Official update is only available for Italy

Mar 5, 2010 16:14 GMT  ·  By

Samsung I8910 Omnia HD is one of the few smartphones that offer users a high-end multimedia package at a lower price than that of most of the Nokia high-end devices. Running the Symbian OS v9.4 Series 60 rel. 5, the phone was set to receive a major update to its firmware in January 2010, which would've made it work faster, more stable, but it also would've added new features. Unfortunately, this didn't happen and Samsung only managed to launch two pieces of firmware that can be used to update phones with Italian firmware or Orange UK's branded software.

Those that didn't buy their phones from Italy or Orange UK will receive an error message when trying to update their smartphones through Samsung PC Studio 7.2.24.9, which will say that their phone is not supported. As a Samsung official explained, this is simply because the error message hasn't been correctly written. Basically, you should receive a message that says that you have the lastest version of the software, just like Nokia's PC Suite is doing. Anyway, if you are tired of waiting for Samsung to also release a piece of firmware for your country, you can flash your I8910 Omnia HD with the Italian ROM and update it afterwards to the latest version using Samsung's PC Studio. I tried it and was successful in replacing my existing firmware with the lastest Italian firmware version, but, beware, you might not be able to update your phone after installing the first firmware.

This is what happened to me when I tried to update firmware I8910-XXIF7-Generic_Italy to the latest I8910-XXJB1 firmware. I used the Samsung Studio PC updater and, after it detected the version firmware installed and displayed the new one available, it would not begin to load it. I don't know if it's due to Samsung actually removing the update from its servers, or simply because the Studio PC application doesn't yet have the correct settings implemented. Either way, you will have to flash your phone again after installing I8910-XXIF7-Generic_Italy firmware, the only one (besides the Orange UK version) that can be further updated. Flashing Samsung I8910 Omnia HD requires quite a number of small programs that you will need to download. I will post a link to every file that you need to download and details on how to use each of these files.

The first thing you need to download is Microsoft's Msxml.msi package, then flashing drivers, the Symbian ROM Flashing Tool 1.50 (1.51 or 1.52 DON'T work) and both firmware files (I8910-XXIF7-Generic_Italy and I8910-XXJB1). You can find all the necessary files HERE.

Unfortunately, the following guide is only available for Windows XP, any other operating system, like Vista or Windows 7, will give various errors, so you won't be able to reflash the phone on computers running these newer operating systems. After downloading all the files, unzip/unrar all of them in a folder that you should remember, as you will need it later.

Install Microsoft's Msxml.msi package first. The folder Drivers should be your next stop and you should click on the folder PHONE_driver, where you should run the setup.exe file. In the same Drivers folder, go to PDA_driver and right-click on the IbootHostUSB.inf file and choose Install. Don't worry if you get an error message, it's all good. The next step is the installation of USB drivers. You can find these in another folder called SAMSUNG Mobile USB DRIVER, click on the folder and then run the Setup.exe file. After the installation, you will be asked to restart your computer, choose to do it later and go to the Drivers folder and run the SSDN_V1.1.808.7165_SETUP_whql.exe file. Again, if you get an error message, don't be scared, it's supposed to do that.

The application that will help you flash the device is called Symbian ROM Flashing Tool v1.50. Start it. You will get an interface like the one in the image. There are three more steps that you need to complete and you will be able to start flashing the device.

1. Click on the CODE XML FILE button (you will need to locate the folder containing I8910-XXIF7-Generic_Italy firmware and, in that folder, there is another one called PDA_Code_I8910XXIF7; open that and select CODE_I8910XXIF7.xml.)

2. Click the CSC XML File, which will be located in the same place, but in a folder called PDA_CSC_I8910ITVIE5; now select the file called CSC_I8910ITVIE5.xml.

3. Click on MODEM BIN, again locate the folder called I8910XXIE9 and select I8910XXIE9.bin.

If you have done everything according to the guide, your Flashing Tool will display: COUNTRY ITALY, Operator ITV, CODE VERSION I8910XXIF7 CSC VER. I8910ITVIE5. Also, you can notice that there are some boxes under the linked files in the interface. The following boxes need to be TICKED: FORMAT, BOOT, CODE, CSC and MODEM. Everything else should be UNTICKED.

Turn your phone off and start it in boot mode. To do that, simply hold the Volume UP key, Lock key (on the upper-right side of the phone) and Power OFF/ON key pressed. Yes, you need to press all three keys at once, and you will get a blue screen. Now, connect your phone to your PC with a microUSB cable and wait a few seconds until it's detected. If it doesn't detect your phone, try to restart your PC. Go back to the Symbian ROM Flashing Tool and you will notice that it turned to the READY status and that you are now able to click on the DOWNLOAD START tab. Do that and wait for the whole process to finish, it will take around five minutes. You can disconnect the phone when it restarts.

Bear in mind that the phone will start in Italian, so you will need to enter the menu of the phone and manually change the language to English.

The same process can be done to update the I8910-XXIF7-Generic_Italy firmware to I8910-XXJB1. The last version is the newest and features an impressive log of changes. Not in quantity, but in quality: faster performance, stability as well as kinetic scrolling, faster Internet browsing through the web browser, which moves to full-screen automatically. Also, the most important thing about the update is the fact that it leaves available to users a very low amount of memory, of ONLY 17MB.

If you decide that you want to upgrade to the latest version, you will notice that the I8910-XXJB1 is missing the "uboot" folder, which contains a critical file for the update. Just copy the "uboot" folder from the first firmware folder: PDA_Code_I8910XXIF7/uboot, and rename the file inside it from I8910XXIF7_XXX.ubootldr.img to I8910XXJB1_XXX.ubootldr.img and your flash will start.

In the end, I would like to inform you that the guide above is also available for custom-cooked ROMs, not just for the official ones. So, you can search the Internet for special ROMs for your Samsung I8910 Omnia HD smartphone and customize it the way you want.

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