• After 15+ years, we've made a big change: Android Forums is now Early Bird Club. Learn more here.

Help Latest Galaxy S update

Hmm. I'm a UKer on 02. Not a dickybird on 2.4, yet alone 2.5.
There is already a posting from a UK based poster who has updated to 2.3.6 - at least I think he has, the posting was not very clear. It is now available in Finland and I updated a couple of days ago. I should say that this was the official update using Kies. When the update becomes available depend both on where you live and who your operator is.If you want it earlier and if you are into flashing and Odin then that may well be the way to go. If you don't know what I am talking about I'd stick to Kies if it works for you. I had problems after the update with the Samsung TW launcher not responding. If you have a properly working Galaxy you may well not know that the launcher exists. I should probably have tried re-installing, but instead I installed ADW from the Market (now Play!)- and the phone is now superb - no problems whatsoever. The precious version 2.3.5 was pretty terrible with crashing and re-booting.
 
Upvote 0
Well, this is what seems to be the latest 'official' version available.
Its XXJW4 and it's based on 2.3.6. Not ICS....but very close.

Read the article for all the details.

Galaxy S Gets Official Value Pack Firmware -- XXJW4. Includes TouchWiz 4!

I plan to have the upgrade done soon by my Ex-Samsung tech friend using Odin.

If anyone beats me to it then please post reports on how you like the new FW.
 
Upvote 0
Well, this is what seems to be the latest 'official' version available.
Its XXJW4 and it's based on 2.3.6. Not ICS....but very close.

Read the article for all the details.

Galaxy S Gets Official Value Pack Firmware -- XXJW4. Includes TouchWiz 4!

I plan to have the upgrade done soon by my Ex-Samsung tech friend using Odin.

If anyone beats me to it then please post reports on how you like the new FW.

I flashed my Galaxy S nearly two weeks ago with JW4 and find that it is very stable and fast. TouchWiz 4 is a great addition too. Battery life is also improved.
By the way, I actually started a thread about this not long after flashing but my thread got removed without an explanaition from the mods.

Cheers.

Ray.
 
  • Like
Reactions: LateNiteMike
Upvote 0
Anyone done the latest Canyogen mod? If so how well does it work? I'm talking about 2.3.7

I got the latest cyanogenmod 7. It's working nicely - the Galaxy S is much more responsive with no ill effects. Just follow the instructions here. Of course, this will void your warranty...

If you're feeling adventurous, there are even cyanogenmod 9 nightlies. Yep - Ice Cream Sandwich for your Galaxy S. I haven't tried this yet myself, but judging from the CM forums it seems to work ok.
 
Upvote 0
I flashed my Galaxy S nearly two weeks ago with JW4 and find that it is very stable and fast. TouchWiz 4 is a great addition too. Battery life is also improved.
By the way, I actually started a thread about this not long after flashing but my thread got removed without an explanaition from the mods.

Cheers.

Ray.

Ok great,...that's awesome news and thanks for telling us about your positive experience. I'm now looking forward to doing the upgrade with renewed enthusiasm. :)
I'll be sending an official 'Thanks' your way. ;)
 
Upvote 0
Ok great,...that's awesome news and thanks for telling us about your positive experience. I'm now looking forward to doing the upgrade with renewed enthusiasm. :)
I'll be sending an official 'Thanks' your way. ;)

No worries. They have made this upgrade easier to do than previous ones because now you only have one file rather than three files on previous firmwares.

Ray.
 
  • Like
Reactions: LateNiteMike
Upvote 0
I flashed my Galaxy S nearly two weeks ago with JW4 and find that it is very stable and fast. TouchWiz 4 is a great addition too. Battery life is also improved.
By the way, I actually started a thread about this not long after flashing but my thread got removed without an explanaition from the mods.

Cheers.

Ray.

The thread might have been moved to "All things Root". because it was a root program--??
 
Upvote 0
No worries. They have made this upgrade easier to do than previous ones because now you only have one file rather than three files on previous firmwares.

Ray.

Thanks again for the followup. I do have a few specific questions for you

1.) Is your device rooted, and was it rooted at the time of the FW upgrade?
2.) If my device is not rooted...will the FW perform the same way...ie 'No problems' ?
3.) I plan to have a tech friend of mine do this FW upgrade for me. He's a former Samsung tech. He will be using Odin. In your comments you mentioned the fact that this upgrade consists of only one file rather than three as in previous versions. So, would the Odin procedure be any different?....and if so...what would be worth noting?

I talked to him the other day about doing this upgrade for me. He wasn't aware of it and still had only the previous FW files available. So, even though he's very capable of doing FW upgrades I want to make sure he is fully informed as to any new 'twists' in the procedure that he has successfully used in the past. That's why I'm asking these questions.

