Archive for: update
In recent days we’ve seen a lot of back and forth commentary as to whether the Windows Phone 7 NoDo update utilities are actually harmful to future updates. Developer of ChevronWP7.Updater, Chris Walsh has maintained that his utility isn’t flawed. Naysayers have said that it has the potential to prevent future updates from happening. And today, Microsoft weighed in on the issue with their own official commentary. As one would assume, Microsoft’s stance is that NoDo utilities that forcefully and unofficially update phones can cause issues down the road up to and including updated devices from receiving future, official updates from Microsoft and carriers.
Of course, the debate could go on for days on end with people both for and against such tools. Taking a trip through various Windows Phone 7 forums will find plenty of users that have updated without any hassle whatsoever and then even received official upgrade notifications afterwards.
In short: if you’re paranoid or not the most technologically literate, wait. The way we see it is that if a future issue does crop up, the active dev/hacker community will find a way to fix it. They already “fix” phones unnecessarily gimped by manufacturers and carriers for monetary purposes. Why not this?
While Apple has done a tremendous job in creating a mobile mecca revolving around a few popular devices that all being with “i”, they still have their fair share of failures — namely devs turned away by Apple’s ultra strict policies regarding their App Store. But the developers turned away (or not wanting to be part of the Apple club) aren’t crying in their beer. They’re busy making the iOS platform a better place.
TodaySeveral days ago, Cydia 1.1 was publicly released bringing with it some very important changes:
- Decrease in Cydia memory usage
- Improved search algorithm
- Lets iOS run Activator, libstatusbar, and SimulatedKeyEvents while Cydia is running
- Speed improvements throughout
My biggest gripe with Cydia has always been that’s is slower than molasses in December and isn’t very good at multi-tasking. But those complaints appear to be getting addressed.
Cydia users should automatically be prompted that a new version is available upon firing it up. Go on a head and get the 1.1 update and let us know what you think!
Fans of the MyTouch 3G Slide have no doubt grown anxious over the previous weeks and months wondering if their beloved handset was ever going to see a worthwhile upgrade. Well, wait no more Slide owners. HTC has released an official Android 2.2.1 (Froyo) update for your device.
The only “con” we can find is that the update is strictly manual at this point — there is no OTA to speak of. Eager Slide users will need to point their desktop browsers over here to HTC’s official MyTouch 3G Slide page, download said update, and follow the instructions to get their device up and running with Android 2.2.1. In all honesty, the process isn’t hard at all, so there’s no reason not to update. Have at it kids…
As awesome as the HTC Thunderbolt is, we’re pretty sure an HTC Thunderbolt rockin’ Android 2.3 Gingerbread would be even better. And despite constant rumors that the Android 2.3 update for the Thunderbolt is “coming soon”, no official word has been made thus far. But that is neither here nor there as a concerned Thunderbolt owner experiencing some bluetooth issues with his new hotness sent HTC an email regarding said issues. The response offers up some interesting information, with the most intriguing being a Q2 2011 release date for the Thunderbolt’s Android 2.3 update. Of course, the email also lists NFC as a capability of the Thunderbolt — a “feature” that is impossible given the Thunderbolt’s lack of any NFC hardware. Nevertheless, our fingers are crossed.
Hop past for the full email…
- January 18, 2011 11:36 pm
Is Samsung charging for Android updates as we highlighted earlier, and thereby causing carriers to avoid Android 2.2 updates for Galaxy S devices? It’s hard saying at this point, though Samsung certainly denies the whole thing. Samsung sent a reply to PhoneScoop, stressing they aren’t artificially blocking any updates, and that more details on the very topic at hand would be coming soon. The reassurance is nice to hear, but after the Samsung Omnia II fiasco, “trust” isn’t exactly something Samsung has won over from me.
If you’re like most of the U.S. population currently rockin’ a Samsung Galaxy S device, you’re no doubt deep in thought about why your device is still dragging along with Android 2.1. Unfortunately thus far, neither Samsung or the carriers distributing Galaxy S devices are saying anything on the matter. However, at this point in the game it is obvious the move is a calculated and planned move by Samsung (and possibly others) as numerous rooted ROMs have shown Galaxy S devices running Android 2.2 just fine. But wonder around aimlessly we have to do no more. “The Samsung Secret” just spilled a bunch of background information over at XDA about how Samsung is classifying Android 2.2 as a “feature upgrade” and requiring a per device upgrade fee for the privilege. Naturally, the carriers aren’t too happy to pay for an open source operating system update many times over. And in an act of defiance and protest, they’ve seemingly come together and refused to pay Samsung’s upgrade fees in hopes that Samsung will drop the practice.
It’s certainly alarming even if it wasn’t all that surprising. Though it further backs my opinion of Samsung (in the mobile smartphone arena at least) — they care little for their customers and only about their bottom end. With that said, I will never buy a Samsung smartphone as long as they employ this methodology for firmware/OS updates. Perhaps if enough end users start doing the same, some real change can happen. Full account after the jump…
Over the last few months, Samsung has been in hot water within various user forums for their slow to non-existant updates for their in-house Android devices. The Samsung Behold II/Android 1.6 fiasco was a large blemish in Sammie’s past. And the latest device, the Samsung Vibrant, appears to be another developing one with an XDA forum member by the name of MicBeast launching a class action lawsuit against not only Samsung, but T-Mobile as well.
The case: Samsung and T-Mobile are deliberately delaying Android updates to push people towards upgrading hardware sooner (at higher costs).
It will be interesting to see how far the case actually gets. Expect Android fragmentation, custom skins, and other update-related topics to move to the forefront of Android forums and the tech world as a whole if the case moves forward. We’ll be following this closely and report to you as it unfolds.
Steve Ballmer may have been light on information regarding the big Windows Phone 7 update scheduled for release in early 2011, but thanks to an URL given out by Microsoft themselves we now have a pretty good guess on when it will actually be pushed out. The URL:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsphone/en-us/features/january-update.aspx
Besides copy/paste functionality (which we saw last night at Microsoft’s keynote), improved speed throughout the operating system, improved search, and other general tweaks here and there make up the first maintenance release of Microsoft’s new mobile OS. If there’s still some doubt in your mind, check out the loose-lipped link yourself.
Any more questions?
- December 30, 2010 12:37 pm
Since Sprint pushed out an Evo 4G update earlier this month, reports have been steadily rising, noting various issues cropping up. Issues such as weaker battery life, slow/laggy user interface, continuous WiFi dropouts, random SD card un-mounting, and sporadic speakerphone are some of the more serious problems. Some users are so frustrated they’re claiming the update made the Evo 4G worse — we can certainly see why.
Thus far, Sprint has yet to acknowledge any issues with the recent Evo 4G update. The evidence is hard to ignore, however. This update is clearly broken. Let us know if you’ve experienced any issues since updating.
