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Samsung Galaxy Ace 2 GT-I8160 Guide to Flash Firmware

Yeah I've already disabled Google Now but it's still quite slow. Do you know if there's any way you can revert to the GB style search? I've done a fair bit of GOogling but it's hard to find an answer (not least because googling things like 'gingerbread, search, google, old style, android, jelly bean' etc etc brings up all sorts of results - none very specific!)

It also used to save my previous searches under the search box without having Web History enabled, although now the only way seems to be to have Web History enabled. It's not the end of the world but it's a bit annoying.

I might ask in the main forum, seeing as it's not really a device-specific question.
 
Smokey Mc Pot said:
:what: please can you elaborate on your comment ?

It doesn't make any sense.
So far your comment is the only negative feedback I have found and I don't even know if is for real, or just spam ?

But I need to inform you that the instructions are not the local candy shop where you pick and mix.
And to avoid any missunderstanding, I must also remind you that this topic is solely dedicated to the Stock firmware.

On another note, I better let you know that I am a senior member on xda and I am very aware about the bugs in beta CM10 for this device. So please try to refrain to attempting to sell CM10 to me like if was the best thing in this world.
Speed does not mean quality.
Click to expand...

I wasn't trying to sell anything to you and in all fairness you did come across as overly defensive when I mentioned my experience. I mentioned I'd chosen to use CM from now on cause it's more responsive for me.

I tried going through all those steps in order two different occasions and it made zero difference to performance. It was as if I'd never done it. Believe me I want to be on stock and not have lag but I still get lag.

I may try again though but it just hasn't worked for me so far.

Again, I wasn't trying to go off topic or sell CM to anyone. My main point was that those steps didn't seem to help me in the slightest. I'm sorry if I gave the wrong impression.
 
Smokey Mc Pot said:
[...]

The instructions worked.

◆ Removing the battery from the device for over 40 minutes.
- Drains any floating energy left in the device and kills all the persistent cashed data and processes.

◆ Re inserting the battery and forcing it to discharge and than recharging the device without booting the device.
- That is the process to calibrating the battery.

◆ Factory reset.
- That is the part we all know.

But from what I learned is that the persistent data survives the hot factory reset.
So the removal of the battery for at least 40 minutes is the key to a successful factory reset.

[...]
Click to expand...
Hi! Is your phone still working well and flow? The recorded and YouTube videos also?

I never have tried your instructions, I didn't know it, although sometimes I've done a factory reset. I've changed also the /etc/vold.fstab file to be able to use my SD card like the USB memory. But the phone continues with jumps in any video.

So I'm thinking of following your instructions very precisely for if the battery calibration would be my error.

Regards.
 
Welcome to the forum @biker3.
The same as @triger.
My phone is working normal and smooth with no lags or problems since the 20/09/2013.
The video and YouTube problems are all gone and the device is responsive.
I can't fault the firmware or the manufacturer anymore because I'm happy with the results.

;) ...But I know that the phone is not as fast or as responsive as the Galaxy S4 or any other top of the range device's like some members of the forum would like it to be... lol

Is working great for me.
 
Anyone else having slowdown/crashing/freezing/restarting problems since the JB update? It's probably been about a month since I updated but I'm still having problems.

At first it was rubbish, but after a couple of factory resets and doing that thing mentioned elsewhere that involves removing the battery for about an hour, discharging then fully charging things got better. Videos were terribly laggy at first but are fine now, although I still get the phone locking up and then sometimes it restarts itself, or just takes ages to do anything.

My phone isn't particularly full or anything (Internal just over 50% full, Internal SD about 3/4 and External SD probably about 90%) and I'm not doing anything different to whenI was on GB. If I rooted could I do anything to speed things up?
 
Everybody uses their own phones in different ways and with different apps...

As @j800r mentioned in is comments, that this phone can work very fast, if you flash some Minimal Custom Rom such as CyanogenMod, that is deprived from any factory bloatware.

