galaxy s

Jan

Samsung Galaxy S "Value Pack" Update Leaked – Brings Minor UI Changes, Face Unlock, And More

Posted by Nate Kimmey in Galaxy S, Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0, News

It's been a rather wild ride for Samsung Galaxy S users regarding a possible update to Android 4.0. First, Samsung, issued a statement saying that they could not update their former flagship phone. After a community outcry, however, they responded with a different possibility - a "Value Pack" update, one that would include some key features from Ice Cream Sandwich (such as Face Unlock) but which would still be based on Gingerbread. Samsung later decided to not go through with the Value Pack update.

The plot has thickened once again, however: a version of the update has been ...

Dec

163

Editorial: Samsung To "Review" Possibility Of Galaxy S, Tab Ice Cream Sandwich Upgrades, But Why?

Posted by David Ruddock in Captivate, Editorials, Fascinate, Galaxy S, News, Samsung, Vibrant

After initially deciding it wouldn't update Galaxy S phones to Ice Cream Sandwich last week, Samsung has now (supposedly) given some semi-official lip-service to vocal Galaxy S and OG-Tab owners who have been clamoring for an official update to Ice Cream Sandwich. The English-speaking side of Samsung's media arm hasn't commented on the alleged statement as of yet.

According to a translation of the Korean source articles, Samsung has officially committed to "reviewing" the "possibility" of an Ice Cream Sandwich update for its Galaxy S phones, as well as the original Galaxy Tab. If that's not a concrete statement ...

Oct

105

iPhone 4S VS. Android Benchmarks Posted: Even The Galaxy S II Is Getting Smoked (For Now, At Least)

Posted by David Ruddock in Android OS, Galaxy S II, News

Last Updated: January 16th, 2012

The folks over at the always impartial, numerically obsessed hardware review and benchmarking site Anandtech have gotten their hands on some results comparing the iPhone 4S to a slew of Android devices in browser and GPU performance. The results are, well, interesting. Take a look at these graphics comparing browser JavaScript performance:

The closest competitor to Apple's iPhone 4S? The testers decided to make the Galaxy Tab 8.9 the Android Honeycomb representative, and even with its aging Tegra 2 chipset the Tab pretty much matched Apple's iPhone 4S inch for inch. But we think we have an explanation for the ...

Sep

Rogers Galaxy S Captivate Receives Its Gingerbread Update

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Captivate, Gingerbread 2.3, News, Rogers, Samsung

Yesterday, we started receiving reports that the official Gingerbread update (reportedly version 2.3.3) for the Samsung Galaxy S Captivate on Rogers is finally here.

The update isn't showing up on Rogers' own website yet (under the Support tab), but if you go through Samsung's Kies upgrade software (go here, click Support, then Download), you should find it sitting in plain view, itching to jump over to your device.

Galaxy S users, if you've upgraded, let us know how it went and if you experienced any issues.

Thanks, Antonio and others

...

Jun

Wirefly Reviews The Samsung Exhibit 4G: "It's Like A Galaxy S Phone, But In A Smaller, More Affordable Package"

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Exhibit 4G, News

The crew over at Wirefly recently got their hands on the Samsung Exhibit 4G, one of T-Mobile's upcoming budget phones, and, in typical Wirefly fashion, gave it a brief review along with a couple of benchmarks. Bob Kovacs seems to really like the phone, stating that it "has all the power of the Galaxy S line, but in a smaller, more affordable package," which makes this sound like a solid offering, especially when you consider the T-Mo price of $79.99 with a two-year agreement. At this point, Wirefly hasn't announced what its price will be for this device, but we're ...

Jun

XPAL PowerSkin Review + Giveaway: Extra Juice Meets Extra Protection [Updated: And The Winners Are...]

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in Contests / Giveaways, Droid X (Shadow), Droid X2, EVO 4G (Supersonic), Galaxy S, Galaxy S 4G, Galaxy SL, myTouch 4G (Glacier), Vibrant

Last Updated: June 15th, 2011

Horrific battery life on Android phones is nothing new, and neither is the mind-~~blowing~~ shattering frailty of said handsets. We've seen - and reviewed - solutions to both of these issues, but for those who want a convenient, all-in-one product, nothing beats XPAL's "PowerSkins."

Available for a variety of devices, PowerSkins are, in a sentence, silicone cases with built-in batteries from which your phone can sip juice once its internal supply has run dry. With the help of the kind folks on XPAL's PR team, I hooked my EVO 4G up with one and am now ready to report ...

May

CyanogenMod Gets First Official Galaxy S Release - Captivate Nightlies, Now Serving Gingerbread 2.3.4 (GRJ22) On Aisle You

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in AT&T, Captivate, Epic 4G, Fascinate, Galaxy S, Gingerbread 2.3, Mods, News, Samsung

Galaxy S owners, you may have a reason for some early celebration. CyanogenMod 7 for the GS variants, which has been around in relatively unsupported early alpha stages for the last couple of months, has just gone quite a bit more formal with the introduction of the new "captivatemtd" device branch.

What does it mean? Captivate is the first device of the Galaxy S bunch to move to the official CM download area in the form of nightlies. Once the nightlies, which, as the word implies are rebuilt nightly, are stable enough to warrant a daily driver, you can expect ...

