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Well, I have a Galaxy Ace with 2.3.3, build XWKPY and Samsung Kies doesn't show an update to 2.3.4 yet.

I'm thinking of manually updating it through Odin and I need to know if I can just download any Gingerbread 2.3.4 update file or is there anything else that I need to be worried about?

Bryan Denny
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d4ryl3
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2 Answers2

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Android OS updates can be region specific. It depends on the OEM builds. In case of Samsung, yes.
You can update through Odin, but other region binary may not have the required operator information or other settings related to your region.
I suggest you wait for an update in Kies. Should be available soon.

Karthik
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  • I'm sorry, but what are OEM builds? Here's the thing. When I got my phone, it has 2.3.3 GINGERBREAD.XWKPY, which is for these countries: France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Turkey, UK. I'm from the Philippines and I thought I should get an offical 2.3.4 Asian ROM.

    Now that I've updated to 2.3.4 DXKPD, Samsung Kies said "your device does not support software upgrading via kies", which didn't happen before. So my question is, is it possible that the PHONE ITSELF is locked to its initial region?

     – d4ryl3 Dec 17 '11 at 05:33
  • by OEM builds, i meant OEMs such as Samsung can choose to have different binaries for different regions. A Phone can be locked to a Operator, but not the initial region. I am not sure why Kies gives that message. Did you use Kies to update from 2.3.3 to 2.3.4? or using Odin? Meanwhile i will update you if i find on what basis Kies gives that message. – Karthik Dec 19 '11 at 11:28
  • I see. Well I read some more, about CSCs and I was able to fix it. See, when I checked, it's set to SMO -- which is for Serbia. I backed up everything, changed it to XTC (for Philippines), and voila! My phone now receives 3g signals and I just checked Kies and it's OK now, showing that I have the latest firmware. :) So basically, I got the right region, but wrong country code in CSC. Though I think it resulted in another problem. I can't download anything from the Market. Any ideas? Thanks for your help. – d4ryl3 Dec 19 '11 at 11:53
  • Oh, BTW, I even updated to Market 3.4.4 and cleared the cache, I still couldn't download anything. I remember it gives a -101 error. – d4ryl3 Dec 19 '11 at 11:59
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Typically yes, but I don't know that you could definitively say "always" since there is of course potential that some devices I'm unaware of don't follow that pattern. Usually, though, there are different firmwares due to regional differences in carrier bands/settings, wifi channels, and other considerations (localization, possibly).

As an example, though, take a look at the stock firmware listings for the Motorola Xoom. There are a whole bunch of different images available, divided up by both model number and region.

There's also a thread here where people discuss how you could try to go about flashing a firmware from a different region via Odin without affecting your connectivity. I don't know much about the process myself, though, as I've never done this.

eldarerathis
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  • Hey, thanks. Please read my reply to @S Karthikeyan. I believe you're right with region-specific localization settings. My other problem is that my carrier can't send me GPRS settings now that I have an official ROM for Asia, but I had no problem when my phone its initial European ROM. Is it possible it's locked to it? – d4ryl3 Dec 17 '11 at 05:38