How to download and install the latest phone updates?

How to download and install the latest phone updates?

1. Introduction

New things are useful, from clothes, shoes, bags, to the newest smartphone. However, when you do not look at your smartphone version, it will bother you because the game that you want to play is not supported with your version. Then you start searching how to download and install the latest update for your phone, whether to the custom ROM or the official ROM. And it makes you don't know because sometimes if you're not careful, you will break your phone. You are lucky because now, I will explain to you how to download and install the latest update for Android, especially for Sony Xperia SP (Huashan). But you must remember that I only tried it on my Xperia SP with official ROM 4.3 Jelly Bean 12.1.A.0.266. And it is not my responsibility if your device is broken, and I hope with this tutorial it can help you solve your problem.

2. Checking for Updates

Tap the "Settings" icon and select "Software Update" on your Apple or Android device. If your device is running on iOS 5 or later and Android 4.0 or later, the update check should be done in the background and does not need your intervention, but it's always good to check to make sure. If there's an update available, tap the "Install" button to start the process. Your device may restart, and it may take a while for the upgrade to complete. Please be patient. Always back up your device before trying to update the system and/or software. This is a precaution as while updates are supposed to add features and fix bugs, they may also end up doing the opposite. This will be explained in the next section.

To check for any system and/or software updates available, please follow the following tips:

3. Downloading Updates

If after following both of these procedures, your phone still doesn't find any updates, it is possible there are no updates available for your device at that present time. Check back at regular intervals.

From here, your phone should automatically carry out a search for updates. If one is found, click download and then choose next. The phone will then proceed to download and install the update (bear in mind the phone must have a minimum 50% charge or be charging to carry out this function).

If you followed these steps and the carry out update function is still greyed out, go to Settings -> Security -> phone and SIM card. It will now bring up "Carrier billing" (dark blue in colour). Choose this.

Hit "Download updates manually".

Scroll down and tap on "Software update".

Navigate to "Settings".

4. Installing Updates

If there is an available update for your phone, you will be asked to download it. After the download, you will be asked to install it. INSTALL IMMEDIATELY! This will save you so many problems later on. You WILL lose your data and settings when you install an update. So backing up everything is pointless because you will have to set everything back up again. Data that is saved to your memory card will not be affected e.g. pictures, music, videos. But contacts, messages, internet settings, etc., are stored onto the phone's internal memory so will be lost. After you have installed the update, connect your phone to a computer and check if there are any more updates available using Kies. This is very important to avoid problems, bugs, and glitches that will be caused on your phone if trying to update from an out-of-date firmware. An example of this is with the D900 and the JB1 firmware. Some D900's have been bricked when trying to update from JB1 directly to JB3. This is because the newer firmware has not overwritten and fully erased the old firmware, causing incompatibility with some of the phone's hardware and thus causing the brick.

An update for your phone will be released for a specific region or set of regions eventually. If your phone does not explicitly say that there is an available update, a good way to find out is to connect your phone to a computer and check your phone's update with Kies. Kies will tell you if there is an available update for your phone. This is useful as an update may have been released but not be available to your specific phone. An example of this is with the Froyo update, it was released in the UK for sim-free phones quite a while before it was released to the provider locked phones. Updates are released this way to avoid network congestion from thousands of people from different countries all updating their phone at the same time.

5. Conclusion

The process of manually updating the phone can be a straightforward one, as long as the user understands each stage of the process. The selection of the correct method will depend solely on what the user wants to achieve. If the user is looking to update an existing firmware, then software updates will be the best method. However, if the user wants to reinstall the same firmware and overwrite the device's existing firmware, then a manual firmware update will be the best choice. Providing that the user is patient and understands the instructions required for the selected method, then the process of updating the phone should cause no problems. Owners are advised to check their manufacturer's website, the network provider, and user forums to understand the best methods to update their specific device.