Thanks in advance, and I eagerly await your reply. :D
 
Upvote 0
Thanks again for the followup. I do have a few specific questions for you

1.) Is your device rooted, and was it rooted at the time of the FW upgrade?
2.) If my device is not rooted...will the FW perform the same way...ie 'No problems' ?
3.) I plan to have a tech friend of mine do this FW upgrade for me. He's a former Samsung tech. He will be using Odin. In your comments you mentioned the fact that this upgrade consists of only one file rather than three as in previous versions. So, would the Odin procedure be any different?....and if so...what would be worth noting?

I talked to him the other day about doing this upgrade for me. He wasn't aware of it and still had only the previous FW files available. So, even though he's very capable of doing FW upgrades I want to make sure he is fully informed as to any new 'twists' in the procedure that he has successfully used in the past. That's why I'm asking these questions.

Thanks in advance, and I eagerly await your reply. :D


First off then, my device is rooted both before the upgrade and after. Please note that you do not need to be rooted to perform the upgrade and you do not need to root your phone afterwards. It's a matter of personal choice whether to root or not. It's worth mentioning that if a device is rooted prior to upgrading, the update process will remove the root so you will have to root again afterwards if you want to root the phone.

The update process using Odin will be exactly the same with one file as it is with three files except you will only need to select the one file in the PDA field and won't need to use the CSC and Phone fields. This basically simplifies the flashing procedure and means it's impossible to get mixed up with what files to put in each field (I have in the past put the wrong files in the wrong fields more than once by getting mixed up between Phone and PDA).

Once you have updated the firmware you will need to re-install your apps as these will be deleted. Also, Daily Briefing is missing so if that is something you use a lot you might not want to upgrade.

If you have anymore questions, feel free to post them here and I'll answer them as soon as I can.

All the best.

Ray.
 
  • Like
Reactions: LateNiteMike
Upvote 0
I flashed my Galaxy S nearly two weeks ago with JW4 and find that it is very stable and fast. TouchWiz 4 is a great addition too. Battery life is also improved.

Cheers.

Ray.

Ok Ray, how about an update on using JW4. Everything going well with the upgrade?
Is it anything like ICS? Does it use the ICS interface (layout).

It sounds as if it's a worthwhile upgrade. I haven't done it yet but planning to soon.
THX in advance for any and all you'd like to share regarding JW4.
 
Upvote 0
@LateNiteMike

I've just received another update via Kies which is Phone JW4, PDA JW4 and CSC JW5. There doesn't appear to have been any changes so I'm assuming it is a bug fix. Anyway, 2.3.6 is very stable and smooth and the interface (GUI) has changed to TouchWiz 4 that was previously seen on the Galaxy S II. It doesn't look anything like ICS on the Samasung Galaxy Nexus and at first glance looks the same as the old GUI until you start exploring it and find what has changed exactly.

For instance, pressing the Menu button then Add brings up a different menu than what's on TouchWiz 3 and on the home screens the home screen numbers are now at the bottom of the screen. If you press and hold then move your finger left and right you can rapidly scroll through the home screens with a 3D effect.

A nice feature with this update is the ability to take photos whilst recording a video. There is also an updated photo editor and of course the Face unlock feature.

The lock screen has been improved as well. When you receive a text you can press the envelope icon and swipe away from it to instantly go to the message.

There is also more free RAM available which has sped the phone up and made it more responsive.

The only downside to the update is the loss of Daily Briefing but that may get added back again in a future update (it was removed in JVO and reinstated later on).

All the best.

Ray.
 
  • Like
Reactions: LateNiteMike
Upvote 0
I understand that the FW XXJVU value pak update being discussed is for the I9000 International version phone. So, that leads me to wonder if anyone has tried to use it with any success on the I897 model phone?
I did read an article and downloaded the new FW XXJVU but haven't tried it yet, it came with a warning about using it only on the I9000. I was of the understanding that these two phones have identical FW!
 
Upvote 0
I understand that the FW XXJVU value pak update being discussed is for the I9000 International version phone. So, that leads me to wonder if anyone has tried to use it with any success on the I897 model phone?
I did read an article and downloaded the new FW XXJVU but haven't tried it yet, it came with a warning about using it only on the I9000. I was of the understanding that these two phones have identical FW!

The firmware being discussed here is JW4 which isn't available for the SGS i897. The i897 (also known as the Samsung Captivate) is sold only in North America by AT&T and requires its own specific firmware. The latest available firmware is UCKK4 and trying to flash it with JW4 will brick the device. The hardware isn't exactly identical because the Captivate doesn't have a FM radio and also operates on a different 3G frequency to the i9000. The Captivate operates on HSDPA 850 / 1900 / 2100 whereas the i9000 operates on HSDPA 900 / 1900 / 2100.

There have been some people in North America who have successfully flashed their phones with European firmwares and the best place to find out what you need to know to do that is the XDA Developers web site.

Samsung Captivate - xda-developers

Good luck

Ray.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Grumpy65
Upvote 0

BEST TECH IN 2023

We've been tracking upcoming products and ranking the best tech since 2007. Thanks for trusting our opinion: we get rewarded through affiliate links that earn us a commission and we invite you to learn more about us.

Smartphones