The Complete Guide: Upgrading the Samsung Ativ SE to Windows 10 Mobile

[djblitz]

Great news and thanks for the update. Out of curiosity, how are you liking 10 vs 8.1 in general. I hear a lot of people complaining that the UI is not as smooth as 8.1 (almost Android-ish with hamburger menus, etc.) and some functionality has been removed. What are your thoughts so far? I'm on the fence and teetering on getting a Nexus phone vs keeping my ATIV SE (seeing as Verizon isnt planning on bringing any new Windows phone out for awhile, if ever). All info is truly appreciated!

Tbh I don't know why people would say that. I find things look alot more appealing, especially the new transparent tiles and such. Changes such as categorizing the settings menu, syncing of data such as wifi passwords between my w10 pc, tablet and my mobile phone are standouts no matter how simple it seems. I haven't really missed much in terms of features, but then again it all comes down to what you're doing with your device. I just know the os is snappy on this device, with almost ZERO pauses, more so than wp8.1

 

[PuckCowboy]

Tbh I don't know why people would say that. I find things look alot more appealing, especially the new transparent tiles and such. Changes such as categorizing the settings menu, syncing of data such as wifi passwords between my w10 pc, tablet and my mobile phone are standouts no matter how simple it seems. I haven't really missed much in terms of features, but then again it all comes down to what you're doing with your device. I just know the os is snappy on this device, with almost ZERO pauses, more so than wp8.1

Very happy to hear it. Sounds like I've got good reason to stick with the ATIV SE... at least a little longer. Looks like I will be updating my phone (and PC) over the Thanksgiving weekend when I have enough downtime for setup. There are still a few Apps I'd like to have (SiriusXM Player) and a few that need to be fixed, however I can live without them for now. (Not sure if I can stream Sirius XM via any of the web browsers).

Final question, how is Cortana working with WM10? One of the features I love is Text functionality over Bluetooth, etc. Hopefully that is all still intact? Would be cool to have Hey Cortana functionality, but my guess is that it's still unusable on the ATIV SE due to hardware and it not being a Lumia.

 

[theshowman]

Thanks to all contributors.
My ATIV SE has been updated to build 10586 and for the most part, it seems to be a keeper for me at least (as I couldn't stand the earlier builds of WM10).

My only gripes are that:
- the past, every time I used the restore from back up or upgrade from WP8.1, I found the phone to become very flaky, slow and exhibit weird issues after the restore. So this time, I went with a completely wiped system - but now, I don't have any of my back ups for call history and SMS and many of the apps
* EDIT/UPDATE: SMS history came back after I selected "Sync messages between devices", but call history still hasn't recovered.
- Bluetooth AVRCP is downgraded to v1.3 and it still isn't working properly (not showing track meta data). WP8.1 had 1.4 that showed both metadata and media browsing from a head unit in my car
* EDIT/UPDATE: after deleting BT connections and re-pairing, it seems like at least the devices (phone and head unit) are now negotiating 1.3 and track meta data is working. It is still a bummer that we got downgrade to 1.3 from 1.4 (ie no media browsing capability)

- no distinguishable live title for Outlook with account logos. Ditto for notification center. (ie can't tell which account has email pending, they all look the same)
- some weird behaviour with apps crashing or not starting up - but that is not a big deal. Had other similar issues on 8.1 too (live tiles not updating, apps crashing and not starting)

For now, will keep it a daily driver. Thanks a bunch!

 

[djblitz]

Thanks to all contributors.
My ATIV SE has been updated to build 10586 and for the most part, it seems to be a keeper for me at least (as I couldn't stand the earlier builds of WM10).

My only gripes are that:
- the past, every time I used the restore from back up or upgrade from WP8.1, I found the phone to become very flakey, slow and exhibit weird issues after the restore. So this time, I went with a completely wiped system - but now, I don't have any of my back ups for call history and SMS and many of the apps
- Bluetooth AVRCP is downgraded to v1.3 and it still isn't working properly (not showing track meta data). WP8.1 had 1.4 that showed both metadata and media browsing from a head unit in my car
- no distinguishable live title for Outlook with account logos. Ditto for notification center. (ie can't tell which account has email pending, they all look the same)
- some weird behaviour with apps crashing or not starting up - but that is not a big deal. Had other similar issues on 8.1 too (live tiles not updating, apps crashing and not starting)

For now, will keep it a daily driver. Thanks a bunch!

the same is happening to me with the apps now, I have to uninstall & then re-install 'em

 

[djblitz]

As I said, It all comes down to what you do with your phone. That's a feature I have never used so I cant even comment on it

 

[Jeemo]

Great job on the guide; it's about time this had its own thread. Thank you for the credit.

 

[fatclue_98]

One question for all you guys (and gals) on 10. How's your cellular signal? I've had 10586 on a 925 and a One M8 and the signal cuts in and out a bit. BTW, this guide works perfectly on the HTC and in fact, it's easier to get running on T-Mobile or AT&T because the only reg edit needed is disabling the "HideMMSAPN". Another wonky radio issue is that a soft reset is needed after being on wi-fi to re-establish GSM. Mind you, this happened to both the HTC and the Nokia so I'm guessing it's a 10586 issue.

 

[PuckCowboy]

Looks like a new build was just pushed out via Fast Ring. Would be interested to see if any improvements can be seen on the ATIV SE with the latest build.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Techru]

Well, I wanted to update this thread, to show my appreciation for those that contributed to help with this guide.

