dukeofbluz

About the only problem I have not been able to solve so far is my volume control. Using the bar on the side of the phone to control the volume, I dont have vibrate anymore. It goes from low volume to silent.
I do have another vibrate app that I can turn the phone to vibrate but its a hassle.

oops, one more thing, while on a web page I use to have a little spot to push at the bottom right corner of the screen to increase or decrease the size of the screen, its no longer there, yes i can still use the volume control but I was so use to having this function.

Duke

edit:
I use to be able to go from volume high to vibrate to silent. Now I can only go to vibrate OR silent, depending on which setting I use.

My buddy has a new mesmerize then mine and his goes to vibrate, there is no silent when using the side volume control.

Last edited by dukeofbluz; September 5th, 2011 at 08:30 PM.

LaTuFu

I've been very pleased with the update so far. My phone has been much more stable and all of the "glitchy" stuff appears to be resolved (so far).

It's what I expected this phone to be a year ago when the phone came out.

I can't really see much difference in battery life at this point, but given the size of the display, the power of it, and the size relative to the battery, I don't think there is too much that can be done about it anyway.

Zebulon

You haven't noticed an improvement in battery life? That's odd. I think I'm getting at LEAST 50% more life out of mine. I can actually go a whole day without keeping it on a charger now.

dixie_boysles

So far I LOVE 2.3. I freakin hated 2.2 and switched back to 2.1 after i upgraded. I love the way 2.3 looks and feels. no lag in the keyboard anymore and I can actually type much better even with smaller keys.

The phone is much more responsive as well which I love. I agree with all the others, this is what the Mesmerize was made for!

__________________
Motorola Electrify (Photon)
LauncherPro

LaTuFu

It's definitely improved, I'm just not sure I can say how much. This is the original battery for my phone, so it's quite likely I'll see a huge improvement if I go get a new one.

dukeofbluz

Same problem here, back button takes me all the way out of the web site, not just 1 page back.
I did notice if I tap on the lower right side of a web page (provided there is not a link there) the size increases, decreases on the lower left side.

LaTuFu

I have been using dolphin HD for so long, I don't even know what the differences are between the 2.2 stock browser and the 2.3 stock browser.

I can tell you that the back button still goes back one page on dolphin!

Maybe try hitting the menu button and see if the "back" button has a menu setting you can customize?

Tofudisan

Sitting here waiting for my charge indicator to read 100% so that I can perform the update. Can't wait. It's at 98% now. I'm assuming the warning for full battery before update is so that the system "knows" the capacity of the battery before trying to charge it?

Will report back on how the update went as soon as I can. Oh, btw, I rooted my phone using Super1Click a few weeks ago. Will let you know if I have to re-root or not.

Tofudisan

Well that sucks. The updater doesn't seem to be recognizing my phone. Just sits there trying to detect it.

Guess I'll try the upgrade on the home computer tonight. Very disappointed.

Tofudisan

Sorry to be hitting the board so much. Got home and Windows7 64-bit seems to be the charm after the OS downloaded all the drivers for the phone the "Next" button in the upgrader was enabled!

Update is going as I type. Stay tuned.

Edit: Well that was quick. Update is finished. Now to play with the phone and compare it to my wife's Mes.

Last edited by Tofudisan; September 6th, 2011 at 05:58 PM. Reason: Upgrade finished already!

Tofudisan

Okay that was scary. Phone was stuck on the "Galaxy S" splash after the boot animation. Stayed there until I took the battery out. But it did boot finally after the battery pull.

I immediately see the interface difference. Not sure I care for it honestly but I can live with it. I see why people think they're getting better reception. Going from 0-1 bar on a 4-bar scale and now seeing 1-2 bars on a 5-bar scale could confuse some. Will have to see if I have better reception at work to really tell. My office is in a basement and there's literally 3 spots I can put my phone to get reception to send/receive texts (forget calls). So if that changes then I know for sure that reception is improved. Still that seems bound more by the antenna not software.

All of my apps & contacts appear to be there but I do need to root my phone again. Hopefully SuperOneClick is truly Gingerbread ready.

