Xperia Update

An update on the Xperia (literally)

With the customary reluctance I decided I might as well experience the upgrade the phone process....

It's a bit more long winded than you might like. First off you go to the Sony Ericcson site and download the Update Service to your PC.

This describes what you need to do, the first step of which is to back up your phone as the update destroys all your settings, downloaded programs etc. i.e. it returns it back to the state when you took it out of the box (but with the new firmware).

What it doesn't tell you is how to back up your phone...

The Xperia doesn't include any back up software so a quick trawl around the net found a couple of solutions. But before you can use these you need to install the ActiveSync software from the CD that comes with the Xperia.

I decided to try out the Sprite Backup software (10 day free trial). This seemed to back up to the PC OK (but note it does shut down the phone while it does it so you won't be getting any calls).

Before running the Update Service you need to make sure the phone is fully charged, remove the sim from the phone and turn off the wireless connection.

Then run the Update Service. It decided that new software was available for the X1 with a name of X1i vfe uk cdf 1215 0285. It appears to detect which supplier you are using and select the appropriate download. You then follow the instructions to reboot the phone ready for the update. This involves holding down 2 buttons which I fund a bit of a faff.

The Update then downloads the file from the web which took around 15 minutes, then uploads it to the phone (during this part of the process a progess bar is displayed on the X1).

The phone then reboots and you have to align the screen and set the date and time. It then installs the software updates which takes a few minutes (couple of new games etc).

After this, you need to close down and re-insert the Sim. The Rom is now shown as R2AA 007.

The next step was to restore the backup which sadly didn't want to play. As there wasn't much set up on the phone I couldn't be bothered to pursue this but I think in future I'd buy a memory card and make sure everything is saved to that instead.

Incidentally the wireless still doesn't work...

By the way the Tweak for the Xperia solved the irritating "backlight going off during a call" problem http://www.cliffords.nu . You can also download Remote Desktop for the X1 from http://andrewblock.net/?p=85 . Thanks guys.