Custom Roms can be the answer for some people, despite that in many cases this same Roms lack of some functionality and important parts of the native firmware such as security implementation or the capability to sync contacts and etc...
But this thread is solely dedicated to the native stock firmware and I shouldn't go off topic here.

Recently I made a experiment with this device that I encourage everybody to do the same:
 
Thanks Smokey, another helpful post (as usual!). I'll try keeping an eye on the running apps and see what's going on, and I might do another reset too (although I've only just got round to setting my phone up how I like it, ha. It'll be worth it though). I'll also get rid of some of those apps I use rarely, although I don't have many.

I don't know much about rooting, but can I just root without flashing a new ROM? I'd prefer to keep the stock firmware really. I could then remove bloatware I never use like Google Music and the Samsung apps (I'd look up what else is safe to remove). I suppose if not then I could just flash the stock firmware?
 
Hi thorahird,
Rooting this device running JB is really easy, thanks to the universal root scripts there is no need to flash anything.
It will only unlock the device to give you full control over it.
Here the link:
http://androidforums.com/showthread.php?p=5732314

Remember that you don't need to uninstall the bloatware in JB.
All you need to do is going in (Settings > Application Manager > All) select the pre-installed apps you don't use and than press the option to (disable) the app.
Some apps you need to press (uninstall the updates) and than you will see the option to disable the app. And it will be enough to make the app disappear.
In that way you can (disable) and (enable) the apps in a safe way to avoid any possible malfunction on the phone and also in case you change your mind and decide that you want or need to use that app again.

Is better to be safe than to be sorry. But is true that even if something goes wrong, is really easy to fix it by flashing the firmware again.
 
Well, I conducted a little survey. I deleted all my widgets and disabled a few apps (I didn't know about disabling them, I thought people just meant force stopping as that's all I'd seen before! Must be new in JB) and things are running a lot better already. I think the main problem was Zooper widget.

I hadn't looked at the how to root thread before but seeing as it's that easy I'll probably give a it a go this week if I get time, just to remove that bleeding Samsung Keyboard which I can't disable or uninstall, which means I get that irritating 'choose input method' thing in the notification bar everytime I type something. Really winds me up.
 
Hi @thorahird,
I don't think is a good idea to remove the original Samsung keyboard. As it doesn't really affect the phone when not in use. And is kind of a important part of the device.

After you done all you need to do...
Do a backup with kies and use a file manager to move everything important such as music, videos, pictures and documents to the external SD card and after that go in Settings > Storage > Format USB.

The phone responsiveness improves after that, mainly because Android keeps remnant data from apps you install and uninstall in the USB storage. And some of that data sometimes conflict with the phone performance.
 
Hi, I want to upgrade to JB on my GT-I8160.
I tried using Kies but it says that I already have the latest firmware.

At the moment I have:
Android: GB 2.3.6 (preinstalled)
PDA: I8160NELK3
PHONE: I8160NELK3
CSC:I8160HUILF1
Build no: GINGERBREAD.NELK3

  1. Are the steps in the 1st post enough to upgrade or should I do something else 1st?
  2. Can I flash directly to I8160XXMG2 or should I do it first to MB2/MB4?

PS: I'm a noob :D
 
daaavi said:
Hi, I want to upgrade to JB on my GT-I8160.
I tried using Kies but it says that I already have the latest firmware.

At the moment I have:
Android: GB 2.3.6 (preinstalled)
PDA: I8160NELK3
PHONE: I8160NELK3
CSC:I8160HUILF1
Build no: GINGERBREAD.NELK3

  1. Are the steps in the 1st post enough to upgrade or should I do something else 1st?
  2. Can I flash directly to I8160XXMG2 or should I do it first to MB2/MB4?

PS: I'm a noob :D
Click to expand...
Hi @daaavi,
Welcome to the forum.

Is that the Italian firmware ?

 
Smokey Mc Pot said:
New firmware available on Sammobile:

Model: GT-I8160
Country: Turkey
Version: Android 4.1.2
Changelist: 1016990
Build date: Sun, 04 Aug 2013 04:51:42 +0000
Product Code: TUR
PDA: I8160XXMH1
CSC: I8160OJVMH1
MODEM: I8160XXMH1


If anyone trying this one ?
;) Share your feedback... Pwease.
Click to expand...



