Droid Eris Getting Android 2.1 Tomorrow?
Monday, May 10, 2010 at 7:49PM | by Ryan Minert There are internal Verizon screenshots reporting that the HTC Droid Eris will be receiving the Android 2.1 update over-the-air starting tomorrow, May 11th. Knowing the history of these updates, it’s very possible this will get delayed last minute. Also, these updates will roll out in stages, so it’s possible they’ll get pulled after the first updates go out.
Anyway, I wanted to make all the Eris users aware that this update will wipe the phone completely. They’re unable to make such a significant upgrade without wiping all of the data. Items on the SD card will not be affected, so all of your pictures/music/etc. will be safe. I would encourage all users to back up their data in one of a couple ways.
First, check your Google account that your contacts are synced to in order to make sure all of your contacts are properly stored in the cloud. You can also use HTC Sync to synchronize them to your computer.
If you want to back up your applications so you don’t have to go back to the market to re-download them, there are a couple ways do do that. If you don’t mind setting up your application preferences again, you can use the AppBrain app to sync a list of all your applications. After the update, you can install AppBrain and it will give you a link to all of the apps you previously had installed. If you want to save all of your settings (this could lead to application crashes when re-installing), you can install Astro File Manager (a free app) and use it to back up all of your applications to your SD card (After opening Astro, press Menu –> tools –> Application Manager/Backup). Note: some paid applications cannot be backed up, but will need to be re-downloaded from the market at no charge.
If you want to keep your text messages, you’ll need to back them up separately as well. I’ve seen several recommendations for SMS Backup & Restore, so that might be a good way to do that. There are other apps on the market with similar functionality as well.
While I can’t say for sure if the Eris 2.1 update is coming, I will still recommend you get prepared for it. Being prepared will save you a big headache if you do receive the update.
Reader Comments (1)
Man, that sounds like a lot of work just for an OS update. I've been through three major OS updates (soon to be four) on the iPhone, and never once had it lose all my data.
(Now, that isn't to say I haven't had to reinstall everything as I moved from my iPhone to a replacement one under warranty, but iTunes creates a backup with every sync, and restores everything just the way it was.)