Manually upgrade Kindle 2 International to 2.5 (2.5.2)

Anticipated the firmware 2.5 upgrade for weeks but still it’s not available thru the Whispernet, so I told myself it’s time to find another way … by browsing the sites like mobileread.com and kindleboards.com, I found there is a way to do it manually – even though the firmware 2.5 (or 2.5.2) is not available from Amazon website.

In previous firmware upgrades, Amazon placed a link in the help page such that you could download the binary file and upgrade your Kindle manually if you didn’t want to wait for or could not access to the Whispernet. However, somehow Amazon does not do that for firmware 2.5. On the other hand, they placed the firwware binary file in the Amazon Web Services (AWS) and some smart people found it  (and it’s now named 2.5.2) … So, here are the steps and some screen shots of the version 2.5 new features.

(Note: these binary files work for Kindle 2 International version only and the files are available from the download links as of 2010-June-12)

• First of all check your firmware version in your Kindle 2. In my case, it’s version 2.3.2.
• So I downloaded the firmware 2.3.3 and upgraded my Kindle 2 International;

http://rapidshare.com/files/382788816/Update_kindle2_gw_2.3.3.bin

• Then I downloaded the firmware 2.3.4 and upgraded again;

http://rapidshare.com/files/382794043/Update_kindle2_gw_2.3.4.bin

• Lastly, downloaded the firmware 2.5.2 file and upgraded … simple and it worked !!
  

http://www.mediafire.com/?nqy2qmnmyjm

(To upgrade, transfer the binary file to the root directory of your Kindle, then go to Home / Setting / Update Your Kindle, then click yes)

Update 1 : (2010-06-16) The download is now available from Amazon website for your Kindle US and International version !!

Author: Michael Yung

Michael possessed over 30 years of experience in Information Technology with focuses on complex application development, database technologies and IT strategy. He also spent the last 20 years in Internet technology, eCommerce development / operations, web usability, computer security and Public Key Infrastructure technologies. View all posts by Michael Yung