Firmware Samsung Galaxy Alpha (S801)

OS: Android 4.4.4 (KitKat), upgradable to 5.0 (Lollipop)

CPU: Quad-core 2.5 GHz Krait 400

Display: 4.7 inches, 60.9 cm²

Battery: Removable Li-Ion 1860 mAh battery

Before flashing, you need
Create a full backup of the firmware.
The battery must be 100% charged.

1. Flashing your phone using CWM Recovery
2. Flashing the phone using TWRP Recovery
3. Flashing the phone using Fastboot

1. Phone flashing using CWM Recovery
The rich functionality of CWM Recovery www.clockworkmod.com allows you to perform many manipulations with the device, including rolling the firmware. By default, stock Recovery is installed in the devices, which means that first you need to install the ClockWorkMod Recovery utility itself.
The general firmware process described below is for ZIP files. Instructions: - Download the firmware you are interested in and place it on the phone's SD card.
- Next, turn off your phone.
- Press a certain combination of buttons on the phone body, it may vary depending on the phone manufacturer. If you don't know the combination you want, try pressing the following keys.
- Press and hold the Power + Volume up (or Volume Down) (+Home) buttons together for a few seconds.
- Recovery mode will appear on the phone screen.
- Use the volume buttons to navigate through menus and the Power button to make selections.
- From the Recovery mode menu select 'Wipe data / factory reset'.
- Next in the menu, select 'Yes - delete all user data' .
- Select 'Wipe cashe partition' from the Recovery mode menu.
- Next in the menu, select 'Yes - Wipe cache' .
- Select 'advanced' and press the Power button.
- Next in the menu, select 'Wipe Dalvik Cache' .
- Select 'Yes - Wipe Dalvik Cache' and press the Power button.
Go back, press 'Go Back'.
- Select 'mounts and storage' and press the Power button.
- From the menu select 'format / system' .
- Select 'Yes - Format' and press the Power button.
Go back, press 'Go Back'.
- Select 'install zip from sdcard' .
- From the menu choose 'choose zip from sdcard' .
- Select 'Yes - Install your firmware name' and press the Power button.
- Then select 'Reboot system now' from the menu.

2. Flashing the phone using TWRP Recovery
For those who prefer working with the utility in the form of TWRP Recovery, the following instructions for the step-by-step installation of the update in the form of a ZIP archive are offered:
- Upload the file with the firmware image to the device's memory.
- Go to TWRP Recovery. In the same way as in CWM.
- Perform a factory reset. When the phone has finished cleaning, return to the original menu by pressing the 'Back' key.
- From the main menu select 'Install' and find and select the firmware file. Click on it by dragging the slider to the side.
- The phone flashing process will end in 2-3 minutes.
- After the completion of the firmware operation, you must click on the 'Reboot System' item, and reboot the device.

3. Flashing the phone using Fastboot
A universal tool for flashing Android smartphones using a PC is the Fastboot utility. It is part of the SDK Platform Tools, which means it is suitable for a large number of devices.
Before starting the firmware, you need to get access to the system kernel. Very often, many manufacturers block this system parameter, not wanting users to change the system files of their firmware images with their own hands. To do this, you need to unblock Bootloader. To do this, you need to study the detailed instructions for configuring and managing the command line. Before starting the firmware using a computer, do not forget to enable USB debugging of the device in the engineering settings of the device.
- First, copy the .zip archive with the image, and place it in the folder with 'ADB'.
- Put your device into fastboot mode and write a prompt in the command line: fastbooflash zip filename.zip.
- Wait until the end of the installation and reboot the device.

Thomas Nilan
Smartphone Expert

Thomas Nilan is a mobile phone expert with in-depth knowledge of the Android and iOS operating systems, who understands the settings of various hidden features that allow you to expand the capabilities of your smartphone, as well as get information about what is going on inside the phone for future repairs. He is an authority in his field, which has allowed him to become a ghostwriter for several technology publications, and he enjoys writing small mobile applications for testing smartphones.