Huawei G300 "No updates available" - looking for ICS

[thirdorder]

When I checked for updates on my phone today, I got "No updates are available". I'm on Gingerbread (U8815V100R001C02B895) and expected to see the ICS upgrade.

Do I have to wait for my phone to check automatically?

[Annie_N]

Hi James, and thanks for that.

Not sure what the underlying problem has been, but it is clearly complex, and I suspect that everyone is probably unsure to some extent or other!  JD was quite closely involved in the discussions for a while, and might have some insights, but equally he may have had more than enough of banging his head against this particular brick wall.

Ann.

[hazelbee]

I am one of those stranded on GB B895 - I was initially put off ICS update because of negative feedback but had decded to take plunge just as OTA was withdrawn.  Eagerly awaiting a positive outcome.

[lobespear]

.

[Ben_H]

Hi lobespear,

James will post back as mentioned in his last comment once he has any updates to share.

Cheers, Ben

[vodaclient]

Hi,

This thread is a few months old but is the closest I've found.  I have a Huawei G300 (U8815).  I'd like to upgrade from GB (v2.3.6) to ICS.  This morning I used Settings>AboutPhone>OnlineUpgarde>FirmwareUpgrade and successfully upgraded from B892 to B895.  Version B895 is still GB 2.3.6 with a new Backup app.  Everything is now backup up.  I tried Settings>AboutPhone>OnlineUpgarde>FirmwareUpgrade again but now I get "No updates are available".  Have I followed the correct procedure and, if so, why does my 'phone not offer an upgrade to a more recent version of Android?

Thanks for any help.

[Retired-Andy]

Hi vodaclient,

It looks like you’ve followed the right process here.

From what I’ve been able to find out, the B895 version is the latest software available at the moment.

I've emailed a colleague to get confirmation and I'll update you once I hear back.

Thanks,

Andrew

[Annie_N]

Hi Vodaclient

It has been a long and tangled saga, but, to simplify it, there used to be upgrades from B895 (GB) to ICS, but they were all troublesome to a greater or lesser extent, and in the end Vodafone withdrew the upgrades. I'm not sure whether this was intended to be a temporary withdrawal, but it has been going on for so long that I don't think it is now going to change.

If your phone is doing OK on GB, then don't look to upgrade! It caused a lot of problems, and wrecked a number of phones. There were various theories, but clearly there was some serious obstacle to ICS working reliably on many G300s.

I'm still running with GB, and it has been an excellent phone for me.

Ann.

[hazelbee]

only problem is that an increasing number of apps (incl. Chrome for android) are only available for 4.0 and up. If I could work out how to get bootloader unlock code,I would ditch Vodafone GB in a heartbeat.

[vodaclient]

The Huawei support web site has an ICS "General Version" (V100R001C00B952) here.  The download link retrieves a ZIP file. I followed the instructions in the ZIP, ignored the list of compatible "upgrade from" versions, copied UPDATE.APP to the correct location on an SD card, used Gingerbread's "Storage" menu to update from external SD and kept my fingers crossed.  So far so good.  I now have B952, which is Android v4.0.3, baseband 2030, kernel 3.0.8, running on my G300 (but I had spare phone to hand in case it all went wrong!)

[Annie_N]

Interesting!  I see that it's dated Dec 2012, but I'm almost sure they didn't put it up until much later.

B952 was certainly as far as most people got, and it was fine for many, although it played up for others.  B936, which was also ICS, was a right pain; for me it was so bad that I scrambled back to B895 long before B952 became available, and I wasn't prepared to risk going through B936 again, which at the time was the only way to reach B952!  There was also B960, but not many people had that one.

Going direct to B952 may well avoid some of the pitfalls of the 2-stage upgrade, so please do post back in a while about how you get on with it.  All the apps that I need run fine with GB, so I'll probably stay where I am, although I have to admit that ICS remains tempting - there were certainly some good features to it, but I saw them through such a mist of trouble that I didn't stay around to find out more.

Edit:  Just seen TSD's post.  Does the version used by vodaclient actually need a bootloader unlock code?

Ann.