Build says EH09. Is that the latest? I'll have to look in the other threads I suppose.

Anyway here's a screencap that shows the new info bar at the top for those curious.

LaTuFu

Yes, the signal bar is changed, but the signal strength has been improved as well. In places where I got 0-1 bar on 2.2/EE19, I was getting 3-4 bars with 2.2/EC10. Now I'm getting 4-5 bars in those same places with 2.3/EH09.

The phone was stuck on the splash screen for a few minutes while it went through the initial boot load of your new OS firmware. Its a one-time deal, won't take as long to boot from now on.

Let us know how it goes getting it rooted. So far, S1C does not work with 2.3.

2acclaim

i've been getting much better battery life. I actually went 3 days without it needing a charge. Admittedly I didn't use it that much over the holiday weekend but there was no way even just idling I'd ever get more than 2 days out of a single charge.

Tofudisan

I have a co-worker who used to work in the cell industry . His theory is that the phone is negotiating with the tower to request the tower boost signal strength when the phone detects weak signal. Makes some sense.

kmf

What is the optimum signal strength numerically? If you go into menu>settings>about phone>status>signal strength you see the strength number. Right now my phone says 75dBm.

Tofudisan

My office confirms that I'm getting better reception after the EH09 upgrade. Where I once had to put my phone in one of two spots on my desk to get even 1 bar of reception; I now get reception (1 bar at least) everywhere.

Checking signal strength first said 99dBM and just now flipped to 102dBm. Moving to the two "good" spots, that I had previously identified, the phone says 96dBm at first and then climbs to 105dBm after a second.

I wish I'd thought to have checked signals prior to updating the build.

LaTuFu

If you haven't yet updated your wife's Mez, you could benchmark with hers.

dukeofbluz

I installed Dolphin last night and it works great!
Thank you,
Duke

Bigbadbikernerd

Just waiting on a response on this question. I'm waiting on updating until I see an answer. Thanks!

LaTuFu

WiFi Hotspot is still on the phone, and it still works just as it did with 2.2. I do not have a tethering plan, and I am able to use it with no problems.

Zebulon

Same here. It seems to work better than on 2.2 for me, mainly because of the better reception. When I was on 2.2, my 3G would go dormant all the time, so I would be in the middle of loading a page on my tablet and it would just stop.

Tofudisan

3rd Witness. In fact I had to use this feature just last night to connect 3 Toshiba laptops to the net to update their A/V software. Worked fine. Slower than I'd have preferred but it did work.

kmf

WiFi Hotspot works fine with my phone. I'm using it right now.

gspdavis

I upgraded to gingerbread last night from froyo with no problems at all but today I have had to charge my battery 3 times! I thought I was supposed to get better battery life? All my settings are the same as before so I don't know what the problem is. Any suggestions? I'm. Open to anything at this point.

LaTuFu

You may want to do a battery pull restart of your phone. If that doesn't work, try swapping batteries at a USCC store.

One thing that has not been an issue with this upgrade is battery life. It has to be something specific to your phone.

Droid Users

If you are using the samsung SCH-I500XXXX just go to the website for samsung where you registered your product click on the last download option for the device. The download is called Simple Downloader. Just install the Application on your computer and plug in the phone activate the app and then let the computer do the rest.

And as with a new phone run the battery dry then recharge with the phone off for approx. 8 hrs. Basicly with any update you are flashing the battery as well as the phone, ergo, a new phone.

Also keep in mind that this is a huge update and it actualy will change the model of the phone. This is what i found while reading the fine print.

Last edited by Droid Users; September 21st, 2011 at 01:00 PM. Reason: Added more info.

LaTuFu

Can you clarify and/or source this statement?

Its an upgrade from Froyo to Gingerbread, with some UI/performance tweaks thrown in, from everything I have read. Nothing major about it.

It's still an SCH-I500 when the dust settles.

