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Step by Step Sprint Pre 2 Conversion Guide

By: Ryan St. Andrie, 3/2/2011 10:51 pm | 46 comments

Since the announcement of the Palm Pre 2 last year, Sprint users have been interested in the process of getting the Pre 2 to function on the Sprint network as a replacement for their aging Pre’s. The first opportunity came at the NYC Dev Day, where Rod Whitby of WebOS Internals fame, attempted the first Franken-Pre 2 with a live crowd of onlookers. The operation was successful, but with a number of significant caveats. Near full functionality was gained in mid December, but we soon learned that was only possible for developers in the webOS Early Access Program. Even then the users could not purchase paid apps on their profiles, nor could they even see apps in the catalog that required 1.4.5 or higher.

Then the long-awaited Verizon Pre 2 was released. This opened the conversion process to every user who desired to make the leap. Now the CDMA firmware from the Verizon Pre 2 Doctor, a little meta-doctor magic, and a good Sprint Pre comm. board is all that is needed to convert your unlocked GSM Pre 2 in to a fully functioning Sprint Pre 2. The process is amazingly simple thanks to Rod writing a script that does nearly all of the work for you. So get your T-5 screwdrivers ready and follow the links and picture guides provided to make the conversion. Make sure to read the webOS 2 Upgrade from WebOS Internals before disassembling your devices. There are some software tools you need to have in place and operational first as well as some very specific instructions for getting your 1.4.5 profile to load onto a 2.x device.

Palm Pre/Plus/2 Comm Board Swap Pictorial Guide

Please click on the thumbnails if you are performing this procedure to take you to the official Wiki. This process may change in the future so we always want you to have the most up to date information!

Now flash your Sprint Pre 2 to 2.0.1 using the instructions found on the webOS 2 Upgrade page from WebOS Internals. The script command to do all the meta-magic is simply:

./scripts/meta-sprint-pre2-2.0.1

It doesn’t get any easier than that folks! Once the process is complete you will have a shiny new Sprint Pre 2 running webOS 2.0.1 with a version 2.0 profile, full app catalog access, and full functionality. We are not quite sure if this process will be OTA compatible but we suspect that it may be. Special thanks go to those who have contributed to this process over time; Rod Whitby, the WebOS Internals team, PreCentral forum members Sirataxero (of WebOS World), Ed Cates, CTLAdvance. This would not be possible today were it not for the efforts of those individuals.

[This article was written by Rich Dunbar (@RichDunbar) who has been a big part of this process. So if you see him around the interwebs give him a big pat on the back for his hard work!]

About Ryan St. Andrie

Ryan is a WOR News Hound and super geek who is always working to melt his phone with the latest experimental kernels. He is husband to lovely wife Keira and father to adorable baby girl Kyla, ASE certified mechanic and self proclaimed gearhead turned to railroad mechanic. Last but not least lover of all things tech.

View all posts by Ryan St. Andrie →

http://twitter.com/confusedgeek Felipe Garcia

might be easy, but i probably wont be trying it myself.

question though. why would you be concerned by ota updates? its a sprint pre 2. sprint aint going to be sending out no update for any of their pres.

am i missing something?

http://www.webos-internals.org/ WebOS Internals

WebOS 2.1.0 will likely be released for the Pre 2 soon. You would want to OTA update to it if you could, regardless of what comms board you have.

– Rod
http://www.webos-internals.org/ WebOS Internals

WebOS 2.1.0 will likely be released for the Pre 2 soon. You would want to OTA update to it if you could, regardless of what comms board you have.

– Rod
Rich Dunbar

Yes, you are. It is an unlocked GSM Pre 2 with a Sprint comm board. The Dr. is the Stock WR Dr. I am expecting it will continue to get updates from HP just like it did from the beginning. Someone could test this by Dr’ing to 2.0.0 and then hitting the system update button. If it shows up, then OTA from HP will continue to function. The Pre 2 will continue to get updates as the Veer and Pre 3 does.
Neil Mason

Last I heard Sprint was posting the 2.0 for us this month.

http://killinitllc.com Austin

Thanks for the guide! I’m waiting for my unlocked Pre2 to arrive in the mail already!
http://twitter.com/Big_webOS George

Nice job on the write up. My advice is to pay special attention to the keyboard tips. Its the toughest part of reassembly. and Peeps, make sure you send in a donation to show your appreciation to webosinternals. This is huge! My pre2 is functioning flawlessly on sprint network-amazing

Abraham Weiss

The little keyboard tabs made me nervous at first but once I did it it went very smoothly just be patient with them and don’t force it in, it slides in. I lifted the tabs with a small screwdriver and popped into place, was a very easy project.

