That's incorrect. This is precisely the form letter that has been sent out since the 4th quarter of last year. There is nothing in this letter to suggest that any progress has been made since that time. Further, there is nothing in the form letter posted on this page that differs substantively from all previously released form letters *other* than the fact that previous form letters had indicated a release date NLT "the end of the year," 2010.
I've already done a considerable amount of digging, and I've been tracking this issue actively for a LONG time. It's no surprise considering I own two Fascinates - mine, and the wife's - both of which I root, theme and otherwise experiment on.
Allow me to point out the extent of "evidence" or at least signs that Froyo is destined to hit the Fascinate:
1. List of the devices that have official 2.2 now:
Mezmerize (remarkably similar to Fascinate)
Epic
Vibrant
Captivate
and all other popular variants of the Galaxy S worldwide ("popular" means NOT the Continuum... at least for now.)
2. List of Froyo leaks:
DL30 was the first one, I believe, and it was a kernal and OS leak that had ALL of the Verizon AND Samsung bloat - TW, Bing, VZ Nav, CityID, Tetris and NFS trial, etc.
EB01 followed shortly thereafter and for many users it was much improved, but this newer "stock" leak had all the bloat that DL30 had, which is remarkably similar to standard Verizon/Samsung bloat that stock Eclair originally had on the Fascinate right after you took it out of the box. On XDA where talented and connected folks have "stumbled" upon these leaks, they have put them up for download AS IS - no modifications whatsoever. Having tested and used these myself, I can personally state that they are specifically tailored to the Verizon Samsung Fascinate ONLY. It has specific hardware, memory, etc. that differentiate it from every other Galaxy S variant, with the exceptions of the Mezmerize and the Telius Fascinate. And guess what ... If it WERE just a leak from those phones, it would have NONE of the Verizon crap on it, which happens to work virtually the same as it does in 2.1, except they are newer 2.2 compatible versions. You pick up on little details like this if you waste hours doing research and futzing around with your phone. Two Verizon/Samsung leaks have been discovered, and tested successfully by many, including myself, on the Fascinate. That means Verizon/Samsung is close to having a final build. How close? We already know the problem with speculating exactly. I personally thought that I was going to get the Froyo for my birthday, but when the other U.S. carriers STILL didn't even have THEIR froyo by then, I decided that wasn't a realistic goal.
Edit: I wanted to add that the possibility of some kind of contract with Bing worries me as well, as 2.2 is rumored to have the option of Google as the default search...
Having been with Verizon for almost a decade, at least as my own provider of cell phone service, I know how they are usually late on stuff like this. They test the living daylights out of things. Whether you agree with their method, or not, and for better or for worse, that's the way it is.
Additionally, I want to point out the nature of nearly all of our "canned" responses from Samsung:
From 747's post:
FWIW I chatted with Samsung tech support.
Here is the text.
Parkin: Please go ahead with your queries.
Visitor: Hello. I have a verizon samsung fascinate. Can you tell me when software version 2.2 will be released?
Visitor: My car dock audio will not work with 2.1
Parkin: I understand that you are looking for android 2.2. Am I correct?
Visitor: yes
Visitor: Froyo
Parkin: Thank you for confirming.
Parkin: Unfortunately, as of now there is no official information on the release date of the Android 2.2 from Samsung and you will be notified by the carrier and in the Samsung website when/if the update is released. We are unable to speculate when/if a software revision might be available due to the fact that this might lead to inaccurate information and confusion.
Visitor: Thank you
Obviously they didn't want to set false expectations, but I wish they would have just came out and said, "Yes, we're working on it, but no, we're not ANYWHERE close to releasing it yet."
They wouldn't go to all the work to make at least two (probably more) complete test builds of froyo for the Fascinate, and then just can the update all together, unless it never sold well and had a nonexistent user base, such as the Continuum. The Fascinate has a large following, and continues to sell. Verizon still doesn't have anything "better" available. They have handsets that are better in some aspects, but worse in others, such as the Droid X or Thunderbolt. These phones are NOT upgrades from the Fascinate, but side grades. For everything the TB does better, there is something it does worse. FFC? Yes, but battery life sucks. 4.3" screen? Yes, it's bigger, but it doesn't have near the viewing angles or contrast ratio of SuperAMOLED. LTE data speeds? Yes, but only if you're in the "zone". If you're on the fringe you have to disable it or searching for it is going to eat your battery like a sandwich. It's also a much more bulky and heavy device than the super thin and lightweight Fascinate. For those that need the 4G internet or larger screen, great. It's an upgrade. For those that need better battery life and better viewing angles, it will be a downgrade.
