The T-Mobile Galaxy S2 has started receiving the official update to Android 4.0.4 with firmware version UVLH1, and it’s quite an important update as 4.0.4 contains noticeable performance, smoothness and stability improvements over Android 4.0.3. And thanks to the development community, we now have the firmware available for manually flashing and updating.

The guide below will walk you through the steps to install the Android 4.0.4 firmware manually, but keep in mind that this procedure will make you lose root access on your phone and might also need you do a data wipe (the data can be restored later however), so make sure you’re comfortable with that before proceeding. This will not trip your flash counter as it is an official firmware.

Let’s take a look at how the Android 4.0.4 UVLH1 firmware can be installed on the T-Mobile Galaxy S2.

Compatibility

The guide below is compatible only and only with the T-Mobile Galaxy S2, model number SGH-T989. It’s not compatible with any other device. Check your device’s model number in Settings» About phone.

Warning!

The methods and procedures discussed here are considered risky and you should not attempt anything if you don’t know completely what it is. If any damage occurs to your device, we won’t be held liable.

How to Install Android 4.0.4 T989UVLH1 Firmware on T-Mobile Galaxy S2

  1. Make sure you have the phone drivers installed on the computer. If not, download and install them from the link below.
    Download Drivers
  2. [Important] There is a chance that you might need to factory reset your phone if the firmware fails to boot, so backup your apps and important data — bookmarks, contacts, SMS, APNs (internet settings), etc so you can restore them if needed (you don’t need to backup personal files on the SD cards as those will not be deleted). This Android backup guide would help you.
    NOTE: Don’t forget to at least note down your network’s APN settings, which are required to make mobile data work. Go into Settings » More » Mobile Networks, click on the APN that is in use, then note down the setting for each field. While APN settings should be automatically restored from network, you can enter them manually if needed to make mobile data work. You can also find your APN details → here.
  3. Download the firmware.
    Download UVLH1  |  Alternate Link  |  Filename: T989UVLH1_T989TMBLH1_TMB.zip
  4. Extract the T989UVLH1_T989TMBLH1_TMB.zip to obtain a file named T989UVLH1_T989TMBLH1_T989UVLH1_HOME.tar.md5.
  5. Download Odin which will be used to flash the firmware on your phone.
    Download Odin  |  Filename: Odin3 v1.83.exe
  6. Open Odin by double-clicking the Odin3 v1.83.exe file downloaded in step 5.
  7. Switch off your phone. Then, boot into download mode. To do this, turn off your phone. Plug in your USB cable to the computer, but not to the phone. Then, holding the Volume Up and Volume Down buttons on the phone, plug in the USB cable to the phone while holding those buttons. Once the Download mode screen (with a picture of a green Android) shows up, let go of the buttons.
  8. After you connect the phone in download mode, you’ll notice Added!! message in Odin’s message box in the bottom left. If you don’t get the message, check that the drivers are properly installed and start from step 6 again.
  9. Now, in Odin, click the PDA button and select the .md5 file you got in step 4 — T989UVLE1_T989TMBLE1_T989UVLE1_HOME.tar.md5.
  10. Important! Do not touch any other button or make any other changes in Odin except selecting the required file as given in step 9. Opening Odin and selecting the PDA file is all that you need to do, no other changes are required.
  11. Now, make sure you’ve taken a backup of installed apps and data as given in step 2, then click the Start button in Odin to flash the firmware on your phone.
  12. When the flashing is complete, your phone will automatically reboot — and when you see the Samsung logo, you can safely unplug the cable. Plus, you’ll get a PASS message (with green background) in the left-most box at the very top of Odin.
    What to do if Odin gets stuck: If ODIN gets stuck and doesn’t seem to be doing anything, or you get a FAIL message (with red background) in ODIN, disconnect the phone from the PC, close ODIN, remove battery, re-insert it, then repeat the procedure from step 6.
  13. After you get the PASS message and the phone reboots, there are chances that it doesn’t boot properly and gets stuck either at some strange screen (3e recovery, actually) or maybe gets stuck at boot animation. Well, there is nothing to worry about that. All you need to do is do a “Factory Reset” from 3e recovery.
    So, if your phone boots in 3e recovery (with black background and Android in the center of screen, and some blue text), just do a factory reset as said on steps 13.1 to 13.3 below. Or if it’s stuck while restarting at boot animation, perform the following steps to make it boot properly. Remember that these steps will wipe your personal data like contacts, apps, messages, etc.
    (Note: If phone has restarted, that is booted properly, you do not need to perform steps 13.1 to 13.3, these are only for those whose Galaxy S3 is not booting up/restarting after the flashing from Kies and getting the PASS in Odin.)
    So, perform these steps for doing a Factory Reset:
    1. Boot to recovery mode — for which, remove and re-insert the battery, then press and hold Volume Down + Volume Up + Power keys together till the screen turns on. Once you are in recovery mode, use volume keys to move the selection up and down and power or home key to select the option.
    2. Go to Wipe Data/Factory Reset and select it. Select Yes on next screen.
    3. Now, select reboot system now to reboot your phone. It will now boot up fine and you can use the latest Android 4.0 firmware on your T-Mobile Galaxy S2. Don’t forget to restore your backup taken in step 2.
  14. If you run into any roadblocks while flashing the firmware, let us know and we’ll help you out.

Your T-Mobile Galaxy S2 is now running on the official Ice Cream Sandwich Android 4.0.4 UVLH1 firmware. Let us know how it works for you, in the comments below.