May

Flash 10.3 For Android Released - Fixes Issues with Security, Video Playback, Stability, And More

Posted by Matt Demers in Apps/Games, News

A new update for Adobe Flash is now available in the Android Marketplace, bringing the version up to 10.3.

The update brings a number of features and fixes to Flash on Android, including fixing some issues with the Samsung Galaxy S, where certain video resolutions wouldn't show up. It also fixes crashing issues with the HTC EVO, along with optimization for OMAP 4 Cortex-A9 processors. The rest of the fixes can be found in the official changelog quoted below.

Source: Adobe

Flash Player 10.3

QR code for https://market.android.com/details?id=com.adobe.flashplayer

Features and Enhancements
Flash Player 10.3 is the newest runtime release of the Open Screen

...

Apr

Samsung Galaxy S Gingerbread Source Code Now Available For Download

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Dev, Galaxy S, Gingerbread 2.3, News

I'm not sure what has gotten into the folks at Samsung as of late, but they seem to be on top of their game. They dropped the source code for the DROID Charge and Fascinate last week, the Gingerbread update for the Galaxy S started rolling out for European users this weekend, and this morning, the source code for the aforementioned 2.3 update hit the Open Source Developers Center. Ergo, we can almost certainly expect to see some custom Gingerbread ROMs for the Galaxy S in the coming weeks.

To download the source, head over to the ...

Apr

Samsung Delivers Gingerbread-y Goodness To European Galaxy S Owners

Posted by Chris Dehghanpoor in Android OS, Devices By Manufacturer, Galaxy S, Gingerbread 2.3, News, Samsung

When it comes to timely Android updates, Samsung's reputation has been less than spectacular, so I was fairly surprised to see that a Gingerbread rollout was taking place for select European Galaxy S owners right on schedule.

That's right, according to users on the revered XDA-Developers forum, the update began rolling out late last night (late for the US at least) via Samsung's Kies software - provided you live in Holland or Germany. Forum user 'downunder30' was nice enough to post some information about the update:

http://i56.tinypic.com/5kpmyp.png
PDA JVB Phone JVK CSC JV3
Baseband is I9000XXJVK
Kernel version

...

Feb

Samsung Video Editor Available For 2.2+, Irony Effect Included

Posted by Brian O'Toole in Applications, Apps/Games, News, Samsung

Whilst browsing the Apps and Games section of XDA-Developers we came across an interesting thread about a relatively new application from Samsung, for the Galaxy S. This simply-named Video Editor looks to fill the void until the delicious-looking one from Honeycomb trickles down to our phones' OS versions.

Strangely enough, the app appears to only work on 2.2+ devices, limiting it to the i9000 and Vibrant when it comes to Samsung's own devices. The XDA devs have unsurprisingly gotten it working on a bunch of non-Samsung devices too, so check out the source thread beneath for that. Along with this ...

Feb

Sprint Makes It Officially Official: Epic 4G To Receive Froyo Update Beginning February 21

Posted by Nate Kimmey in Epic 4G, Froyo 2.2, News, Sprint

That wasn't so long, was it? As expected, Sprint has officially announced the official Android 2.2 update for the Epic 4G is set to start rolling out February 21 and will continue to be sent in waves until February 25, when all devices will have received the update. While you probably already know everything Froyo entails, Sprint has compiled a list of the major enhancements and additions you can expect:

This software update (version EB13) will include:
Upgrade of the Google OS from Éclair to Froyo (2.2.1)
Ability to install applications to external storage
Improved Bluetooth device support
Bluetooth

...

Feb

Android Intervention, Part 1 Of 4: Why Google Needs To Rein In Updates

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Android OS, Editorials, News

I think it's safe to say that Android is the best thing to happen to smartphones since the iPhone (though, I'll admit, I may be a wee bit biased). Without a doubt, the massive success of the operating system is due in large part to its openness; the ability for devices to share fundamental code, while still allowing for an amazing amount of customization, has provided something for consumers, carriers, and manufacturers that Apple would never match. And it's for that reason that Android has taken off on such an unbelievable scale, clocking nearly 900% growth in 2010.

But despite ...

Feb

New Official Froyo ROM (DL30) For Samsung Fascinate Leaked Completely Unchanged - Bloatware And All

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Fascinate, Froyo 2.2, News, Samsung, Verizon Wireless

We have some somewhat good news for Fascinate owners: a new, official, very final-looking Froyo build DL30 for the Samsung Fascinate has been leaked, and it's been released completely unmolested (short of pre-rooting it). Even the bloatware has been left intact.

Obviously, the silver lining here is that we can see that Samsung and Verizon are making progress, and this could be a sign that the update is closer to being ready to roll out. (Then again, that could just be naïve optimism.) On the flip side, the only people who will find this immediately useful are the ones who ...

Feb

Gingerwhat? You Can Start Forgetting About Those Galaxy S Updates Now - Samsung Teases Next-Gen Galaxy S

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Galaxy S, Galaxy S II, News, Samsung, Videos

Whether you believe the rumors about Samsung's Android upgrade plans or not doesn't really matter - the company has proven again and again that when it comes to older devices (read: released more than 3-4 months), your chances of an update drop dramatically. Froyo has been around for over 6 months now, but 3 out of 4 flagship Galaxy S devices in the U.S. (Captivate, Fascinate, Epic 4G) are still sporting outdated and Flashless Eclair builds, while the rest were only just upgraded in the last month or so. And this is just Froyo - let's not even talk about ...