We all know about the Samsung Galaxy S Android 2.2 Froyo saga and, while some carriers around the world already updated their variants to the second newest Google platform, we hear an interesting theory on why U.S. carriers haven’t done it yet.

A person allegedly close to the situation and supposedly in breach of NDA has told AndroidPolice how updates are being handled by carriers and the relationship with the manufacturers. According to the person, there are three types of updates stipulated in a contract between the manufacturer and the carrier once a device gets to the [...]

Let me preface this article by going on record that I hope this rumor isn’t true.

The rumor is that the Froyo update for the Samsung Vibrant is all ready to go, has been for some time now, and is being intentionally delayed to push people into the Vibrant Plus phone which is essentially just the Vibrant with HSPA+ 4G, a front-facing camera, and Froyo pre-loaded.

“Some disturbing things have happened the last week or so concerning our “Vibrant”. Samsung has NOT allowed us to push the update OTA for 2.2 because they feel it will decrease the value of [...]

The new year got off to a rocky start over at Samsung’s official Twitter account, where a harmless call for New Year’s resolutions resulted in a barrage of hostile replies that forced Samsung to revisit the nasty Froyo-on-Galaxy-S issue. Probably expecting folks to rehash plans to lose weight or quit smoking, Samsung was instead greeted with numerous responses centering around two themes: pleas for getting Froyo on American Galaxy S variants and vows to never buy Samsung products again. And then there was user @BlackMoonWolf, who probably spoke for many with the suggestion [...]

Samsung hasn’t had the best luck with GPS in their Android-powered phones. Some have blamed poor drivers, others have cited the wrong aGPS configuration. Other individuals have claimed poor GPS reception in Samsung’s Galaxy S series of devices (specifically the Vibrant) is due in large part to poor workmanship inside the phone itself.

We’re not taking sides, making accusations, or laying blame. We do, however, think that Vibrant owners may like to know about this potentially warranty-voiding hardware hack that may resolve some of the problems with [...]

If you feel like Samsung’s playing a game of keep-away with your Froyo update, we’d understand, as earlier today the company’s site changed its information on several handsets to indicate they’d soon be running Android 2.2, only to revert the edits.

The Epic 4G, Fascinate, and Vibrant – Galaxy S phones – were briefly listed as operating on Froyo; not “set to receive Froyo”, but currently running it. At first, it looked like another inadvertent leak, with some Samsung webmaster accidentally updating the site with information [...]

Samsung Galaxy S is one of the most popular Android devices ever launched and most definitely one of the most successful Samsung models ever. The model was a best seller in both its original shape as well as carrier variants worldwide (and in the U.S. as T-Mobile Vibrant, AT&T Captivate, Verizon Fascinate, Sprint Epic 4G).

One of the Galaxy S’ biggest flaws was that it was launched with Android 2.1 Éclair back in June 29, 2010, a time when Android 2.2 Froyo was already one month out (being launched on May 22, 2010). The lack of a software refresh, till recently, made [...]

In what can only be considered a very “experimental” release, the developers over at Team Whiskey have a build of Android 2.3 Gingerbread booting and operating, though with a fair share of bugs. Most notable amongst them are GPS not working, the Home button is “back” and back is home, the camera isn’t working, it only mounts the internal sdcard (not the external card), and data works only after a delay of 2-5 minutes after booting.

You can read more about this ROM on Team Whiskey’s thread on XDA-Developers.com.

Source: Android Spin

The Bell Vibrant variant of the Samsung Galaxy S saw an Android 2.2 Froyo update roll-out at the beginning of December just to be frozen a couple of days later due to several feedbacks reporting bricked devices.

After rolling out the Telus Samsung Galaxy S Fascinate Froyo update last week, Samsung looks to have another Bell Vibrant update ready and available via the KIES software with warm recommendations to update. And, as the initial Samsung Froyo roadmap indicated, the Rogers Captivate Android 2.2 Froyo update is currently being tested (and we hope it will be soon released, [...]

As Samsung Mobile Canada promised, Bell has started to roll-out the Android 2.2 Froyo update for their Samsung Galaxy S variant, the Bell Samsung Vibrant.

If the update has not reached your device yet, don’t worry, it should be available in a couple of days. Meanwhile you can download the KIES application necessary for downloading and installing the update. As Samsung Mobile Canada also promised a mid-December update for the Rogers Samsung Captivate, we’re sure it’s just a matter of days till the carrier starts rolling Froyo out too. With all these updates [...]

If you own a Galaxy S device and have been waiting for the Froyo update to hit, you’re not alone. Galaxy S owners in the US, and around the world, have had to deal with repeated unfulfilled promises from Samsung as to when the Android 2.2 update would be available. While Epic 4G owners came close with a leak, Samsung made it clear that the leaked update wasn’t final. Over on XDA, the 2.2.1 update for the international Galaxy S has been leaked, and owners are reporting that it’s “very fast”. The leak won’t work on other variants of the Galaxy S, but [...]

Visa has approved a new method of contactless payment that endows existing smartphones with NFC-like capabilities via a special microSD card. Developed by a company called DeviceFidelity, the In2Pay cards are currently supported by the Samsung Vibrant Galaxy S variant from T-Mobile, BlackBerry Bold 9650, and all Apple iPhones save for the first generation; before you go crying that these latter handsets lack expansion slots, keep in mind that the cards are inserted into a case which hooks up to the dock connector. Visa claims that more phones, including Symbian and Windows Phone 7 [...]

