I’ve had my HTC Magic (32B) for a month now, and figured it was time to push it a little. Cyanogen seems to be the popular choice for this, so I went with it. I had a very painless experience doing this, and this is how:
First, get hold of the stable Cyanogen image. I used CM Updater to get this, but it wouldn’t install it (probably because my phone wasn’t rooted). Once CM Updater has downloaded the image, move both files into the root folder of your SD card (it should be called update-cyanogen-*.zip)
Next download flashrec (http://g1files.webs.com/Zinx/flashrec-20090815.apk) and install it onto your phone. You can put it on your SD card and use AppManager to do an install, though I believe ASTRO and other file managers have this ability as well. You can also use the ‘adb install’ option if you have the android SDK.
Run flashrec and download/install the CM recovery image, then reboot to it.
Select the “install any update zip” option and pick the CM update zip you placed in the root folder of the SD card before.
Before rebooting into your shiny new Cyanogen install, do a factory reset from the recovery image menu – trust me – this is important.
I take no responsibility for what happens to your phone during this process, I’m just letting you know what worked for me. Good luck and happy androiding!
Thanks for outline. It certainly makes it look simple and do-able…even without the SDK.
But can you return to the factory image if you want to? I wouldn’t want to fork to Cyanogen and not be able to come back…..just as on a PC I want to be able to restore the factory build it came with if I should wish to do so.
You also make no mention of a backup – system, apps or data – or your existing apps or data. Those are gaps big enough to make me think your recipe is a little TOO lite.
Jared
Thanks for posting this – it’s a bit daunting for me doing the upgrades myself but I’m up for the challenge. Another interesting tweep is @mmanning13 to follow on all things Android.
Cheers
Tony Hollingsworth
Thanks for your comment.
I didn’t need to worry about a backup as all my phone data is stored elsewhere and I ensure regular reliable backups of my Magic anyway.
My text messages get pushed up to my gmail account and labelled “SMS” with a handy utility called SMSBackup. I had no desire to restore the text messages, I can always search my gmail account if I need to find one.
I also use AppManager to backup my apps to the SD card every time I install new apps, so I already had a collection of apk’s sitting on my SD card ready for re-installation. I found that it was a good excuse to clean out the crap I didn’t use often!
I also regularly rsync my SD card (plugged into Linux machine via USB and just rsync the mounted SD to a local folder for photo backups etc).
For returning to a stock image… I couldn’t imagine wanting to at this point in time! But it’s essentially the same process just with an update.zip containing the version of Android you want to go to.
cheers,
jared
Does sms backup work for you with 4.2.5? It crashes on my dream after backing up an sms
Yes, SMS Backup seems to force close on me too, I’ve since moved to G-Backup which is also capable of backung up pics and videos to gmail.
Jared