BlackBerry Firmware Release 164 for Pearl and 8800

by Volker Weber

vodafone today

Vodafone Today, my favorite theme, is now available in white. At least on the Pearl.

Download here >

Comments

Any reason to upgrade my BB 8800? Does it matter that my BB is served by e-Plus (BIS)?

Volker, do you know whether it is generally possible to use a device firmware irrespective of the provider, as long as it is for the designed model? At the time, I successfully installed your tip on a Vodafone-provided device, but will that generally work?

@Martin: If you have any bugs/issues on your current device, you should give the update a try. Else: Never change a running system. ;-)

@Jan-Piet: I am not Volker, but I will give you the answer. :-) The device software can be used irrespective of the provider, it only needs to match the device model. Deleting the file vendor.xml will always allow you to install firmware releases from a different provider.

Abdelkader Boui, 2007-07-05 15:49

@Abdelkader: Is it possible to turn back the whole process (aka downgrade the firmware) by putting back the vendor.xml to its appr. place?
Just in case I don't like the... ummmm... let's say... theme.

Thanks in advance.

To downgrade the firmware, you have to uninstall the new release from your computer, install the previous release on your computer. This will work for sure. Just replacing the vendor.xml could do the trick without having to uninstall/install anything, but I am not sure if it will work.

Abdelkader Boui, 2007-07-05 16:43

Martin, if you want to install all the themes, you need to edit BlackBerry.alx. Remove all the vendorID tags.

Thanks to all! Will give it a try...

That is a very nice theme .. hopefully someone will just release that .alx file online somewhere

Volker, you probably mean the ***attributes*** '_vendorID'? Just want to get sure...

Correct. You remove attributes like _vendorID="120" inside the tags. They limit for which vendor these packages get installed. When you remove those attributes, the packages get installed for all devices.

Thanks, the update process is running... Let's see if it renders my smart BB into dumb one. :-)
After three weeks BB i must admit that RIM does a pretty good job. Even w/o all of the smart sync/push/share/collaborate stuff (and RIM's knowledge on the server side) it is a very good device. Sometimes the GUI looks a bit weird (for a Mac-addicted guy like me), but overall it is a really functional and quick handset.
And all of this is built on Java!!! How snappy Java can be once the VM is just loaded!!! My only wish goes to Apple: Please enable J2ME development for the Mac! Fighting Parallels and sharing an USB connection between Mac OS X & Windows is a real pain!

No white for 8800 :-(((

Yep. No white theme here.
But a lot of carrier themes (Cingular, Orange, O2, Telefonica, TIM, TMO, VF).
Well, actually I still prefer the BB default themes. :-)

Martin, the other carrier themes are old news to everyone who has ever edited their BlackBerry.alx file. :-)

Dirk, the Pearl has two Vodafone themes now: Today and Green. The 8800 has only one called Today which is actually Green.

Thanks to your tips I successfully updated a T-Mobile Curve and didn't brick it. The missus would've killed me... ;-)

Most smart-looking theme? Vodafone, but the 8300 displays the main page with a dotted background, and I don't seem to be able to get rid of it.

Volker, I know. I just wanted to be a part of the moment... :-)

Nutzt jemand die Firmware auf einem Pearl mit der o2 Homezone? Nach dem Update stürzt mein Pearl in der Homezone sofort ab (Java Error 523).
Der Fehler lässt zwar auch andere Schlüsse zu, da er jedoch ausschließlich in der Homezone auftritt und nach der Deaktivierung selbiger verschwunden ist, scheint der Zusammenhang klar.

After upgrading my Pearl I enjoined new features, however I have encountered some serious problems:
1. Mails deleted on the Pearl are not deleted on the server
2. Read marks are not updated on the server
3. Replies can only be saved, not send
I use the Pearl with the Domino server. Does anybody else have these problems or know a solution?

Hello Felix,

maybe this might help: http://www.blackberry.com/btsc/search.do?cmd=displayKC&docType=kc&externalId=KB11860

Hello Thomas,

thanks for the advice, but it did not work for me.

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vowe.net is a personal website published by Volker Weber a.k.a. vowe. I am an author, consultant and systems architect based in Darmstadt, Germany.

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