Tom Hall's Blog

Debrand and Upgrade the Firmware on a Samsung Omnia

[blurb]
During September the time had come for me to renew my mobile contract with my provider O2-UK. I’d already eyed up the handset I wanted, the Samsung Omnia (SGH-i900). I had decided I’d splash out since it’s packed with great features (and outdoes the Apple iPhone by miles).
So, I rang my provider to enquire and I was shocked to learn that O2-UK would not be offering the Omnia to their customers, but instead could recommend the Samsung Tocco (SGH-480); the call centre person said it was far better than the Omnia (hmm!). I went away and thought about it and had a look on eBay UK at the Tocco and Omnia to see how much they were selling for. I decided I’d order the Tocco from my provider, which very fortunately I sold to a colleague of mine as soon as I received it, that enabled me to not have to spend hundreds of pounds on the Omnia :-)
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[moreblurb]
I received my Omnia via a trusted eBay UK seller, unfortunately it was a Vodafone branded handset. It wasn’t a big deal for me since Vodafone no longer lock their handsets to a single provider, though initially it was a pain to set up the phone because there was Vodafone settings all over the place, oh and it says Vodafone on the phone. A few weeks later little annoyances started creeping in, the first was the screen orientation motion sensor would stop working (until rebooting) and Windows Mobile 6.1 operating system (OS) was configured to save everything onto its phone memory, ~100Mb, and not it’s onboard 8Gb memory! The result of that would be that the OS would run painfully slow and produce the occasional “memory critically low”. I was reluctant to flash my Omnia with new firmware in case I “bricked” it unusable, but the problems I was encountering, I thought ok… I’ll risk it, I’ve got insurance!
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Originally I looked to update my phone with newer Vodafone firmware for the Omnia since I didn’t want to faff around, however, Vodafone didn’t have anything newer than the HH1 firmware, which is what I already had, so I opted for full on debranding and upgrading, which is what I shall document here, going from HH1 Vodafone firmware, to HH3, to HJ1… Yes quite tedious…. Even more tedious is that you can only flash your Samsung Omnia from a Windows XP OS – if you use Windows Vista, you can (like me) install Windows XP onto a Virtual Machine (VM) using VMWare – ensure you run in full screen mode!

WARNING: You WILL loose all data on your Samsung Omnia by upgrading the firmware, so ensure you perform a backup before proceeding, and you DO run the risk of rendering your handset unusable “bricked” in the event of a power failure (ensure your handset battery is at least 75% charged) or an operating system error.

Upgrade HH1 to HH3 (Debranding)

Original HH1 Firmware (Vodafone Branded)
PDA: i900XXHH1\ACHH1
Phone: i900BUHG5

New HH3 Firmware (Unbranded)
PDA: i900DXHH3/DXHH3
Phone: i900DXHH3

Download the HH3 firmware:
http://rapidshare.com/files/141174440/i900DXHH3.part1.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/141180715/i900DXHH3.part2.rar
or
http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?xocswrevoyj

1. Install Microsoft ActiveSync 4.5 and Restart Windows XP
2. Install Samsung Model Driver and Restart Windows XP
3. Connect the Omnia to the computer via USB Cable
4. Wait for ActiveSync status to change to “Connected”
5. Run the Updater – i900DXHH3.exe
6. Switch off the Omnia and wait at least 30 seconds
7. Switch on the Omnia – Update Software Detects Phone
8. Click the Start button on the update software
9. EBOOT, PDA, CSC, Updates will process
10. COM port will be found
11. Installation will continue
12. When finished, updater will say “Job Done” and the phone will reset
13. Phone will take a few minutes to boot up and will auto reset for preconfig settings
14. Done – your phone is now debranded and is using HH3 firmware

Further Upgrades

From here you can easily update your Omnia’s firmware again and again. A problem that you may encounter is that firmware is released on a per country basis and the updaters will determine if they can update your Omnia with that particular firmware.

I upgraded again from HH3 to HJ1, Singapore firmware direct from Samsung’s website, and in order to do that I had to change my handsets preconfiguration to Singapore, which then resets the phone, in order for the updater to allow me to go ahead with the install.
You can change your phones preconfiguration by doing the following:

1. Press the dial key to the left of the optical pad to bring up the dialer
2. Using the keypad, type in: *#1546792*#
3. Select “Preconfiguration”
4. Enter the pass code: *#81230*#
5. Select “Singapore” and accept the default operator
6. Accept this and the device will hard reset

As far as I know, the latest firmware is HJ9 (19/11/08), and by reading the many forums and websites (listed below) it’s not difficult to realise that Samsung appear to be releasing new firmware all the time. I wouldn’t recommend upgrading to each and every release of firmware unless you don’t mind backing up your phone and reconfiguring and reinstalling your favourite applications each time… I know addicted flashers would have things to say about that!

While researching Samsung Omnia firmware and the handset in general, I discovered a custom firmware version with quite a lot of enhancements and different “Today” screens, check them out here.

Very Useful Links:

Samsung Omnia on MoDaCo Forums
Samsung-Omnia.org Forum
SamsungMobile.com
Official Samsung Mobile UK Firmware
Must-have applications for Omnia