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.