It’s fair to say that Verizon Wireless haven’t been the most uneventful company so far as we head past the halfway point of 2014. They’ve taken control of Cincinnati Bell after offering a $210 million buyout proposal was accepted, added 539,000 new customer in the first quarter of the year and now plan on taking full advantage of a Verizon XLTE tower in New York City much to protesters dismay.

During all that has taken place the developers of Android software have teamed up with Samsung and the Big Red to issue another addition to the Android 4.4.2 KitKat software family namely VRUFND7 build. It is available to use from checking the OTA notification tray and also downloading the file manually that we have here today. It’s purely preference as to which way you want to go about your business although the first method is the easiest because you just touch a couple of buttons, and you’re away. If you have not obtained any notification, you can always tell manually by proceeding to Settings > More > About device> Software update > Check for Updates. From there tap OK, and software update information will show up in the display. Now touch update now, and it will start.

Verizon Note 2

If you run custom firmware or custom ROM, this update will not come in over the air, and you have no alternative, but to update it manually, remember that it will revoke the root that was once working. Most of the time this can be reapplied again after you finish.The good news is that the warranty that previously wasn’t there is now back and working again because the device is not unchained anymore, and the flash counter is back to zero so no warranty worker can tell the difference.

Before starting there ‘re a few things, we’d like to run through first, so you get the best out of your experience and more importantly don’t end up with any regrets due to mishaps.

This guide is for the SCH – I605 variant of the Samsung Galaxy Note 2. If you don’t understand, the model number of your device go to Settings> More> About Phone and take a peek at what it states. The digits should correspond with the ones I mentioned if you are going any further. Do not try to install this firmware file if you have a different model number because it can cause more harm than good. It’s not out of the question to soft brick your smartphone.

The smartphone comes with 64 GB of built-in internal storage space, and that is a lot by today’s standards. Most people won’t use all of that up so backing up the contacts, call logs, SMS and MMS texts, pictures, music market apps any anything similar will not be a problem. However, for some girls I know they can quite easily use up 64 GB with photos alone so they might want to invest in one of the microSD, microSDHC or microSDXC storage expansion options to use that for the backup instead. There’s also Google Drive, which is a service by Google that gives more space for data. If you don’t have anything worthwhile, you want to backup except for the contacts and phone number details, you can sync those with Samsung Kies after signing up or sync with the Google Gmail account that is assigned to the phone.

The Galaxy Note 2 came out in 2012 with Android 4.1.1 Jelly Bean in its early stages. From there it saw 4.1.2, 4.3 and now 4.4.2 KitKat that we are still updating with now. The only difference is that the VRUFND7 build is the newest version available.

This guide uses the latest Odin made by official Samsung Developers, but they only account for Microsoft Windows users so you will need a Windows-based PC to continue from here. If that isn’t a possibility and you are in crisis, you can try using a program called Heimdall that was popular a few years ago. I haven’t tested in since, but it did work well for Mac and Linux users.

The specs on this phablet-sized mobile were good when it was new and it coming with 35 hours of talk time is another great example. The 3100 mAh capacity battery will still be working well today but not to that extent because after time they always die down. If you have, USB charging working none of this will matter because when you plug the handset into the computer it will automatically start charging. However, if you know this feature does not work when you secure in the USB cable then you’ll want to make a calculated effort to have at least 65% battery power remaining and charged before starting. That will ensure we see through the guide without it switching off during the process .if it does switch off that can also be dangerous.

Temporarily disable any security such as antivirus protection that is running from the Windows OS and the Android OS. Both can interfere and interrupt proceedings. It’s also a good idea to stop the firewall for now if you know how. If you don’t don’t waste a lot of time trying to figure it out because in most cases the firewall isn’t too much of a concern.

Don’t forget to do two of the more straight forward things before starting by enable USB Debugging mode by visiting the Develop Options menu from Settings and also having an up to date Samsung USB drivers ready to go.

How To Install Android 4.4.2 KitKat VRUFND7 Official Firmware By Flashing With Odin On The Samsung Galaxy Note 2

1. Download the I605VRUFND7 file here.

2. Download and install Odin 3.09 if you haven’t already. Feel free to save this to the C: Drive and use it in the future, or you can download it from us again.

3. Launch Odin on the desktop, so it is running.

4. Boot the Note 2 in Download Mode by pressing Volume Down + Power + Home buttons simultaneously. Don’t let go until the screen changes, and you can see that you are entering Download Mode.

5. Plug the Galaxy Note 2 in using the USB cable and attach the other end to the USB slot in the computer system unit.

6. The taskbar and system tray of Windows will show the device is now added but also check that Odin has a new device also added. If this did not happen for you try to download the USB drivers. Look for the ID: COM port changing color too.

7. Click the AP button and upload the tar.md5 file.

8. leave the Auto reboot, and F Reset Time options marked presenting on and continue.

9. Leave all other options unmarked including the re-partition.

10. Click the start button and the flashing process will be under way.

11. Do not play with any programs on the handset or PC yet until it finishes. It will take up to ten minutes.

12. A pass message will show up in Odin, and that’s when you know you can close Odin down.

13. Do not unplug the USB Mass Storage device unless you have visited the system tray once again and stopped the USB device properly by clicking the “safely remove hardware” icon. It looks like a green arrow.