A quick copy of all my pictures / videos was performed. Basically I copied everything off the SD card. I lost nothing here so this was not required but still advised.
I downloaded Keis, installed it, did a reboot, ran it and it needed to install an update to itself. Next I plugged in the phone and told it to start up in Keis mode after I connected the USB cable. It said it was connecting but did not so unplugged and plugged in again and it worked. I was not using the cable that came with the phone but that did not appear to be the issue. I was using a USB port on the back of my machine via a USB extension cable.
It then said I had updates and downloaded them the put them on the phone with a single phone reboot. I lost my home screen icons as it put the ones out there that Samsung and T-Mobile decided I needed the most. Deleted all that crap and reset to what I basically remember my phone being set to and I was off and running.
I must say I was expecting more initially. Things really look the same. There are little tweaks here and there, good tweaks so far, but nothing major seems to have changed. I don't know what I expected but I guess I wanted some WOW factor that I did not get.
The tweaks I have noticed:
- GMail application has more buttons that don't scroll off screen when you scroll the text of the message. Reply, Reply All, Next Msg, Prev Msg, etc. This is very nice.
- GMail - easy access to more than one account with account name along top of screen.
- Bluetooth (BT) - turn it on and you instantly see what devices it is scanning against to connect to.
- BT - turn it off from notification drop down and it just turns off, no need to pop up screen and press the check box to toggle it off
- Settings menu now has color icons
- Menu screen search control has drop down of things to search against (All, Web, Apps, Contacts)
- Accuweather on daily briefing has new layout and more information
- AP Mobile news on daily briefing has news type tabs
- You can stop auto rotation from the notification toolbar
- WiFi calling application (I have not used this)
- New USB debugging enabled icon
The update was smooth enough and did not appear to break anything so I also updated my wife's phone. She has the exact same model. I showed her the changes I had found and asked if they liked / wanted them first. Of course it had to redownload the binaries. Thought maybe it would have cached them to disk but I guess most will only update one phone so that is understandable. I wrote down what she had on her home screens and tried my best to recreate them after the reboot. She will enjoy a lot of the changes more than I do as she gets a lot more email, uses the calendar more than I do and checks the weather more often too.
Good to be up to date. I have not tried out any Flash games or sites as of yet. Don't know if the phone is any faster / slower than it was before. I connected to both of my Blue Tooth devices this morning (ODBII reader I use with Torque and standard car BT talk on phone + music) without a hitch.
I have not had the phone for long and have never rooted it or really done anything out of the norm with it. I use it as my main development device at home and work. I had to install new USB device drivers to get ADB to work again. They installed via Kies installed at home and work. So far so good.