Droid Users

I was just commenting on everyones issues upgrading and what my experiance was with the upgrade.....
at this link https://secureus.samsung.com/us/support/downloads/SCH-I500RKAUSC ......as an example
"This is a sosftware upgarde for the US Cellular SCH-I500 (Mesmerize). This software will update your SCH-I500 (Mesmerize) to EH09. "
SW upgrade FAQ: http://ars.samsung.com/customer/usa/jsp/faqs/faqs_view_us.jsp?SITE_ID=22&PG_ID=2&PROD_SUB_ID=55 7&PROD_ID=690&AT_ID=364163

Also i am not an expert but have also never taken my phone in to do an upgrade, all the upgrades are very much user friendly.

Last edited by Droid Users; September 21st, 2011 at 03:05 PM. Reason: updating last statement

LaTuFu

While I agree with most of what you have said, it doesn't really clarify your first post.

I disagree with your opinion on the upgrades. The "Mini Kies" updates provided for the 2.2 updates, while simple to operate, were a complete mess as a finished product on the phone. Most people wound up having so many problems with "home upgrades" on Mini Kies that they wound up getting replacement phones and/or software reflashes in the store.

The 2.3 upgrade provided by USCellular's site, on the other hand, is a snap. It is not based on Kies, which should tell you how much of a problem they had with that interface. It downloads in a couple of minutes, and takes very little time to upload to the phone.

Unlike past downloads, it actually works just fine.

Country_Gravy

EH09 is not the model number. It is the build number. 2.2 was EE19 and when you do the update it is now EH09. This doesn't change the model of your phone at all.

From the link you posted:

Based on the software version you are upgrading from, the upgrade will perform different procedures and will required multiple mobile device reboots.

To find the software version on your US Cellular SCH-I500 (Mesmerize):

From the Home screen, touch Menu > Settings > About phone.
Build number SCH-I500.DI14 (Android 2.1)
Build number SCH-I500.EC10 (Android 2.2)
Build number SCH-I500.EE19 (Android 2.2)

Last edited by Country_Gravy; September 21st, 2011 at 03:56 PM.

dixie_boysles

How soon can we expect a bug fix I wonder

Zebulon

What bugs need fixed? Mine is running like a charm ever since the GB upgrade.

2acclaim

i haven't experienced any issues either. In fact, I've never been more happy with this phone than I currently am, especially the battery life.

There may likely be an incremental update since things are always missed. I'm eligible for a new phone in December(not on that belief crap) but will likely continue with the current phone since it's doing it's job very well. A dual core processor doesn't thrill me at the moment.

LaTuFu

Other than an occasional screen shot (which has been a bug for me since 2.1) i have not encountered any bugs with 2.3 that I can pinpoint.

I'm with the other replies. I've never been happier with this phone since the day I purchased it. It took USCC almost a year, but its finally a solid, reliable smartphone that can hang with any smartphone on the market. I'd take it over a Motorola android smartphone every day and twice on Sunday.

What bugs have you found with 2.3?

shortride

I went to the US Cellular store today and they have no tech on staff and said I would have to do it myself.

Zebulon

You have to go to an actual service center. Call around, or ask whichever office is closest to you where you can do the update.

LaTuFu

This update for 2.3.4 is one that people (including me) have not had a problem downloading themselves. Unlike the mini kies updates for 2.2, this one actually works well.

dixie_boysles

1) i have to pull battery alot since updating. The phone becomes unresponsive often. I only have one widget on any of my homescreens...

2) The gallery is very slow to load compared to before.

3) On my stock browser, alot of times the screen will scroll up to where I cant see what im typing. I scroll it back down and it will automatically scroll back up. i HATE how it types in the text box in the browser instead of bringing up a black white text box like it did back on 2.3.

4) Another browser issue is scrolling. you used to be able to swipe fast and it would go clear to bottom of screen, not anymore. its like it scrolls in sections. it goes so far and stops

5) Many have mentioned that the external ringer is REALLY loud and the internal speaker for hearing seemed to get really low. I can have my phone set on high, and still sometime cant hear the person like I could before update.

6) etc

LaTuFu

I agree with you on #5, I can definitely notice a difference on mine.

I switched to Dolphin HD browser a long time ago, its a much better browser than stock, so I dunno about those issues.

No problems with Gallery for me.

