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December 27, 2011 By: liwen
After announcing last week that two of its most popular devices of 2010, the Galaxy S and Galaxy Tab, wouldn’t get official updates to Android 4.0, Samsung seems to be backtracking and reviewing the viability of these updates, according to MSN Korea (via The Verge).
Despite continuing to emphasize the limitations of only 512 MB RAM, Samsung is said to be working on ways to get the Ice Cream Sandwich update out to users, presumably due to negative reactions and widespread criticism.
We can only hope this turns out to be true, and will keep you updated.
December 24, 2011 By: liwen
So, you’ve been wondering why the original Galaxy S and Galaxy Tab aren’t getting Ice Cream Sandwich, like Samsung’s newer models? Why, of course: because they’re too slow. No, not for Android 4.0; the almost identically-specced Nexus S is getting its OTA as we speak.
Of course: for TouchWiz, carrier services, video calling, and, in some countries, mobile TV. Not that anyone actually cares for TouchWiz or carrier services. And, we’re not sure how an OS update is going to slow down video calling or mobile TV. I mean, either you have a front-facing camera, or you don’t. Same with TV antennas.
Anyway, hit up Samsung Tomorrow (uh, that must be Yesterday!) for the original statement in Korean, then check out one Verge user’s excellent translation. Finally, show your outrage for this decision by posting in our forum thread.
All hope is not lost: as many of you may remember, HTC also originally said they wouldn’t bring Gingerbread to the Desire, but later backtracked. Let’s hope Samsung does the same.
November 18, 2011 By: Will Verduzco
Google’s Mobile Product Manager Hugo Barra recently stated that the company had no plans to update the Nexus One to Ice Cream Sandwich, citing that the handset was simply too old to run the newer operating system. Many users felt unnecessarily abandoned, believing that a former flagship device under 2 years old could hardly be considered “too old” for updates. Having used a Nexus One as my primary device for eight months, the news made my heart sink ever so slightly.
Ironically enough, the first ICS SDK-port for the Nexus One actually had already appeared four days earlier. However, as is the case with the majority of SDK-ports, the lack of hardware acceleration made things dreadfully sluggish. Instead, AOSP builds are indeed the Droids you’re looking for.
Four days ago, we broke news of the ICS Source Code release and predicted an imminent rush of AOSP builds. We are happy to announce that not only has XDA forum member dr1337 begun the Nexus One AOSP porting effort, but several other devices have joined the tide. Thanks to the hard work by XDA forum members dizgustipated, MongooseHelix, stritfajt, jaybob413, onecosmic, Chaosz-X, and zFr3eak; the Nexus S, Droid Eris, Hero, Hero CDMA, Galaxy S I9000, Desire, and Desire HD now have their first tastes of Google’s latest treat.
Without further ado, here are the links to get started on your own device:
While none of the releases have quite the level of polish required to be made daily drivers, their mere presence just days after the source code release speaks wonders of the amazing talent housed within our development community.
If there are any other AOSP builds that I have left out, please send me a PM through the forums, and I will promptly add them to the list!
October 29, 2011 By: Sam Caplat
Ice Cream Sandwich is taking the limelight in development. Recently ported to the Nexus S, many are curious and excited to know which device is next. ASUS said their “aim is to bring the latest Android update to the Eee Pad Series.” Motorola’s Droid RAZR, Droid Bionic, and XOOM are definitely getting the update, and they will announce more “devices for ICS 6 weeks after Google releases the final version of it.” If you’re looking to get a new device soon, it’ll likely come stocked with Ice Cream Sandwich.
For those who haven’t upgraded in a while, the Samsung Galaxy S is now on the list of devices with successful Ice Cream Sandwich ports. When I say it’s successful, I mean it’s not released, in alpha, and facing a lot of work before decently working. But it’s there and still worth mentioning.
Operating system ports keep us sane, as far as I’m concerned. Google hasn’t released the retail version, and won’t until the release of their flagship device, the Galaxy Nexus, on November 17th. I know I wouldn’t be able to wait until then to try out the operating system I and millions of others waited for since Google I/O in May this year. I was so desperate to try the new iteration, I’m using the mildly buggy port for the Nexus S as my personal platform.
XDA members galnet and lttldvl, well-known MIUI developers, are heading the port to the Samsung Galaxy S, stating that they’re “taking a break from MIUI over the weekend” and “thought they’d work on trying to port ICS over to the SGS.” Work never ends for the geniuses we are lucky to have on our forums, and we thank you for taking the time to push this out. We’re all looking forward to more developments.
Sources:
KnowYourMobile
Pocket-Lint
InToMobile
August 28, 2011 By: azrienoch
A bricked phone. No JTAG. Modify hardware, upload a bootloader, and the phone lives. Pure development.
