android

How to upgrade Samsung Galaxy Portal to Android 2.1 (Eclair) using Samsung PC Studio

by Sujoy on September 23, 2010

The new Android 2.1, more popularly known as the Android Eclair, is now available to be downloaded on the Samsung Galaxy Portal on T-mobile UK. The catch is, this upgrade is not available over-the-air (OTA), but has to be initiated by the user using Samsung’s mobile PC suite – Samsung PC Studio.

This is ridiculous, since the Android is a modified version of the Linux kernel, and at its core, is Open Source. However, for the upgrade itself, it has to be connected to a Windows PC. More on that later. For now, let’s focus on the upgrading progress. And this process took me a good 4 hours to complete, until I found the easy and shortcut way to do it. Trust me, follow this process and the upgrade is done within 15 minutes flat!

galaxy-portal.jpg

What I did wrong before:

  • Installed Samsung PC Studio which was on the CD that came along with my phone.[ This is version 1.4. etc, which is an old one ]
  • Connected my phone via USB cable, and opened up Samsung PCS, and hit the Upgrade button.
  • It goes to download the latest install, and then on to Step 3, which is actual upgrade on the phone, and then it goes on for ages, whilst the phone keeps flashing the Samsung logo.

Here’s the right way to do it.

  • Install the latest version, just to be very sure. Go to Samsung Mobile UK website, and select Samsung Galaxy Portal-> Software, and download the 1.5 version of Samsung PC Studio.
  • Once installed { i.e. after uninstalling the previous version and installing this one } , connect your Samsung Galaxy Portal using the USB Cable. Mount your SD card.

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T-Mobile UK Samsung Galaxy Portal to get Android 2.1 in September

by Sujoy on September 9, 2010

Finally, something good happening for Samsung Galaxy Portal on T-Mobile UK (No points for guessing what my current phone is).

T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy Portal Android 2.1

After being stuck with Android 1.5 aka the cupcake for almost a decade and a half ( it felt that long at least), T-mobile has finally decided to give its (now) older phone – the Galaxy Portal the much awaited Eclair upgrade. This would finally bring a lot of awesomeness to the new phone such as Live wallpapers, better ROM stability, much better memory utilisation and compatibility with all those new apps in the Android market which work for Android 2.1 onwards.

This announcement comes from a T-Mobile employee on its product support forums where customers have been moaning about why the carrier has been delaying the roll out of Eclair for so long, when 3-mobile released the Galaxy portal with Eclair out of the box. The announcement can be read here.

What is not clear, is that the employee’s comment mentions – We will be releasing a software update for the Samsung Galaxy Portal within the next month. This will update your Samsung Galaxy Portal to Android 2.1.

Hence, there is no ETA provided. Well, I’ll surely be refreshing that damn forum page for sure for at least a thousand times a day.

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Update: Samsung Galaxy Portal/Spica and Android Eclair/ Froyo

by Sujoy on June 3, 2010

**Update**

The Android Eclair (2.1) is available for upgrade on the Samsung Galaxy Portal, for T-Mobile UK. If you are facing difficulties, or need help on how to do the upgrade, please follow this ‘How-To’ document,  which explains the process of upgrading the Samsung Galaxy Portal to Android 2.1 using Samsung PC Studio  in easy steps.

Seriously though. It is a big disappointment that ages after launch, my poor little Android phone – Samsung Galaxy Portal is still stuck with Android 1.5- Cupcake. I mean, it’s ok, but it is just that. It certainly isn’t the fancy Eclair flaunting Droids and Nexus. Hell, it is not even 1.6. Add to that, Google has already launched Android 2.2 – Fro-yo. And we still have no signs of T-Mobile UK showing any indications of when my phone is getting an OS upgrade.

Samsung Galaxy Portal

According to this article from ElectricPig, T-Mobile initially had plans of upgrading the OS for its lineup of Android phones by May. And it is already June, and we have no signs of it at all. The initial plans read:-

The HTC Hero / T-Mobile G2 was supposed to get the Android roll out by end of April to beginning of May, which is yet to happen. The T-mobile pulse mini gets the Android 2.1 flavour on April 23 expectedly, and Samsung Galaxy Portal in late May.

Now since, Hero is still yet to see the Eclair roll-out, are we expecting Galaxy Portal’s rollout to be postponed till eternity as well? Also, 3′s launched Galaxy Portal as well in the UK, and from what I’ve heard, all of them run Android 2.1 out of the box.

And seriously, why not let us jump to Froyo straightaway. By the time we are trying to catch up with 2.1, feels like we are obsolete all over again. Thanks T-Mobile, much love.

[ P.S. I tweeted T-Mobile UK asking about the Eclair rollout, no replies yet, and I am sure they will not be replying either].

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Android Scoop: What’s up with Galaxy Spica/Portal upgrade to Eclair?

by Sujoy on March 29, 2010

I recently bought a Samsung Galaxy Portal with T-Mobile UK. This is a pretty decent smartphone and is known as the Galaxy Spica worldwide. Now, like other Android phones that Samsung has released so far, this one also sports Android 1.5 Cupcake. While, we keep waiting for the OS to be updated to the now-so-popular Android 2.1 Eclair as seen on the Nexus One, some bloggers have released some scoop on the hacked upgrade to Android 2.1

Whilst this may not be truly official, the results are more than welcome. But then again, would I want to go that route. Still waiting with bated breathe over the official upgrade news. Samsung did release a press release stating that Germany will be getting an official upgrade to 2.1 for the Galaxy Spica, and the rest of Europe will follow soon.

There’s something bugging me in the press release though. It mentions that the official update can be done from Samsung’s New PC Studio 7. I have searched and searched and then some more for the software. The version of the PC Studio that came with my phone is 1.3. And all I could find on Samsung’s mobile website is Kies, or an older version of the PC Studio. This is no good.

It is already the end of March, and no websites or blogs have any news from Germany being able to upgrade their Galaxy Spica to the latest version.

If you have a Galaxy Spica, have you got your OS upgraded to 2.1 yet? Please comment.

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