How To Upgrade the Huawei U8150 IDEOS to Gingerbread

I have written a lot previously on the Huawei U8150 IDEOS on this blog. From a review to an overview of the rooting process and a not-so-detailed outline of the procedure of installing custom ROMs. Today I want to make that not-so-detailed part well detailed and expounded. I have been receiving many comments, emails, tweets and even sometimes phone calls from people eager to upgrade their IDEOS to Gingerbread (2.3.4, 2.3.5, 2.3.6, 2.3.7) after reading those posts. The Huawei IDEOS U8150 despite its many shortcomings still remains Kenya’s bestselling smartphone so far thanks to its low pricing. There is also a keen interest on how to tinker with the phone from readers of my blog globally. Many normally get stuck somewhere or do not know where to download the ROMs themselves. Well, after all that time, fear not, this post should be able to clarify everything.

DISCLAIMER

Some of the procedures highlighted herein may result in voiding your phone’s manufacturer’s & service provider’s warranty. I am not responsible in any way for this. Know the risks involved before attempting. Failure to stick to the guidelines may result in you bricking your phone.

Requirements

1. Make sure you have rooted your Huawei IDEOS U8150. If you don’t know how then read about it here. (I personally recommend the SuperoneClick method and not the one using Unlock Root.)
2. Download the Gingerbread ROM. Do so here [LINK 1,LINK 2] (ROM available for download is Gingerman v 6.5 (the most stable ROM I have tested) and its multitouch file. Note that this ROM will make your device lose support for FM radio transmission). This will upgrade your IDEOS to Gingerbread 2.3.4. You can find ROMs for the other Gingerbread updates (2.3.5, 2.3.6, 2.3.7) in various Android development and hacker forums like XDA Developers). I know many have tried to click that update option in the settings section of the Huawei IDEOS U8150 but been disappointed when that bogus message “Your device already has the latest Android version” appears even though you know that Froyo is not the latest Android OS. This is because there is no official update of the Huawei U8150 IDEOS firmware so we have no choice but to rely on custom ROMs from third party developers like CyanogenMod.
3. Once you have downloaded the custom ROMs which are in .zip format, save them on your sd card (Not inside any folder or other file but at the root of your sd card).

Procedure

1. Go to Google Play store from your phone, preferably via the official Android app.
2. Download and install the ROM Manager application.
3. For the next step make sure you have at least 200 Mb of free space on your sd card.
4. Make sure you have an active data connection. Click Flash ClockworkMod Recoveryand choose your device model. In this case, Huawei U8150 IDEOS. (Many people have been telling me that their phone’s make and model is not being detected properly. Use the most recent version of the ROM Manager application and this won’t be an issue. I have always been using the very latest version of ROM Manager and I have never had my device missing from the dropdown list. As of the time of the publication of this blog, the latest version of the app is v5.0.0.6). Once your device has been correctly detected and you have selected it from the dropdown list, wait while your device is flashed.
   

   Click ‘Flash ClockworkMod Recovery’ and ensure you have an active data connection

5. Once you have flashed your device, you should backup your current ROM (commonly referred to as a nandroid backup) just in case things don’t work and you are forced to revert to your older ROM. There is a Manage and Restore Backupsoption on the app menu. Click it and backup all your essential stuff on your sd card. Just like shown below. I highly recommend you do a backup. If you are experienced in doing this, like me, you can ignore. I always skip this step and just flash a new ROM; however it is almost a must for any newbie to this process.
   

   Do a nandroid backup just incase things go horribly wrong

6.  What you have backed up is your entire ROM, the one you are currently using, the stock ROM. To backup all your apps and their specific data please download and install the Titanium Backup app. This app is for root users only so install this app once you root your device. It will help you backup everything to your sd card so that you can restore your apps and their relevant data e.g Facebook login credentials, contact and many others.
7.  After successful flashing and backing up of your device’s data, you will then need to enter your phone into recovery mode. This can be done in two ways: 1) By using the Reboot into Recovery option in the ROM Manager app or 2)Switching off your phone then pressing the power-on button, the volume up button and the call answer up button (the green button) as illustrated below.
   

