[GUIDE][Changing/Using CDA][ICS]How to go back to your Original/Stock Xperia Mini Pro SI Firmware/Software

Hello!

Did you flash other Xperia Mini Pro Firmware (Gingerbread or ICS) with other SI/CDA number on your phone (SK17i) that you downloaded everywhere from the internet or install a custom rom then want to go back to your original/stock/regional firmware?

But you forgot to backup your original/stock/regional firmware?

Then here is the solution:

Note: This is only for upgrading your Gingerbread firmware with other/wrong SI/CDA number to your stock/original/regional ICS firmware or repairing ICS with other/wrong SI/CDA number to your stock/original/regional ICS firmware.

We can't go back to your stock/original/regional Gingerbread using this method. Yes, Sony Update Service and PC Companion has a repair function but it will upgrade your phone into ICS unless your stock Gingerbread that comes from your phone still doesn't have an ICS upgrade.

You need:

Internet

Sony Update Service (Recommended) or PC Companion

Phone with Gingerbread/ICS firmware (Pls. read the note above)

Rooted phone/Locked bootloader

When you are from custom rom, reflash first the stock Gingerbread ftf from Sony then root it.

Link for ftf's (Thank you Sir Nabeel for this) - http://talk.sonymobile.com/thread/35239?start=0&tstart=0

Step 1:

Find your SI number here - http://forum.gsmhosting.com/vbb/archive/t-1511536.html

To find it quickly, press CTRL + F on your active browser window then type your SI number.

(ex. Available On Request | PT. TELETAMA ARTHA MANDIRI ID | 1249-0742 | Black)

Step 2:

When you already found your SI number, copy it's Region-Operator.

(ex. Available On Request | PT. TELETAMA ARTHA MANDIRI ID | 1249-0742 | Black)

Step 3:

After that, go here - http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1699349

Then press CTRL + F and paste the Region-Operator name that you copied from the Step 1 link.

Step 4:

When you found the Region-Operator name, write the CDA number down on a piece of paper.

(ex. (?) 1249-8062:SK17I - PT TELETAMA ARTHA MANDIRI ID WORLD)

Step 5:

Open your phone then open root explorer or any file explorer that can go to the root and can edit text. Make sure that the root of your phone is mounted as R/W. Then go to \system and open the build.prop file in the text editor

Step 6:

Find those three lines on build.prop then replace the XXXX-XXXX with the CDA number you have written down.

ro.product.name=SK17i_XXXX-XXXX

ro.build.fingerprint=SEMC/SK17i_XXXX-XXXX/

ro.semc.version.cust=XXXX-XXXX

Step 7:

Make sure that those XXXX-XXXX are the same. Then save it and exit the TEXT EDITOR NOT THE EXPLORER. Then if you see a build.prop.bak, delete it. See if the permissions is correct.

Permission: rw-r--r--

Step 8:

After that, reboot your phone.

Step 9:

After you reboot your phone, open the keypad or dialpad then type *#*#7378423#*#* then go to Service info -> Software Info.

Then look if the Customization Version and Active Customization change into the CDA number you want.

If it fails then repeat Step 5 - 8 using with your little knowledge about android. I think you are not now a noobish because you already know how to flash or install an custom rom.

Step 10:

If it's successful then update or repair your firmware with Sony Update Service (Recommended) or PC Companion.

After the upgrading or repairing of the firmware then you are done!

Congratulations!

Please like my post and feel free to leave comments or feedbacks.

Thank you!

Credits go to:

XDA Developers

n4s (for the tut on how to change CDA) - member of XDA Developers

ComplexGSM - from forum.gsmhosting.com

Nabeel - moderator on Sony Mobile Forum

ICS Browser Incognito Tab

I discovered this on ICS of XPERIA that you can now open an icognito tab on browser.

Just go to the Browser then go the part of the browser where you can add tab.

If you get there then touch the Menu or Option button then choose New Incognito Tab.

Xperia mini pro ICS update Review

Hello, I updated my SE Xperia mini pro from 2.3 Gingerbread into 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich yesterday (August 26, 2012). I updated it using SEUS because (based on my research) I think it is better than PC Companion when it comes to updating your firmware.

