Today, we’d like you to update your phone. Or, if you’re savvy enough to already be on top of updating your phone, spread the knowledge and update a friend or family member’s phone.
The goal of this is to spread industry awareness about consumer interest in maintaining phone software. Having to purchase new hardware just to keep pace with software updates is a costly, wasteful, and needless process. Update Your Phone Day was created by PhoneNews.com… to send the industry a message that consumers do want their phones updated.
Please sound off in the comments with your success (or failure) in getting your phone updated. Even if users update online, carriers and manufacturers do take note of the surge in traffic (both in-store and over the web), so good luck!
Getting your phone updated is the second half of the battle. The first half is to find out if an update is available for your phone. To do this, you start hunting and asking around.
The first place you can go to check your phone’s software is our Firmware Tracker, part of the Phone Encyclopedia. We have the most comprehensive list of phone software updates in the industry. Just compare that software version to the one inside your phone’s info menu.
If we don’t have your phone listed, here are some tips to find out if an update is available.
When you do, be sure to post back on the Firmware Tracker (since it is wiki-powered) with the latest version, and help us make the Firmware Tracker even stronger.
First, is to call your wireless provider. Verizon, Sprint, and Alltel all offer in-store software updating. Calling your local store will often be the fastest way to check to see if they have an update for your phone.
If you don’t have one of the above carriers, you’ll have to contact the phone’s manufacturer. This is often a mixed bag; many manufacturers don’t provide their support staff with the latest software/firmware versions.
Thankfully, there are software utilities for your computer that work around this. Sony Ericsson offers their Update Service, Nokia offers Nokia Update, and Motorola offers Motorola Software Update. These utilities work by allowing you to connect your phone to your Windows PC using a USB cable. The phone’s information is then uploaded to the internet and checked to see if an update is available.
Keep in mind though that these tools do not support every device… an update may be available for your phone even if these tools say that no update is currently available. You should still contact your carrier and then manufacturer to verify if an update is available, if these tools do not list an update for your phone.
Finally, some phones are trickling out with Firmware Over The Air (FOTA), this is a process where phones update themselves. However, many providers are not pushing updates using this apparatus (despite it being in the phone itself). The menu option for this is not standard, and unfortunately… almost none of the devices are set to seek out updates automatically. Consult your phone’s menus to see if it has an over-the-air updating option.
Digg This: http://digg.com/gadgets/Today_is_Update_Your_Phone_Day
Tried to update my Mogul to 3.35; because of the resulting internet issues, and especially the newly inoperative headphone adapter (I don’t want to clip a wire) I went back to 2.17 (not easy, either – had to use relocker and reactivate the phone).
Updated my BB 8830 (Sprint) Didn’t do much other than update roaming list(s) and It did add a MDS Control Center Icon for program management but never the less I did it!
you guys ruin cellphone stores attempt on getting customers to get new phones and thats bullshit you guys are messed up thats not right
i updated my treo 755p that i really needed and it works great now
What’s wrong with keeping what you have? If anything, people like this are helping people. If your phones slow, that doesn’t mean ‘time for a new one’. All it needs is an update. So they aren’t runing anything
“george on March 16th, 2008, 12:19 pm you guys ruin cellphone stores attempt on getting customers to get new phones and thats bullshit you guys are messed up thats not right”
Hahahahaha, that’s funny. I hope George is being sarcastic, LOL ( I can hear the guy on Galaxy Quest saying “That’s not right”)
I think you need to realize that “consumers” are NOT asking for software updates. A small portion of techies are asking for changes .. The average cell phone user doesn’t care. – The people who have money… and pay for their twenty somethings to have a phone. They change phones every TWO OR THREE YEARS. Not every few months. Get real.
Jimmm, the basic phone user is not asking for software updates. The basic phone user three years ago wasn’t asking for a desktop-grade web browser either. The savvy users are the ones that have to push the technological curve forward. That is what Update Your Phone Day was for… to let savvy users push that curve.
Ideally, in two to three years, every phone on the market will not only have Firmware Over The Air, but will also have it pre-configured to ping weekly to check for updates, and notify the user.
The average cell phone user doesn’t care, simply because they aren’t informed.