I was one of the few that "mistakenly" received the W10 preview a few weeks back, before MS yanked it. I liked what I saw then, but cell only w/ no WiFi would be expensive...so root patch back to 8.1.1 is was for me.

Then I forgot about it, until I was reading about the Mi4, and found this thread... followed the step-by-step to the letter...got the pre-W10 update...then 10586...then .11 update, and then finally, in the wee hours of the morning, I got .29 cumulative update...all OTA ;-)

Totally thrilled. No issues at all that I can find. Cell, WiFi, bluetooth, messaging, email, calendar, Office, Groove, Pandora, even DiskStation apps all working great. Things load quick, very responsive, and after a real full day at work with tons of email, conference call, etc. battery was still over 65%...

For those on the fence...you do not have any excuses any more.

Thanks again to all of those that contributed and thanks for the great guide.

 

[PuckCowboy]

Well, I wanted to update this thread, to show my appreciation for those that contributed to help with this guide.

I was one of the few that "mistakenly" received the W10 preview a few weeks back, before MS yanked it. I liked what I saw then, but cell only w/ no WiFi would be expensive...so root patch back to 8.1.1 is was for me.

Then I forgot about it, until I was reading about the Mi4, and found this thread... followed the step-by-step to the letter...got the pre-W10 update...then 10586...then .11 update, and then finally, in the wee hours of the morning, I got .29 cumulative update...all OTA ;-)

Totally thrilled. No issues at all that I can find. Cell, WiFi, bluetooth, messaging, email, calendar, Office, Groove, Pandora, even DiskStation apps all working great. Things load quick, very responsive, and after a real full day at work with tons of email, conference call, etc. battery was still over 65%...

For those on the fence...you do not have any excuses any more.

Thanks again to all of those that contributed and thanks for the great guide.

Thanks for the update Techru! Can you provide any feedback on Cortana? Do you use it at all? I want to confirm she still works fine through Car Audio Bluetooth for Hands-Free Texting, etc. Also, can you use or activate "Hey Cortana" on the ATIV SE since it's using the ICON Windows Rom?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Hayes Cooper19]

Thanks for the update Techru! Can you provide any feedback on Cortana? Do you use it at all? I want to confirm she still works fine through Car Audio Bluetooth for Hands-Free Texting, etc. Also, can you use or activate "Hey Cortana" on the ATIV SE since it's using the ICON Windows Rom?

Thanks in advance!

I can't even see where the setting would be to turn it on, and I'm certainly no expert, but I wouldn't expect to be able to use it. What enables Hey Cortana is a firmware update, and I wouldn't hold my breath for that coming from Verizung. However, there may be folks smarter than I who can figure it out. After all, they got Windows 10 on the Ativ SE!

 

[chuy10]

Hello; I need help. I just followed the procedure, it downloaded the update and installed and now it doesn't go pass blue window screen and it just restarts over and over.... Any chance that i can save this phone?. I don't know what to do now.

Thanks

 

[PuckCowboy]

I can't even see where the setting would be to turn it on, and I'm certainly no expert, but I wouldn't expect to be able to use it. What enables Hey Cortana is a firmware update, and I wouldn't hold my breath for that coming from Verizung. However, there may be folks smarter than I who can figure it out. After all, they got Windows 10 on the Ativ SE!

Hey Hayes! Yeah, I think it's a firmware (& Hardware limitation as well) but figured it was worth asking. There is a link here on how to make it work for the ICON:

How to fix Hey Cortana on the Lumia 1520 and Lumia 930 with Windows 10 Mobile | Windows Central

Do you have any feedback on Cortana over Bluetooth for hands-free operation & texting? (Apologies if I've asked you that directly before.)

 

[Techru]

You may not have started with a blank 8.1.1 install. If you had WfD or Win Insider installed, you would have needed to do the hard reset and then let all the standard apps update before proceeding.

To recover your phone, you will need to do a hard reset to get into "download" mode and root your phone back to Win 8.0 and then start all over again.

 

[Techru]

Puck,
Sorry I don't use that feature, and like it was mentioned, I don't know that Hey Cortana works without a firmware update. Regular Cortana and voice recognition do work once you start her up.

 

[Jeemo]

Just a heads up, the newer versions of Win10 are complete cabs; we can do Hard Resets now on Windows 10. Just tested on 10586. Also, putting together an interop tutorial if anyone's interested.

 

[Williaml99]

Yes, would like to do hard reset.

 

[PuckCowboy]

Just a heads up, the newer versions of Win10 are complete cabs; we can do Hard Resets now on Windows 10. Just tested on 10586. Also, putting together an interop tutorial if anyone's interested.

Thanks Jeemo, but what do you mean by "Interop"?

 

[cristianof]

Hi. Thabks for this great work. I have a few questions before decide to install that on my ativ se. First is, the samsung apps how ativ camera, etc are working? Is this stable for using on my ativ se how first phone? Is possible to go again to 8.1?
Please reply me, if this is possibe, i will try it

 

[chuy10]

I' managed to downgrade the phone to 8.0 and now going through the process again... Just modified the "phone manufacturer" & the "phone manufacturerproductname"; but when I check in settings "about" ; the information says "Model: Nokia SM-W750", I don't see anywhere the RM-927 that I modified in the registry. Is this normal??