Here is the link for SEUS (Sony Ericsson Update Service)
  -http://sony-ericsson-update-service.en.uptodown.com/ (Source: http://en.uptodown.com/)

Let's start the review. (Note: There are some pictures where I used the pointer (circle white dots) that comes from the ICS update. You can activate it by going into Settings -> Developer Options -> Scroll down and tick "Show Touches")

User Interface:

The interface of it is just like the interface of Gingerbread. The four bubble corners is still there and the notification bar changed. To use the landscape mode of it, you still need to pull out the keyboard.

Portrait mode

Landscape Mode and the expanded bubble corner

 Notification Bar

The dragging of widgets is still the same, the overview of all the widgets is still there but all of the themes is new and it is called the Cosmic Flow.

Dragging of Widgets

Overview of all Widgets

 Cosmic Flow Themes

One of my favorite app is still there.. The Timescape.!

The Menu and the Arrangement of icons are still the same but the icons is new.

The lockscreens is still the same but there is a new lock feature and that is the "Face Unlock". 

Keypad, Contacts and Calling:

The Keypad change a lot and now it has a Smart Dialing and you can now directly send messages on a number without going on messaging or in contacts(But you need to complete the number that you are going to text). Just type the number (ex. 000021) and click the "Send text Message" button then select Messaging.

Let's go to the Contacts. The Contacts is still the same.. No need to talk about it.

And the Dialing is still the same.. There is no changes and the answering of the call is still the same.

Messaging:

There is a little changes in the threaded messaging on messages. The pop-ups is kinda floaty and the background of pop-up message that comes from you is white.

The keyboard is still the same: the Full qwerty keyboard and the phonepad and still there is no sound every keypress. 

The Whatsapp is still there.

Browser:

The Browsing is still fast but there is no Flash (the reason that there is no flash is because the performance of the phone is getting slow when you are using flash or watching YouTube videos online using flash) but you can still install the Flash anytime.

The pinch zooming is still there. (I use the pointer and it acts as my two fingers touching the screen)

If you want to watch video on YouTube, there is an YouTube application installed in your phone automatically and it doesn't requires Flash.

Camera and Gallery:

The opening of the camera using the camera key is fast compared to the Gingerbread version. The interface of the Camera has changed.

The Slide-to-option thing is now gone, you need to touch the Menu key so that the the camera options will appear. There are 3 capturing method: Touch capture, on-screen button and camera key only. The one that I used is the on-screen button.

If you are going to use the ICS update camera, please go first to the option then change the image resolution from 3mp pic. to 5mp pic. The quality of picture is still quite good.

Let's go to the video recording. The interface of the video recorder is the same as the camera. To see the options of it, you need also to touch the menu button. 

The video recording is still in HD but based on my research the FPS or the frames per second of the video on ICS update drop from 30fps to 25fps but I don't know if that problem is going to happen in all the updates of xperia mini pro.

There are two Gallery in ICS update and the one is the stock gallery that is named as Xperia(TM) Gallery and the other is called only Gallery. The opening of pictures in both gallery is fast and if you do the double-tap zoom, it will extremely zoom the picture so I recommend you to use the pinch zooming so that you can control the zooming of the pictures.

Xperia(TM) Gallery

Gallery

Video Player/Music player

The interface of the Video player is changed. It has a glossy semi-transparent stylish player but it is not totally glossy.

The interface of Music player is just like the old Music player of Gingerbread.. There is no big difference.

Battery life:

The Battery life for me is good. Sometimes it drains fast maybe due to my usage. I don't have any problems with it but i'll observe it's battery for few days then i'll try to update you guys. That's all.

Final Words:

This ICS update for Xperia Mini Pro is great even though it is not totally a high end phone. It has a great new features but sometimes its quite laggy. In my experience, this update doesn't eat more RAM compared to the Gingerbread. Before when I use Gingerbread, it eats up my RAM because of so many processes running (I think you will suggest me to use task killer) so I used RAM booster, Task Killer and everything but when I kill them, the processes will just restart then eats up my RAM again. But when I used the ICS update, my RAM is not eaten by the processes that much and the heating up of the phone is gone. So it is up to you if you would update your phone.  But it's worth it if you update your phone with this update. That;s all. If you have questions, i'll try to answer that if I have a time. Thank you!!