Also if you guys want to help Rich for all his hard work here please download his free app “tap for help” its a very useful app but more then that it has a link for donations and we all knows he deserves it

Anonymous

I started this and I feel like I’m a little in over my head. Some of the screws just won’t budge and it’s driving me CRAZY!

Rich Dunbar

This may be a silly question but do you have a T-5 torx screwdriver or bit?

Anonymous

Yeah I was using a t4 it turns out, got the t5 and everything switched already now. One thing is, I can’t run the pre2 script because I don’t have it in my meta-doctor scripts dir. Where can I get it? Or is that a stupid question?

Capt4Chris

Wow, this sounds too good to be true. Great work guys! So there’s no catches other than whether it OTA compatible?

The Sprint apps add fine (Sprint Nav, SprintTV, etc)?
Flash is also on there?
Profile data is preserved (memo’s, tasks, etc)?
Save/Restore can be used to transfer other app data?

Rich Dunbar

Some of the apps from the Sprint 1.4.5 tarball will work if installed from root, however Sprint Nav will not.

Unless your profile is already on 2.x, the procedures that everyone has used to upgrade their profile is to delete the backup data. So you can try to load your profile without that, but know that if it doesn’t work, the only way to get it to work is to go back to a 1.4.5 device and follow the instructions in the wiki.

Anonymous

So would it be easier if I signed my profile into my Pre 2 before doing the conversion?
Scotland

Wow, glad I saw this comment – loss of Sprint Nav could be a deal breaker (didn’t notice it on the webOS Internals page – maybe non-working apps should be highlighted there). Is anyone actively working on Sprint Nav issues or does it look like there might be any possible resolution? BTW, great job, guys!!! It is great for Sprint users to have this as an option!!
Capt4Chris

I use Sprint Nav so much so I’d hate to lose this.

I also have like a hundred bookmards, memos, tasks so I don’t know if I could lose all those either.

EdCates

Nice writeup, Rich! This is an excellent tutorial.
http://twitter.com/avnerarbel avner arbel

way to go Rich! great job!
Mjkjr

I’ve already plussed my Pre and my Pre 2 is on the way. But how is not swapping the tokens not an issue? Thanks

http://[email protected] Ryan St. Andrie

My suspicion is that someone at Palm helped us all out.

Rich Dunbar

I agree. Although early on we lacked firmware that worked in 2.x But in mid December this would have been possible for some. But we were already chasing another rabbit and nobody that I am aware of even bothered to check this.
Rich Dunbar

I agree. Although early on we lacked firmware that worked in 2.x But in mid December this would have been possible for some. But we were already chasing another rabbit and nobody that I am aware of even bothered to check this.

http://[email protected] Ryan St. Andrie

Well I’m glad Taurus chose to try it. If it wasn’t for him I doubt this would have been discovered any time soon

Rich Dunbar

I agree. Although early on we lacked firmware that worked in 2.x But in mid December this would have been possible for some. But we were already chasing another rabbit and nobody that I am aware of even bothered to check this.

http://[email protected] Ryan St. Andrie

My suspicion is that someone at Palm helped us all out.
http://[email protected] Ryan St. Andrie

My suspicion is that someone at Palm helped us all out.

DCIFER

Niiice!!! My only question is why are you putting the new hardware back in the old Pre-? Can’t you swap the boards into the Pre2 and take advantage of the G-glass and the gesture area (no button)?

Capt4Chris

I’m pretty sure the last picture is not correct. It should be the Pre 2. They just re-use the comm board and back bezel from the original Pre-.

From what I’ve read the back bezel is specific enough to the comm board that it’s just easier to use the old back bezel as well.

http://twitter.com/cryptkcoding Chris Jowett

indeed… The GPS antenna wires as well as the antennas themselves are different… GSM comms boards need a GSM backplate, CDMA comms boards require a CDMA back plate.

Rich Dunbar

I just disassembled a Pre and re-assembled the same Pre for the hardware swap guide. It works the same on every model of Pre. So the last pic is not supposed to be a Pre 2. Just to save on confusion I will likely update that pic so it is a full assembled Pre 2. LOL

Joe Schwartz

Maybe I am missing something, but wouldn’t it be much cheaper to break your Sprint Contract and switch to Verizon for a factory fresh Pre 2 with a warranty?