That’s what I think of the work of AdamOutler and Rebellos to breathe life into dead devices. A couple days ago, WillVerduzco wrote an article on Rebellos’ method of unbricking Hummingbird devices by uploading your very own custom bootloader to your device. A couple weeks ago, AdamOutler asked for help getting the official Samsung bootloader for Galaxy devices. Since then, the two teamed up to put Rebellos’ Resurrection Bootloader on devices modified according to AdamOutler’s UnBrickable Mod.
Now they’re finding the fun doesn’t stop at unbricking phones. They’re flashing bootloaders built for other operating systems. ”I used UnBrickable mod to install Bada OS bootloaders on my Captivate,” AdamOutler says. ”Totally bricked it. Messed up partition tables and everything. It assimilated my Captivate. I used UnBrickable mod to load up a secondary bootloader while holding the key combination, then flashed it.” He goes on, “I was worried for a bit because it would not download, but eventually we got it! It works!”
This means the months of hard work put into this project finally paid off. AdamOutler working on hardware, Rebellos working on software. Once the hardware side of development finished, Rebellos stepped in. ”You see,” AdamOutler says, “Rebellos is a developer working on a port of Android for Bada OS. He’s 18 years old, from Poland, just got his driver’s license, and he’s a badass behind the assembly language console.”
Samsung Galaxy devices normally boot using a primary bootloader to load a secondary bootloader that, in turn, loads the Linux kernel. Rebellos replaced the primary bootloader. That means they should be able to load non-Linux systems, like Windows Phone 7 or iOS. Rebellos says that will take, “tons of work in pure assembler, as they aren’t opensource.” He adds, “I’d say for SGS family you can count on Bada and any opensource OS, like Ubuntu.”
To put it clearly, the work these developers put into this project means the beginning of HD2-like development on any device with a CORTEX-A8 processor in it, including the iPhone 4 and Nexus S. And that’s exactly what AdamOutler and Rebellos plan to do. ”We basically created a whole new system for developers to use for developing and noobs to use for unbricking after playing with the big kids.” Pure development.
The developers are currently looking for bricked and broken CORTEX-A8 phone donations, such as these:
Samsung I9000 SGS
Samsung S8500 Wave
Samsung S8530 Wave II
Samsung SGH-i997 Infuse 4G
Samsung T959 Vibrant
Samsung SGH-T849 Galaxy Tab 7.0 inch
Samsung GT-P1000 Galaxy Tab
Samsung GT-i9010 Girogio Armani Galaxy
Samsung GT-i8350 Omnia 7
Google Nexus S
Apple iPhone4
If you would like to help out with this historical work, please see the development thread.
August 25, 2011 By: Will Verduzco
How would you like to create your own bootloader? Sounds a bit daunting, no? Aside from the inherent “cool factor,” having this ability could get your device out of some tough spots that would otherwise require the use of JTAG.
Thanks to the work of a team lead by XDA Recognized Developer Rebellos, this is now possible for Samsung S5PC110-based (read: Hummingbird) devices. Since there are quite a few Hummingbird-powered devices roaming about XDA, this can prove quite useful for when ODIN is not enough or if your JTAG pins are nonfunctional.
In the words of the developer:
What is it?
Info how to bypass secure booting mechanism built in S5PC110 CPU’s iROM on lowest level and create code loadable even with totally damaged bootloader, without use of JTAG.Okay, how useful is it?
I’ve got no clue, it all depends on you. Our main target, which is almost done, is ability to revive any hard-bricked hardware built on S5PC110 without use of JTAG (for eg. when JTAG pads had been damaged)
In order to get started, venture forth to the original thread.
[Thanks AdamOutler for the tip!]
July 18, 2011 By: mic_888
With the recent fashion for white phones, Samsung released the white version of the popular Galaxy S i9000 a few months back in certain countries.
XDA forum member sensi_ wanted to be part of this exclusive club and decided his black SGS needed a bit of brightening up. The parts are ordered from Samsung so are genuine OEM plates. However, the XDA member does advise that changes on the plates are a little tricky, so be aware!
Two parts were replaced (back and front), with the bezel left untouched. Some members have noted that the metal bezel on the white Galaxy S is a few shades lighter than on the black.
For further photographs and more information, head on over to the forum thread.
July 14, 2011 By: Will Verduzco
If you think that mobile device modification ends at replacing Android’s modular components, you’re wrong. XDA Senior Moderator and Recognized Developer Chainfire is at it again, this time with a Charging Screen replacement for certain Samsung devices.
