Samsung Mobile, who has been accused of being very slow to give upgrades on its well-liked Galaxy S devices, is getting the new Android 2.2 operating system. Samsung has sold more than 10 million of the Galaxy S.
It has taken Samsung Mobile a long while to roll out the Android 2.2 upgrade, but it was confirmed on Jan. 21 that the Galaxy S Vibrant smart phone is getting it shortly.
There were rumors in October that this upgrade (or Froyo as it is sometimes called) would be available for the Samsung Fascinate, which uses Android 2.1, on Verizon Wireless, the Captivate on AT&T, the Epic 4G on Sprint and the Vibrant.
However, Motorola and HTC upgraded their Android 2.1 phones to the new Android 2.2, but Samsung didn’t follow suit on installing it onto their units that are sold in the U.S.
Samsung was guarded about the delays, but then things got to a head on Jan. 12 when AndroidSpin pointed out a supposed source from T-Mobile source who said Samsung was holding back the upgrade on purpose. He said it was due to the fact that Samsung believed it would make the Vibrant 4G worth less.
After that, everything went crazy and a Samsung Galaxy S user put in a class-action lawsuit against T-Mobile and Samsung over the whole thing, saying Samsung was going to make existing users pay for the next round of software updates. However, Samsung vehemently denied that in a statement to the media.
A Samsung spokesman stated that they don’t charge mobile carriers for any new upgrades and that they were going to make the Android 2.2 upgrade available to all U.S. Galaxy S users as soon as they could, but they were testing the functionality off each one in order to make sure it worked.
T-Mobile business people met Jan. 20 in New York Jan. 20 and there was nothing said about the Samsung Vibrant 4G being the cause of the delay of the Android 2.2 and they did reveal the Samsung Galaxy S 4G unit.
During this, T-Mobile CMO Cole Brodman insisted the delay in getting the upgrade was technical and that it would be out as of Jan. 21 to all Samsung Galaxy S Vibrant customers.
