Android Updates

[zamboni]

I love swype as well! and glad it was stock on my phone!

Yeah me too, I got the Omnia II. Only problem I have had with it so far is the case I bought for my phone is tricky sometimes hitting buttons I don't want to

[RuKiddingMe]

It is VERY unlikely that most phones released before "GingerBread" Android v2.3, will ever receive the "GingerBread" update, of course there will be a couple exceptions, Nexus and Maybe the EVO. Heck "GingerBread" has already been out a month and nobody in the DEV community even has a homebrew hacked ROM available yet.

I follow ALL of this very closely, I'm currently running a Dell Streak, it's an Android Phone that was released with Donut 1.6 in August. Even though Dell and AT&T haven't and probably never will release an Eclair 2.1 or Froyo 2.2 update for AT&T locked US phones, my phone is currently running Froyo 2.2 thanks to the DEV community. Yes you have to hack your phone to get these ROM's installed and yes you run the risk of bricking (rendering your phone worthless) but in most cases it will likely be the only way your phone will ever see a major version release upgrade.

This snip-it is from a site I frequent and I take no responsibility for the information provided, it does call out Samsung specifically but rest assured the Carriers and Manufactures are NOT seeing eye to eye on any level.

Hello,

I’m going to step across the NDAs and explain the issues behind the Android Froyo update to Samsung Galaxy S phones in the United States. I think most of you have come to this realization yourself now: the withholding of the Froyo update is a largely political one, not a technological one: Froyo runs quite well on Galaxy S phones, as those of you that have run leaked updates may have noticed.

To explain the political situation, first, a primer on how phone firmware upgrades work for carriers. When a carrier decides to sell a phone, a contract is usually written between the phone manufacturer and the carrier. In this contract, the cost of updates (to the carrier) is usually outlined. Updates are usually broken into several types: critical updates, maintenance updates, and feature updates. Critical updates are those that resolve a critical bug in the phone, such as the phone overheating. Maintenance updates involve routine updates to resolve bugs and other issues reported by the carrier. Finally, feature updates add some new feature in software that wasn’t present before. Critical updates are usually free, maintenance updates have some maintenance fee associated with them, and feature updates are usually costly.

In the past, most phone updates would mainly consist of critical and maintenance updates. Carriers almost never want to incur the cost of a feature update because it is of little benefit to them, adds little to the device, and involves a lot of testing on the carrier end. Android has changed the playing field, however – since the Android Open Source Project is constantly being updated, and that information being made widely available to the public, there is pressure for the phone to be constantly updated with the latest version of Android. With most manufacturers, such as HTC, Motorola, etc. This is fine and considered a maintenance upgrade. Samsung, however, considers it a feature update, and requires carriers to pay a per device update fee for each incremental Android update.

Now, here’s where the politics come in: most U.S. carriers aren’t very happy with Samsung’s decision to charge for Android updates as feature updates, especially since they are essentially charging for the Android Open Source Project’s efforts, and the effort on Samsung’s end is rather minimal. As a result of perhaps, corporate collusion, all U.S. carriers have decided to refuse to pay for the Android 2.2 update, in hopes that the devaluation of the Galaxy S line will cause Samsung to drop their fees and give the update to the carriers. The situation has panned out differently in other parts of the world, but this is the situation in the United States.

Some of you might have noticed Verion’s Fascinate updated, but without 2.2 : This is a result of a maintenance agreement Samsung must honor combined with Verizon’s unwillingness to pay the update fees.

In short, Android 2.2 is on hold for Galaxy S phones until the U.S. carriers and Samsung reach a consensus.

Some might wonder why I didn’t deliver this over a more legitimate news channel – the short answer: I don’t want to lose my job. I do, however, appreciate transparency, which is why I'm here.

Also an interesting Matrix for you to look at -

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[LMITOUT]

I read a few days ago that Samsung is rebutting that theory. Maybe backtracking a bit?

[Ice Hole]

I read a few days ago that Samsung is rebutting that theory. Maybe backtracking a bit?

The official Froyo build for the T-Mobile Vibrant was released today. It won't be delivered over-the-air, but can be updated through KiesMini.

[Valv]

Heck "GingerBread" has already been out a month and nobody in the DEV community even has a homebrew hacked ROM available yet.

I disagree with this. I've been running Gingerbread on my hacked HD2 for almost 2 weeks now. I like the system but I have to warn you some apps available on Market are not working with GB yet. So if you look in your apps folder and don't see something it was there before, don't worry, they are "cooking" a fix.

I went back to a Nexus Froyo ROM and I have great performance.

Give it a couple of weeks and most of the apps will be available for all OS again.