Google has finally released Gingerbread (Android 2.3.3) for the Nexus one mobile phone. Until the rollout via OTA (Over the Air) will be completed, it will take a few weeks.
I was not willing to wait for such a long time.
So, I just downloaded the image from Google and updated my phone manually.
-
Steps needed:
- Download the image from here
- Rename the image file to update.zip and copy it to your phone SD card’s root
- Shut down you phone
- Press the trackball while powering on the phone
- Select bootloader (use the volume keys to navigate) and press the power button again
- When the exclamation mark show up on the screen hold down the power key and then press volume up
- Navigate to Apply sdcard:update.zip and confirm the action by pressing the track ball
- Reboot after successfully update your Android to 2.3.3
Benefits of Gingerbread for the Nexus one
- The overall-speed has been improved, it feels much more snappy now
- Re-worked user interface. The UI is now much darker than before and has some nice effects like the “glowing” when reaching the top or bottom of a list. A cool eye-candy appears when locking the screen.
- Improved virtual keyboard. Its is more comfortable than the old versions
Googles definition of “soon”
Google was announcing the availability of the Android 2.3 SDK on early December last year. On December, 20t, Google promised to release Gingerbread for the Nexus One in the “coming weeks”. Later on, rumours that it will be released during the “Mobile World Congress” on Barcelona, Spain have proven wrong.
Since the announcement of Gingerbread to the OTA roll-out to the Nexus One, we had to wait for almost three months. What kept Google back to release it earlier?
Hopefully we do not need to wait such a long time for “Ice Cream” (Android version 4?).
Conclusion
It was worth to buy a Google phone. Its is already the second major version that hit my phone. Other phone manufacturers do either not release any update or roll them out with a delay of a few months.
Have fun!
