How to update PRL and profile on AOSP on your HTC EVO 4G
If you're running an AOSP-based ROM on your HTC EVO 4G, you're probably aware of the issues surrounding updating your phone with new Sprint goodies. Although you can download and update your radios via recovery, the PRL (preferred roaming list) and your Sprint Profile are not updated via this method and cannot be updated at this time via any AOSP-based ROM. You're also missing out on goodies from the dialer such as ##DATA# and #GPSCLRX#.
While this is not always an issue, as radio updates and PRL/Profile updates do not go hand-in-hand, when new towers come online and features get added/removed from the Sprint Network, you will need to update those two things in order to take advantage. And that can only be done from a Sense-based ROM.
So, how do you update via Sense and not lose the hours you've put into configuring your AOSP ROM?
The basics of the procedure are simple:
- Download a Sense-based ROM
- Make a complete Nandroid backup of your AOSP ROM
- Flash the Sense-based ROM
- Update Profile and PRL from Sense-based ROM (menu > settings > system updates)
- Restore Nandroid backup of your AOSP ROM
It's not terribly complicated, but it's time-consuming and there are definitely some factors to consider here and some future plans to make to make it less annoying next time.
If you are running Darktremor's Apps2SD, last I checked your EXT partition was not properly backed up if you were running ClockwordMod recovery (or did not check the option to back it up in Amon Ra). While this will not be an issue in this particular setup if you're installing a stock Sense ROM, if you install a Sense ROM with Darktremor built in, your apps potentially could get munged. I use Amon RA currently and it backs up the SD-EXT as well as the .android_secure folders properly if you tell it to.
It will take you a few minutes to get to the point in the Sense-based ROM where you have configured it enough to let you to the main/updates page. Last time I installed Sense, it was about a 25-minute process, but that was a very long time ago
You're going to eventually need to install a PRL/Profile update again at some point in the future (or use any of the EPST features of ##DATA#), so after you are done with your Sense ROM, why not make a Nandroid of it as well so you can restore it at a later time in about 6 minutes and not need to reinstall every time? It will save you ~20 minutes the first time you use it. ClockworkMod and Amon Ra both allow for multiple backups, and a small Sense ROM with no programs installed is not going to take up much space. You can always move it to your computer if space becomes an issue.
I'll give a word of warning here. It's been a while since I last used Clockworkmod, and I never had it properly back up and restore a ROM. It may be working perfectly well now, but when I used it about 7 months ago, there was always something kind of missing or wonky with the thing – always a tidbit of the next or previous ROM put in. I've been using Amon Ra since then and never had any issues.
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