Samsung has baked a new firmware, JV9, for Galaxy S. This latest firmware upgrades the Galaxy S to android 2.3.3.

Kies only recognise official firmware versions, i.e. those with telco modifications (XSO). Local firmware w/o telco mod (XSP version) is not eligible for the upgrade still.

Check out this page to switch to XSO


JV9 brings mainly comestic changes, following is a list of changes i have observed so far,

• standard android icons on the status bar, instead of Samsung typical blue icons
• new icons on the notifications tray
• alphabet bar in phonebook as been reverted to the full list
• daily briefing widget has been broken into 4 seperate widgets now
• wallpaper picker now has 2 size templates to choose from
• android text selection cursor has replaced the samsung cursor
• "ask on connection" in USB settings has been removed
• OTA Software Update has been built into the firmware now

In terms of performance wise, the phone seems a lot faster now. One noticable speed up is the downloading and installing of apps over market, the stall has been reduced significantly. But this is a fresh update, so only time will tell if samsung has really fixed the lag issue.

First run of the GPS seems to give a slightly better results too. Runkeeper manages to track my position accurately for most part of the trip. Somewhat puzzling is that both readings suggested that I have crossed the road along Tampines Central 2, which I have not.


All in all, JV9 seems to be a nice upgrade. Onto gingerbread now.

Only the default calendar is sync-ed when you setup your google account on your device for the first time.

If you have used a [Gmail] account to synchronise your device,
visit the following URL to enable additional calendars, https://www.google.com/calendar/iphoneselect


If you have used a [Microsoft Exchange] account instead, visit the following URL on your phone, http://m.google.com/sync

Depending on what you would like to synchronise to your device, you have basically 2 options to choose from.

Choose [Gmail] if you would like to synchronise google notes to your device

Choose [Microsoft Exchange] if you would like to synchronise google contacts to your device. [Exchange] account also allows you to sync a public shared calendar to your device.

The following steps are for setting up a google exchange account

1. Go to [Settings]
2. Select [Mail, Contacts, Calendars]
3. Choose [Add Account...]
4. Select [Microsoft Exchange]
5. Enter your full email address in [Email] and [Username]
6. Enter your password in [Password]
7. Click [Next]
8. The verification take place, and the [Server] field will appear
9. Enter 'm.google.com' in the [Server], without the quotes
10. Click [Next]
11. You could choose to sync Mail, Contacts or Calendars now.
12. Finally, click [Save]!

1. Go to [Settings]
2. Select [Mail, Contacts, Calendars]
3. Choose [Add Account...]
4. Select [Microsoft Exchange]
5. Enter your full email address in [Email] and [Username]
6. Enter your password in [Password]
7. Click [Next]
8. The verification take place, and the [Server] field will appear
9. Enter 'm.hotmail.com' in the [Server], without the quotes
10. Click [Next]
11. You could choose to sync Mail, Contacts or Calendars now.
12. Finally, click [Save]!

http://email.about.com/od/iphonemailtips/qt/How-To-Add-Free-Push-Windows-Live-Hotmail-To-Iphone-Mail.htm

While your phone is powered off,

1. Press and hold [Volume Up], [Home], and [Power] buttons together.
2. Release them when the Galaxy S boot up animation is shown.
3. Select "wipe data/factory reset" to hard rest. Use the [Volume Up], [Volume Down] to navigate through the list, and [Home] to select.
4. Lastly, select "Yes -- delete all user data" to confirm the hard reset

After reading the article by ComputerWorld on the reliability of android manufacturers upgrading their devices to 2.2, decided to do a similar comparison for the devices released in Singapore.

Similarly, all (hopefully) the android phones and tablet (there's only one actually) released in year 2010 are included in the comparison, with their launch date, version of android at launch time, date with upgrade available locally, and upgraded version of android. Here's a table of all the data.

The local scene is somewhat similar to that of the US. Below is the chart that shows the percentage of devices that are running android 2.2 by end of 2010, be it being upgraded to 2.2 or launched with 2.2.

The second chart here presents the average duration manufacturers took to release an upgrade, regardless of upgrade to 2.1 and 2.2.


HTC is your best bet where you might consider giving your money to. Other than google, HTC leads the pack in providing the latest android experience locally. In fact, they have actually upgraded all their 2010 phones to 2.2 in the international market! Kudos to them!

Samsung and LG took an average of 3 months to upgrade their phones. And both of them have upgraded only a third of their portfolio. Despite a spectacular sale of 10 million units, the upgrade of Galaxy S to 2.2 has been dreadfully slow. With Singapore as the launch city for Galaxy S, but among the last few Asia Pacific countries to get the upgrade aint making their consumers happy.
Sony Ericsson also took 3 months to upgrade their phones, but only to 2.1. Not only that, all of their phones come preinstalled with android 1.6 at launch. Especially when android 2.1 and 2.2 was out in January and June respectively, Sony Ericsson still pushes out dated phone in later part of the year, such as X8 with 1.6.

While Motorola provided a reliable update to their phones in the US markets, that does not seem to be so in Singapore or AP. 9 phones are launched in 2010, and they are still stuck in their original android, with some running aged 1.5 and 1.6.

In conclusion, HTC is the most reliable after sales updates, followed by LG, Samsung, Sony Ericsson and Motorola.

Remember how dell makes customising your own pc ever so easy?

Now someone has done the same for building your own roms for galaxy s.

Head out to http://romkitchen.org/ to build your own rom now!