Those of you sporting the Huawei Ascend Mate 2 handset will be pleased to learn that an Android 5.1 Preview update has been made available. The bad news? It isn’t an Over-The-Air (OTA) update, instead you will have to get your hands dirty by performing a manual install. We have more details after the break.
This major update also includes Huawei’s new EMUI 3.1 software. Interested customers can download and install this first release version of the software now.
It isn’t the most fun thing to do, but flashing an update doesn’t need to be a complete chore. Everything depends on following the instructions to the letter. The first step is checking your handset’s firmware because the Android 5.1 Preview firmware (B309) can only be installed on handsets with the following software versions:
- MT2-L03 V100R001C00B126
- MT2-L03 V100R001C00B148
Once you’ve checked and verified that your Ascend Mate 2 is running the requisite firmware, the next thing to do is to download the Android 5.1 update that is roughly 1GB in size, which you can do by clicking here.
While the firmware is downloading, you should backup your phone. Here you have a couple of choices; you can either use Huawei’s HiSuite software (available here) that runs on Windows or a backup application of your own choice. It’s always best to backup to a MicroSD card, just in case your phone is inadvertently wiped when updating. If in any doubt, do the backup, and then copy the backup file to your computer just to be safe. When flashing firmware, it’s always better to be safe than sorry.
Before installing the update, make sure your MicroSD card has at least 4GB spare before moving on to the next steps.
- Format the micro SD card (This is optional)
- Download then extract the B309.zip file.
- Copy the entire “dload” folder to the root directory of the micro SD card.
- Make sure your handset is powered off. Insert the micro SD card into the handset.
- Press and hold the VOLUME UP and VOLUME DOWN keys simultaneously, and then press the POWER button. Release power when you see the device turn on.
- The phone should boot and begin flashing. When the progress bar stops, the phone will restart.
- You may enter the Emergency Data dialog at the first boot. Choose the Factory data reset and click the Yes button. When the reset is done, reboot your phone.
It’s important to remember that this is just an Android 5.1 Preview for the Ascend Mate 2, it is not the finished article so there will be a few bugs present. If for any reason you’re unhappy with the Preview firmware, you can always downgrade your handset back to JellyBean (B148), which you can get from here.
If you choose to manually install the Android 5.1 Preview on your Huawei Ascend Mate 2, let us know how it goes and if you find any surprises or bugs in the firmware. Good luck!
Source: Huawei
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