Hello Smokey,
Thanks for your suggestions for upgrading Jelly Bean.
I installed a few days ago via Odin (Kies was freezing on download step) my country rom that you mentioned above and I did cold factory reset ( although I mistakenly changed processing order :)) , so far there is no lag or any problem on my phone except battery life time. Yes it is little bit slower than Gingerbread and Ram usage is more but I think this is normal that Jelly Bean presents us more features and further smartphone using experience.

Thank you very much again.
Greets!
 
Some time ago the JB upgrade rolled out here in France. I upgraded my "P" model and after getting used to the changes I have no complaints whatsoever. That's right not a one and I look forward to whatever patches Samsung eventually decides to offer. I think people expect more from this phone than is reasonable given it's cpu etc. I'm as much a geek as the next guy but honestly! If I were to spend as much time working as some appear to be messing with this phone, I would buy myself an HTC One or the best Samsung and be done with it!
 
Hi all and specially Smokey

impressive what piles of helpful stuff you have collected here, both thumbs way up!

I updated my phone to JB (via Kies) and was unhappy with it - laggy and battery life was reduced. I think old system settings / files were holding it back.
I flashed it back to GB - performance is ok now, but the battery life still sucks. Also, the firmware I got has some more unneeded apps, it seems. When I first bought the phone, there seemed to be some Dutch firmware on it (even though I bought it in Germany) with very few apps pre-installed. With normal use, my battery lasted for 3 to 4 days, a dream.

So now I'm looking for a good firmware, as "clean" and simple as possible, that will give me the best battery life, GB or JB - I don't care too much about that, I like both.

Can anyone recommend a version from the Samsung updates site?
Thanks a bunch in advance.
 
Hi @Dimebagger,
Welcome to the forums.

The best firmware you can download for your phone, is any unbranded firmware released for your country.

Example: In the UK The firmware code "BTU" is the unbranded version of the firmware, meaning less bloatware...

With JB you can disable the bloatware in settings.
But I doubt you will be able to enjoy the 3 to 4 days battery life...

:D I can't really advise or suggest to you any Ginger Bread firmware because I can't remember GB anymore.
 
Thanks Smokey

Thanks for the welcome and for helping out!
I've downloaded one firmware and find that it only has one xxxxx_HOME.TAR.md5 file.
When I originally flashed my firmware, I had three files, two md5 files and one pit file.
Can I safely flash that file? It's a version for the Netherlands, and right now I think I have a Russian firmware on the phone. In Odin, which option would I check to flash it, the "PDA"?

(Sorry if these are total n00b questions, I've flashed dozens of computer motherboards and stuff but am totally new to this, and I haven't really found an easy introduction anywhere)
 
The firmware is only one file.
Just insert the " xxxxx_HOME.TAR.md5 " in " PDA " on Odin and flash.

The 3 part firmware is a developer Beta version firmware.
Just like the "MB2/MB4+PIT" that is used for increasing the Ram in the device in the case you have less than 624mb ram.
 
Smokey Mc Pot said:
The firmware is only one file.
Just insert the " xxxxx_HOME.TAR.md5 " in " PDA " on Odin and flash.

The 3 part firmware is a developer Beta version firmware.
Just like the "MB2/MB4+PIT" that is used for increasing the Ram in the device in the case you have less than 624mb ram.
Click to expand...

Great to read that.
The "MB2/MB4 PIT" is only to be used with Jellybean, right?
Can't thank you enough!
 
New firmware update:

Model: GT-I8160

Country: United Kingdom

Version: Android 4.1.2

Changelist: 1106830

Build date: Fri, 15 Nov 2013 07:08:30 +0000

Product Code: BTU

PDA: I8160XXMK2

CSC: I8160BTUMK2

MODEM: I8160XXMK2

:sly:It's nice to know that Samsung have not forget and is still working on this device.
 
Two interesting posts there Smokey. Have you updated? Any interesting changes?
 
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