Beware! BLU Life One X2 Android Update Problem!

[PaulH]

This isn't a problem specific to Public Mobile, but an Android update was pushed to the BLU Life One X2 phones today (Nov 28, 2017) that is causing grief.  The update appears to install properly, but when it finishes you are presented with a screen that says "To start Android, enter your password".  Unfortunately, it is not the lock screen password or likely any other password you have in your possession.  And it's not just my phone, the Google BLU community support forum is slowly filling with comments from users in the same situation. 

It's beginning to look like the only solution is a hard reset of the phone, but of course that will remove all apps and data from the phone.

So if you have a BLU phone and an Android update is offered, it might be safe to avoid the update until this problem is solved.

[ckl]

FYI.

There has been a fix for this about a week ago. If you find your stuck on the password prompt and have not wiped the phone, you can:

1. Download the zip file from their support site

2. Put the zip file into the memory card and insert into phone.

3. Reboot phone into recovery and install from zip.

4. Reboot phone.

I still have not updated my phone yet. But for those who are about to update their phone, you should do a complete backup of all your stuff including what's on the external memory card before attempting the update. Have the zip file fix on hand just in case they didn't bother to fix the problem with the OTA update.

[PaulH]

I finally had to perform a hard reset on the phone via the Android recovery menu. I removed the SD card and the SIM card before the reset. The restart took several minutes and at the SIM card prompt, I powered down the phone and inserted the SIM card and went through the rest of the setup and restore. Most of my apps were restored from Google recovery, but none of the login settings for email or other apps were restored. The phone is mostly back to normal now, but I'm still re-setting things like notifications and other options.

[ckl]

@PaulHThanks for the update.

[will13am]

In the early days I learned not to trust OTAs.  My first device that I received a failed OTA ease with the nexus s.  It was trial by fire on how to get out of the jam.  I downloaded the factory image and flashed it in fastboot mode.  The next time OTA failed me was on the nexus 7 2012.  Again, factory image flash.  After that, I started learning about the virtues of xda and nightly updates.  I have never looked back.  These days, most updates are weekly and if you don't like what you see, TWRP backup is there to undo any problem.  

As for BLU, I am a bit leary about the privacy practices.  Unfortunately, I a not bold like them.  

[closng]

That sounds like a nightware to deal with. Thank you for doing the PSA on the PM community!

Totally agree with @Luddite, it is a good practice to let others be the guinea pig and report any bugs on any new updates 🙂

[Luddite]

I NEVER update my OS until a month after release. Has saved me grief several times.

[srlawren]

@PaulH thanks for the heads up!  My uncle has the Life One X (the 2016 model).  I'll be sure to let him know, just in case.