Many manufacturers of smartphones and tablets provide their devices with support and updating the software and operating system, but only for a limited time. When support for outdated models is unprofitable, the manufacturer stops the "update by air" and leaves the gadget completely in the care of its owner.
Immediately an acute question arises about obtaining the current version of the OS. But how to do this if a person does not understand the intricacies of firmware at all? In particular, there are some capricious smartphones that are so easy to cope with. One of them is the FLY IQ4404 device. Its firmware can bring a lot of trouble. How to flash it? We’ll try to figure it out now.
What kind of smartphone is this?
This device is positioned by the company as a budget model without any hint of a premium segment. He has a normal appearance and not too outstanding technical characteristics. By default, the operating system "Android 4.2.2" is installed on it. However, for FLY IQ4404 firmware 4.4.2 is also available. The smartphone is perfect for everyday tasks. It does a great job with applications. But running modern games on it is not recommended. It is not intended for this.
Among its features, we can note a dual-core processor with a clock frequency of 1.3 GHz, a 5 megapixel camera, a capacious battery and a not very high-quality display. However, for a cheap budget gadget, this is enough. It is not intended for games and heavy processes. Now let's turn to the software side of FLY IQ4404. Its firmware is subject to customization and updating, but, like all gadgets on the MTK platform, it has its own characteristics.
Features of the IQ4404 Spark firmware
First you need to download all the drivers for the firmware of this smartphone. Then you will need a special flasher program. It is called SP FlashTool. Nothing will work without her. Devices based on MTK do not want to flash the way through the SD card. Then you need to download the firmware itself. Finding her is not a problem for the FLY IQ4404. Firmware from w3bsit3-dns.com and a local forum will help with this. Now you need to prepare the program itself and the device.
If you are lucky and your FLY has nothing to do with the MTK platform (it happens sometimes), then you can flash it without problems using root-rights, custom recovery and a microSD memory card. More on this will be described below. In the meantime, let's talk about preparing the device for these two methods of firmware. There is nothing complicated about it.
Preparing for firmware
First you need to drop the SP FlashTool program and the firmware itself into one folder. This will help to avoid possible excesses during the firmware process. Then you need to install all the downloaded drivers. If the device turns on, it is better to save all your contacts, photos and music somewhere on the computer, because after a flashing they can be lost. Then you need to turn off the phone and remove the battery from it. This completes the preparation process. Now the firmware on the FLY IQ4404 phone can be “uploaded”.
All of the above is relevant for official firmware. But if you decided to install custom firmware from an unknown author, you will first have to give the phone superuser rights (root), then flash custom recovery, make all the wipes. And only then it will be possible to start installing the firmware itself. It is much simpler, but at the same time unsafe. For these firmware have a bunch of "holes" in the protection system.
Firmware process
First of all, you need to run the SP FlashTool program. Then we look for the Scatter Loading item and in the window that opens select a file with the name of the downloaded firmware and the extension TXT. After that, click the Download button and connect the turned off device with the removed battery to the computer. The process of downloading firmware to the smartphone’s memory should begin.
Depending on your computer configuration, the process may take a different time. But you will have time to drink some tea. You need to wait for the completion of the process of loading the operating system and its files on the FLY IQ4404. The firmware will be completed after a green circle with the inscription "OK" appears on the computer screen. You can disconnect the device from the computer and try to turn it on. The first boot of the phone will be very long.
Features of custom firmware
Most of these firmwares were created by enthusiasts who are not satisfied with outdated versions of official firmware from manufacturers. There is a newer version for FLY IQ4404 - firmware based on the sixth Android. True, it is only in the test version so far and not everything works there. It is provided by the author for review. Simply put, all custom firmware must be installed with a certain amount of caution, because in terms of security, they are all very bad.
You need to install them using custom recovery, which requires root rights to run. You can get them using the Framaroot program. Then you need to connect the smartphone to the computer and, following the instructions, install the recovery. Next, in the root of the memory card, you need to “upload” the firmware in ZIP format, restart the phone in recovery and select Apply update from SD Card, then choose Choose ZIP. The firmware process will begin. Do not forget to perform the item Wipe Data.
Summary
So, we just took apart the budget device FLY IQ4404. There is firmware 4.4 for it, and the process will not complicate even a novice user, although, like all devices based on MTK, it needs a special approach. But there were no vagaries like the flown IMEI and other unpleasant things. And this is the most important thing. It is the ease of flashing that characterizes this smartphone as a very successful product that can be customized without any problems at the request of the user. You just need to be careful and correctly perform all that is written in the instructions.