Story

I bought Xperia X10i this summer during DebConf10 in NYC, I loved this phone from very beginning however what bothered me was that it was still stuck on outdated Android 1.6. To get your own custom Android on it, wasn’t quite possible because no one managed to hack bootloader even though some of the guys at XDA where getting pretty close.

Long story made short, Sony Ericsson has finally release their Android 2.1 update, but made it available only for Nordic region, they explained it all on their blog where they also sent a message for “paranoid” users as they called them. I thought, if I gave it all this time I can wait a little bit longer, but then one of my friends (@sahinovic) gave me a good pointer to go in right direction with using custom ROM, Nordic for example? So this is where I got my idea.

I want 2.1 update now!

Please note steps below will get you Android 2.1 update, but AFAIK you’ll also lose your warranty

1. Root your phone

If you don’t have your phone rooted, this can now be done in single click. Get X10 Root and follow instructions on screen.

2. Edit system/default.prop

Get Root Explorer, mount r/w (upper right corner), edit system/default.prop

Lines you’re concentrating on are 1 and 3

Let’s say they are:

ro.semc.version.cust=1237-0333
ro.product.name=X10_1237-0333

Edit them to look like:

ro.semc.version.cust=1234-8465
ro.product.name=X10_1234-8465

Save the file and it’s gonna create automatic backup of original file.

3. Get the updates using SEUS

Turn off your phone, launch SEUS, plugin in the USB cable while holding “back” button, SEUS is going to tell you have updates for your phone :)

Follow on screen instructions. Enjoy the update :)

Conclusion

X10 is a pretty sweet phone, but with it being so closed, it also closes a lot of doors to hacking it and playing with it, great example would be this update itself, since right now Android 2.1 update is an outdated one.  However 2.1 update brings new life into it, just as it’s a brand new phone, it’s more responsive and much much faster. And do take a backup before this update, because I lost everything from my contacts to internet settings, but all files on my sd card remained intact.

If you want to discuss anything regarding this topic please do so in comment area below or find me on Twitter.