Rich Dunbar

Hmmm, 5 phones on my Sprint contract x $250 ETF each = $1250 + the cost of new phones and two of us are using Sprint Pre 2′s so that’s at least another $200, we are now at $1450 plus three more phones (all of which are smart phones… so I would say, in my case. No, it wouldn’t be much cheaper. Besides where is the fun in that?

Anonymous

Exactly, where’s the fun in that? :P

For me it would also be more economically feasible to swap comm boards. I already have a Pre, I already have a Pre 2, so all I have to pay is $8 for the T5 screwdriver + shipping. Compare that with the early termination fee.
soydeedo

Actually, Sprint’s ETF is only $200 and it’s prorated relatively generously, so it’s not as high as you’ve made it out to be, but I hear you. And yes, we mustn’t forget the fun angle. =P

http://shop.sprint.com/en/services/termination_fee/early_termination_fee.shtml?ECID=vanity:etf
Anonymous

Ya cuz we all have the above situation????????
Paperboy1982

i have a question, is there any1 who will do this for you for a price?

Optionsguy

Check on eBay. The service is under $40 and it takes under a week if you need it to be fast. But what fun is that? Still, good to know we have a backstop.

Clinton Thomas

Is it possible to do this with a Verizon Pre 2 and Sprint Pre Minus, or does the 2 have to be GSM?

Rich Dunbar

Yes Clinton, it is possible. One person has reported they did it. Just do the hardware swap as described and then run the stock Verizon Pre 2 Dr. Everything should end up the same as here. The only thing is you will end up with some Verizon apps that may or may not work on your Sprint network.

http://twitter.com/chrisakavern Christopher Varney

Seems like way too much work and toying with way too much $$$, why can’t Sprint just play along and give Web OS users what they want!!!!!

Anonymous

For some reason they don’t seem to like webOS anymore. The only thing the Evo has over the Pre 2 is 4G. The Pre 2 would be among the most powerful phones available on Sprint, and they passed.

I hope they’re at least smart enough to get on the Pre 3 train, or even the Veer.

soydeedo

I doubt they’ll dump any money into the Veer (I thought it was GSM only anyway?) and the Pre 2 just won’t get much attention from the general Sprint public because a lot of people already tried and ditched the original out of frustration. The Pre 3 is the only one that would likely sell well and I think they’ll get on board with that one at some point. I don’t think they’ll make it their flagship like the Pre- or Evo, but it’ll be in the lineup.

Come to think of it though, I can’t help but think the Pre 2 would do better than that crap Kyocera Echo they wasted so much time on if they put some marketing muscle behind it. The Veer will be a niche product, however. If it weren’t for the magnetic dongle I wouldn’t be so certain of that, but Palm made it easy to sound the death knell on that one.
soydeedo

I doubt they’ll dump any money into the Veer (I thought it was GSM only anyway?) and the Pre 2 just won’t get much attention from the general Sprint public because a lot of people already tried and ditched the original out of frustration. The Pre 3 is the only one that would likely sell well and I think they’ll get on board with that one at some point. I don’t think they’ll make it their flagship like the Pre- or Evo, but it’ll be in the lineup.

Come to think of it though, I can’t help but think the Pre 2 would do better than that crap Kyocera Echo they wasted so much time on if they put some marketing muscle behind it. The Veer will be a niche product, however. If it weren’t for the magnetic dongle I wouldn’t be so certain of that, but Palm made it easy to sound the death knell on that one.

Scotland

If you use an unlocked GSM Pre2 as the basis for the Franken Pre2, does that mean the original Sprint Pre- becomes an unlocked Pre-? You can swap the comm boards – but does the comm board (and Sprint Pre- case) include room for the SIM card?
JoeZiehmer

Pity that the Pixi+ will never even see a Franken-Pixi. This is pretty bad when a majority of what could be the crowning moment for garage programmers turns into WebOS 2.0 being a basic tip off. They should really have just thrown in the towel in the Palm swindle. Along with Sood complaining about HP and Ruby not putting his money where his mouth is with the posted poem during the Holidays that was just plan pathetic. I’d like to think that Palm would have credited internals more then they did but in fact that just had what Mindrape had done to NESticle back in the day… I think we found the problem with WebOS 2.0 and that is Palm not HP.
Nlena

Why don’t they just make an upgrade for the ones that don’t have the Pre 2? Some people just don’t think these days. Ya WebOS people gotta start making up choices because all of you are getting me to the point that I just wanna throw the phone away! Anyway…WebOS people…just make a dam upgrade for the freakin’ Pre so we don’t have switch Company’s again. I’ve switched 5 freakin times!!!

Step by Step Sprint Pre 2 Conversion Guide

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