   Rebooting the Huawei U8150 IDEOS into recovery

8. Once in recovery mode, use the volume up and volume down buttons to scroll through the options. You can also use the phone’s middle button to scroll up and down.
9. Select Advanced then select Wipe Dalvik Cache. Confirm that you want to wipe your Dalvik cache. This will wipe your device’s Dalvik cache.
10. Go back to the main recovery menu using the phones’ default Android back button. Select wipe cache partition. Confirm that you want to wipe the cache partition. This will wipe your phone’s cache.
11. Still on the main recovery menu, select wipe data/factory reset. Confirm that you want to do a factory reset.
12. Here is the most important part. On the main menu of ClockworkMod recovery, select the install zip from sdcard option. Select choose zip from sdcard in the next window.
13. You will be taken to a screen/window showing the contents of your sd card. Scroll down to your downloaded custom ROM and select it. Confirm that you want to install it. Wait while your custom ROM is installed.
14. Take note that in the custom ROMs I have provided for download above, there are two files: the main custom ROM [LINK 1] and a multitouch file [LINK 2]. I recommend that you install the first file (the custom ROM itself) and the second file (the multitouch file) immediately after. Why? Because some variants of the Huawei U8150 IDEOS (more so those shipped before June 2011) need multitouch for the phone to be able to boot properly after the custom ROM has been installed.
15. Once the installation is complete, press the back button and select reboot system now.
16. You should wait for between 7 to 10 minutes for your device to boot up properly using the newly installed custom ROM. If it does not boot up in that duration, then redo the whole process. It means you missed something somewhere. Check that you have followed all the steps correctly more so procedure 14.
17. Once it has booted successfully, you will be taken through the familiar steps of logging into your Android device.
18. That’s it! You have successfully installed a custom ROM on your Huawei IDEOS U8150. If you have used the custom ROMs I have shared, which I highly recommend you use, then welcome to the Gingerbread club, you have just successfully upgraded your IDEOS U8150 to Android 2.3.4 from Android 2.2, 2.2.1 or 2.2.2 (Froyo).
19. To confirm that you indeed have successfully upgraded to Gingerbread or that the custom ROM has been installed properly, go to Settings > About Phone and make sure you can see the correct Android version and build number.
20. One more thing, sometimes after successfully flashing a custom ROM, the battery stats may not be accurate. To correct this anomaly, head over to the Google Play store and download an application for calibrating your device battery, Battery Calibration Free. There are many battery calibrating applications but I recommend this one. Install the app and follow the instructions it gives you.

There are many ROMs out there but the ones I have shared (Gingerman v6.5.1 and its multitouch) are the most stable Gingerbread upgrades for the IDEOS that I have come across and I used them for over 3 months in 2011 before I disposed off my Huawei IDEOS U8150. If you have any ROM that you know that works well for the Huawei U8150 IDEOS feel free to share the information by tweeting me.

Remember to write down somewhere the internet and multimedia messaging APN settings of your device for easy restoration once you have upgraded.

NB: The ROMs used in the whole process and whose links I have provided for download are the sole trademarks and copyrighted material of their respective owners. Do give the developers a vote of thanks in forums like XDA Developers. Since these are open sourced, it is free to share with anyone and thus I have put down this to help the hundreds who’ve been emailing and tweeting mein the last few months on how to go about this.

**UPDATE 1**

I will be posting an article on how to upgrade the Huawei IDEOS U8150 to Android 4.0.x Ice Cream Sandwich soon. I am currently testing the ROM on multiple devices. Keep checking.

**UPDATE 2**

I have factored in all the problems raised in the comments section about the various ROM Manager applications that my readers have been using not detecting the Huawei U8150 IDEOS when flashing clockworkmod. Here’s a fix, I hope it works. Read this article.

**UPDATE 3**

The long awaited post on how to upgrade the Huawei U8150 to ICS is now live. Read it here.

**UPDATE 4**

I have now transferred the files to MediaFire so you should not be having problems with the downloads.