Since you're having issues with "speed" (gallery, battery pulls) I would suggest re-installing the update you downloaded. If that doesn't work, next try a factory wipe and/or getting a store tech to reflash your phone software.

Or throw in the towel and request a replacement phone.

dixie_boysles

Thanks LaTuFu. I may try the factory wipe, but dont wanna reset phone back up lol. Ive tried all of the browsers and they just dont compare to the stock one to me. Opera mini was the best of all I tried (Firefox, skyfire, dolphin HD, etc) Opera pops up the blank text box like I like, but had other issues like not loading half of the pages images.

So you havnt had to pull battery alot? or have phone become un responsive?

dixie_boysles

also thought of three more issues:

1) When updating apps from the market, it will say not enough storage when I have PLENTY of phone and SD storage...I even have all apps that I can stored on SD. as you can see:



its really pissing me off.

2) FB pics for contacts to not always show...

3) Contacts list acts wierd, HATE the way it lists numbers. Its lists the same number like 100 times for one contact..

banshee_me

Is anyone else having this problem? I'm running Vista Home Basic on Inspiron 1501

wadergirl

Anyone able to give some concise pros and cons of 2.2 vs 2.3? I've heard that 2.3 is a much more massive battery drain. If I do the install via mini kies, do I have to un-root/re-root?

Bloomy6

Dont know about rooting but battery life Has been better since upgrade.

kmf

Don't do the update via mini kies. That has been problems for most folks. Go to your USCC store and let them do it if you can. Painless.

The 2.3.4 update has been incredible for the Mes, which is now a fantastic and stable phone. Battery life has been better for most everyone.

2acclaim

if you're rooted and install the new update you'll have to re-root. Or you could just go right to a rom of 2.3.

I waited a long time to root the Mez. I've been extremely pleased with the 2.3 update. However I was tired of some of the software that came pre-installed and wanted it gone.

LaTuFu

You can't update using Mini Kies. USCC (thankfully) killed that little Gem of a program.

When you download it from the USCC site, you'll download an entire app loader executable program. Or, you can have it applied in one of the stores.

I highly recommend 2.3 over 2.2, it is a "must have" upgrade for your phone. Definitely not a worse drain on battery life. A dramatic improvement in the phone overall.

It's not perfect, but its the best update available for the phone so far.

3dgsuperfan

I've NEVER upgraded my phone so I really don't know what i'm doing and I've had it since december 2010. I have downloaded the upgrade tool from us cellulars site but when i open the upgrade tool I do not have the next button as indicated on the install guide. It only gives me the exit button. My computer is an xp so I don't understand whats going on here. I've been at it for like 3 hours now and i'm done, it's just not worth it. So if anyone else had this problem and got it resolved I would really appreciate it if you would share your knowledge with me before I throw my computer out the window

tritiumman

A new update is available. It fixes some bug issues and has some new yet minor enhancements. Firmware version 2.3.5 build is EI20. I had the update flashed yesterday at the store. So far no more screen lock up.

matt88si

I called in to Samsung about the download cap for our Samsung Mesmerizes. Apparently, the cap is truly non-existant and with the new Android Market update (the one you have to download from a 3rd party) having WiFi turned on should enable the phone to download anything within its storage limits.

However, the applications that don't seem to cooperate with our phones seem to have bugs. According to the Samsung rep, people have complained about the inability to download certain applications from the market regardless of the storage space available, their connection type (WiFi, 3G), and the file size of the application. Basically, if your Mesmerize rejects the download with the warning "Insufficient space on device" then your phone is just trying to tell you it can't initiate the download due to something unknown to the phone.

In order to fix the issue that the Samsung Mesmerize is apparently having with downloading these excessively oversized files is to contact the devolpers of the applications and ask them to fix any sort of download problems that could be occuring with certain devices.

I know this all may sound like a bunch of mumbo jumbo, but that's what I got out of the person from Samsung.

There is some truth to it, however, because I was able to download Duke Nukem 3D for my Mesmerize which sits at a rockingly high download size of 80MB+. Where as I had the issue of downloading an application with a size of only 38MB.