My point is, the Fascinate is still a modern, current device that is still selling. Not supporting it doesn't just look bad for Samsung, but for Verizon as well. There's no way they'll get this close to an official release and NOT eventually come out. I sure hope it's sooner than later, just like everyone else. And fastbagger's response is the most direct and promising that I've heard, and I've personally read and posted on almost every single page of this thread, reading numerous canned responses users have received from Samsung. This one just "feels" a little more promising than the others. Is it more of SirKronan's gut feeling than anything else? Yes. I admit as much. You are free to criticize my opinion, and I will simply agree to disagree with you.
Now.. I'm not trying to attack you, SirKronan, or get a rise out of you or anything, but... I have to call the shots as I see 'em. You didn't actually state that you are not presently employed by Verizon. Can you confirm that you don't, in fact, work for Verizon, or any company contracted by Verizon, either for PR or any other purposes at this time?
The reason I bring that up is that you seem a little overly optimistic given a complete paucity of new or otherwise encouraging information, and it strikes me as unusual. It stands out. It seems like you have a dog in the race somewhere.
I already answered this question. I don't have any idea why you have to keep insinuating I work currently for Verizon, or why it's any business of yours, but I am no longer in that industry. I graduated from college with my bachelor's in psychology. I got full time employment in that field as a rehabilitation specialist, and stayed part time in the electronics industry for some time on the retail front until a few months ago I finally quit and dedicated more hours to doing therapy so I could take on more clients. It's tough to work retail/electronics AND in mental health at the same time because of how hard it is to schedule in clients AND work around a store's schedule, so I couldn't do it anymore. I worked in the consumer electronics industry for 6 years, and for a good chunk of the time I sold cellular service for several different providers, including Sprint, AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon. I've dealt with them as a 3rd party rep. selling and activating phones for them, and providing customer support. After years of dealing with these companies, you start to get a little of a feel for how they tick. I no longer personally sell or offer support for any of them right now, other than helping out friends and family on a 1 on 1 basis, but while working in the industry over the years, I have made some decently high up connections, and I'm not the only one. I will direct you to a post from XDA:
[SAMSUNG OSRC COMMENTS DELIVERY NOTIFICATION]
Dear customer,
We''re pleased to provide you the Froyo update source code of SCH-I500 USC (Mesmerize).
You can download the source code from the site below:
http://opensource.samsung.com.
Public firmware for Froyo update version about SCH-I500 VZW (Fascinate) is not announced yet on the outside.
After public release, we''ll publish open source code of SCH-I500 VZW (Fascinate) on website.
Please wait until early April.
Thank you.
Sincerely yours,
In any case, I'd like to reiterate the fact that -nobody- here has any rational reason to suspect that Froyo / 2.2 for the Fascinate will become available any time soon (and, as I've stated before, I don't believe it will be released at all). There has been zero indication that we're ever going to see an official release -- rather, we've seen a leaked version of the firmware, which was explained earlier in this thread very cogently by another member.
It's up to you. You can choose to believe or not believe indications I get from my sources. You can choose to believe or not believe indications that are over on XDA, if you ever keep tabs on folks over there. You can choose to follow twitters or IRC of all the dev's and others "in the know" on the Fascinate's latest. I have followed this industry for years, and I have actively modded and tweaked this phone since its release, actively following the latest here, on XDA, and a few times when I've had the chance on IRC.
I believe Froyo is coming, and I've personally seen and played with plenty of evidence. There are more test kernels, there's advertising that's been released showing the Fascinate with 2.2, there are other leaks coming out that people are playing with and testing, and this device overall has a considerable following. In addition, it took FOREVER for Verizon/HTC to finally release 2.1 for the Eris. It was a truly similar situation, and also a pretty popular phone. I have no reason to expect anything different this time with a Verizon/Samsung combo. The Eris had variants on other networks - of which Verizon was one of the last (possibly the last?) to get a Hero variant. The 2.1 update was a long time in coming, although I don't know when it hit the other networks. I wasn't quite as into this stuff back then as I am now.
Anyways, believe what you will believe. If you believe we'll never get official Froyo, I'll completely disagree with you, based on what I've seen. If Verizon's not 100% satisfied with ANY of their test builds, I still see them releasing an optional, non-OTA update you can do via computer, at the very least - or Samsung posting it on the Fascinate support page perhaps.
That said, I didn't say it for me. The issue was that it seemed as if we all thought your opinion was SO strong, that maybe someone could find a way to put a price on the strongly worded opinion you had.