SRS Labs Dolby Labs has been working with smartphone makers for years to improve audio quality by including virtual sound processing. Turning on the sound processing can mean the difference between flat music and lively audio with bright highs and boomy lows (assuming you’re using good headphones). The upcoming Desire HD is one such device that will benefit from the advanced audio processing. Also including the 5.1 virtual surround is the line of Galaxy S devices, including the US-facing Captivate, Fascinate, Vibrant and Epic 4G. To turn on the processing, hit the [...]

The Samsung Galaxy S Series of phones are really quite impressive. At least their hardware is impressive. Software-wise, the phones suffer from “bad timing” syndrome. By that, I mean they Galaxy S phones were well on their way to being finished when Google released Android 2.2 Froyo — leaving the Samsung devices running Android 2.1 Eclair.

Since there’s nothing worse than selling a new phone with an old OS, Samsung promised us they were working on Froyo and would release it to all Galaxy S devices as soon as possible. The T-Mobile UK version of Vibrant (a [...]

If you’ve tried fixing the GPS reception on your Samsung phone, following one of the many how-to guides for tweaking your phone’s settings, there’s a chance you ended up making things even worse than when they started. Samsung has now released a restore app that will undo any problems you’ve introduced to your phone’s GPS settings.

Galaxy S users may have noticed a litany of GPS issues creeping up, including slow lock times and inaccurate position data. We’ve posted guides that fellow users have come up with, requiring you to manually adjust [...]

Before you run out and void your warranty, although the guys over at #teamdouche have gotten CyanogenMod 6.1 to boot on the Samsung Vibrant, you may want to hold off for a little while.

As of yesterday, @thedudesandroid and @Jeagoss successfully booted CyanogenMod 6.1 on the Samsung Vibrant. However, @Jeagoss is quick to admit that an official “nightly” release is still a way off. A “nightly” build, for those that don’t know, isn’t a final release, it’s not even a beta or a release candidate. A “nightly” is just the progress [...]

Canadian carrier subscribers owning a Samsung Galaxy S variant will not have to wait long until the Android 2.2 Froyo update for their devices is released as we now have an official road-map for the roll-out.

According to Samsung Mobile Canada, the update will be available for the Samsung Vibrant from Bell and Samsung Captivate from Rogers in mid-December while those of you that are on Telus will have to wait for the Froyo update for their Samsung Fascinate until early 2011. While Samsung is “working diligently to provide a tested and secure upgrade experience”, you [...]

Android handsets were rated to be the best smartphones on each of the four major US carriers in Consumer Reports’ latest evaluation. Out of the 41 models reviewed by the publication, four stood out as tops: the Motorola Droid X on Verizon, Samsung Vibrant on T-Mobile, HTC EVO 4G on Sprint, and Samsung Captivate on AT&T. Notably, Verizon’s Motorola Droid 2 scored nearly as well as the top finishers, half of which are Samsung Galaxy S variants. In fact, 11 of the 20 phones recommended by CR are Android-powered, with BlackBerry holding down three spots, both Windows [...]

Samsung made their Q3 2010 results public on Friday and the Company has recorded a 19% increase in units shipped to bump the number to 71.4 million phones, a number reached, according to the press release, thanks to its flagship smartphones, Galaxy S and Wave which “were the primary drivers of continued sales growth amid a global demand recovery”.

Samsung declared sales of 7 million Galaxy S models, devices which are available in 90 countries running on 210 carriers worldwide. In a bold but target oriented thinking, the world’s second largest mobile [...]

After an unwelcomed false start as well as a sporadically-effective homegrown solution, T-Mobile is apparently pushing out the highly-anticipated update for the Samsung Vibrant — its Galaxy S — which promises to fix the poor GPS performance on the devices. In addition to allegedly faster and more accurate locks, the JI6 upgrade apparently brings access to Samsung’s DLNA-capable Media Hub (meaning the device can now share content with other compatible products over WiFi) as well as a direct shortcut to the camcorder’s HD capture mode.

The one thing not [...]

Samsung Vibrant customers were apparently briefly able to download the anticipated JI5 patch directly from the Samsung Kies update system — the one that promises a fix for poor GPS performance — only T-Mobile is warning customers that this particular version of the patch does not actually contain the GPS fix. Confused? You should be, although Samsung has reportedly since pulled the file from the Kies database. So if you’ve already gone ahead and updated and aren’t noticing better GPS functionality, now you know that you’re not crazy. Unfortunately [...]

If you like T-Mobile USA’s Samsung Vibrant as a worthy member of the Galaxy S family of Android smartphones from Korean phone maker Samsung but wished the device had a front-facing camera, then you’d be happy to know that you can hack a hardware camera into your Vibrant to bring on the video chats. The good news is that the part costs around $15, but the bad news is that it does require a bit of technical know-how and instructions on XDA-Developers are not for the faint of heart. Essentially, you’ll need to buy the hardware part, solder it in, and install some [...]

Are you confused about all the Galaxy S models from Samsung? If so you’re not alone.

The Galaxy S goes by many names.– On Sprint it’s the Epic 4G– On T-Mobile US it’s the Vibrant– On AT&T it’s the Captivate– On Verizon it’s the Fascinate– In other places it’s called the Samsung I9000 Galaxy S

The phone is basically the same across the various carriers. There are, however, some differences. Some have features the others do not and they each have radios specific to their carrier. One of [...]

Apparently all versions of the Samsung Galaxy S phones have an annoying little WiFi bug. When WiFi is turned on and you turn off the screen, WiFi does not turn off like you’d expect it to,and that can chew up your battery life.

Reportedly, the WiFi sleep policy that you can configure in the WiFi settings doesn’t seem to be respected by the device. At least not the way you’d think. Rather than turning WiFi off within seconds of the screen turning off, it waits 15 minutes.

Using this hack you can change that to whatever duration you’d [...]