seems to be running fine without it. I disabled some but not all of the Verizon bloat. Is there anything that I should NOT disable as far as it causing problems down the line?

This was a pain, partly my own fault I think, although I think Verizon might have been able to a better job of helping me back up and sync. I guess since I didn't purchase a new phone from them they weren't too interested. But I've spent over a thousand dollars a year with them for many years, but I don't think that matters.

Thanks everybody for your help. I bought the phone NIB for about $150 dollars and was able to keep my unlimited data. Only a few of the new phones I found appealing, and most were missing things like HDMI direct out, removable battery, SD card availability. It seems the whole emphasis seems to be on making the phones as thin as possible and sacrificing some real hardware features.