In one of his “sillier” modifications, the developer has replaced the stock charging screen with one packing loads of extra functionality. For starters, this modification displays both the time and numerical battery charge level when active. In addition, NoMoarPowar! also can be set to power on your phone prior to your scheduled alarms so that you don’t miss your morning wake-up buzzer. This way, you won’t be disturbed, but your device will still wake you up when you need it. Sweetening the pot further, you can even set your device to reboot once it has reached either 15% or 100% battery level.
NoMoarPowah! replaces that boring charging animation when your phone is turned off but connected to the charger with a fully functional program!
In the history of silly stuff I have made, this is perhaps the silliest
This app is only for a select number of Samsung devices. It does not work on any other devices. See the list below
This app requires a fully rooted device
NoMoarPowah! can automatically reboot into Android when charging is done. Either when fully charged, or when the battery level reaches 15% and Android has enough juice to run.
But wait, there’s more! NoMoarPowah! can also reboot at a custom time. It will even suggest times based on your currently set alarms, so your phone will be rebooted just before the alarm goes off and you need to wake up! This way you can be sure nobody will bother you while take your well-deserved nap, but still wake up when you need to.
Continue on to the modification thread for more! Also, for owners of other Samsung devices, be sure to give this a shot and leave your feedback in the thread.
June 4, 2011 By: mic_888
There have been carbon fibre case mods for many different devices, and here is one for the Samsung Galaxy S. The carbon fibre look is very popular and the most popular carbon fibre case mod appears to be one using 3M Carbon Fibre tape.
XDA forum member gfcpinto has performed this very mod on his SGS using simply the tape, a steady hand, some time and an hairdryer.
Not to be outdone, XDA forum member Vin_Thomas also performed the same mod and has provided further details on the dimensions of tape required and some tips on getting a precision install.
For more pictures and info, check out the modification thread.
June 3, 2011 By: egzthunder1
As of lately, we have been publishing a few articles regarding hardware level hacking and modding, particularly for the Samsung Galaxy S and SGS2 device families. In fact, there was an article not too long ago that described a home made JTAG rig for aimed for the Samsung Captivate. However, even with all of this knowledge and advances, it is still quite difficult to come up with solutions to recover from bricks as the information needed like pin outs and resistor values is not something that is commonly or easily found on the internet. Moreover, as most of this information is sometimes proprietary, several manufacturers will not readily release it to the public. It looks like XDA member AdamOutler has been able to get his hands on a datasheet for the FSA9280. This basically contains all of the aforementioned resistor values for about 90% of all current Samsung Galaxy devices (with the exception of the Galaxy Tabs). This should help tremendously in the race to revive devices that have been killed in the process of trying to follow a path to greatness.
If you believe that this is useful information that you can use and maybe help out with, please leave your comments for the dev.
I’ve found the datasheet for the FSA9280 online today. So, now I can post about it.
You can find more information in the original thread.
Want something published in the Portal? Contact any News Writer.
Thanks AdamOutler for the tip!
May 24, 2011 By: mic_888
If you find you that getting a good GPS fix on your Samsung Galaxy SL i9003 is taking too long then check out XDA forum member KonfusedGeek‘s quick fix.
There are other guides around which require a bit of manual tweaking and may provide better results, however if you just want to try out a small settings tweak, then this is the guide that you might want to try first.
The XDA member states that this small guide will reduce the time taken to lock to satellites and has been tested inside a building with 8 floors!
You’ll need to turn off your GPS, Open LibTestMode and change some settings under Application Settings and SUPL/CP Settings. Finally, a reboot should apply the changes.
For further details and feedback from other members, check out the forum thread.
May 23, 2011 By: mic_888
There have been many requests for a method to convert or use the external microSD card memory as internal SDcard memory. XDA forum member trip007in has discovered a hack courtesy of 3snow at www.lowyat.net and has posted this in the forums for other members to try.
The hack swaps internal and external memory in order for games to make use of the larger space and for Maps for Navigation. It makes use of a modified vold.fstab file which replaces the original and swaps the memory.
The XDA member has tested the hack on the i9003 which requires root access.
For more information and to download the modified file, head on over to the modification thread.
May 17, 2011 By: Will Verduzco
Does your Android phone stare longingly at Honeycomb devices and their built in video editor software? Have you tried to get your fix with VidTrim, but found it a little too spartan? Luckily, if you’re a Galaxy S user, XDA forum member the orange bandit has stumbled across the perfect application for you. In addition to providing forum goers with the application install files, he has located a comprehensive guide to aid in getting the most from the app.
The application appears to be very full featured, including advanced functionality such as adding background music, transition animations, soundtracks, and video filter effects. While this application was intended for use on Samsung Galaxy S phones, you can be sure that people are working hard to bring this to other devices.
If you’re rocking a Galaxy S device, be sure to continue on to the original thread to get your fix!
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