Samsung Takes Flak for Leaving Androids Behind
By Jared Newman | Thursday, January 13, 2011 at 9:28 am
This rumor is about as shaky as they come, but Android Spin is accusing Samsung of deliberately withholding the Android 2.2 upgrade from T-Mobile’s Vibrant just to drum up sales of the Froyo-equipped Samsung Vibrant 4G. The report quotes an unnamed source, supposedly from within T-Mobile.
While I have my doubts about that report — at least, I don’t want to believe Samsung would stoop so low — AndroidDose points out one irrefutable fact: Samsung has not upgraded any of its Galaxy S phones to Android 2.2 in the United States (including T-Mobile’s Vibrant, Verizon’s Fascinate, AT&T’s Captivate, Sprint’s Epic 4G and U.S. Cellular’s Mesmerize). The company hasn’t even announced a timeline, six months after the first Galaxy S phones launched stateside on AT&T and T-Mobile.
In fairness, Samsung has said that it’s still working on the updates, but the company is among the slowest of all Android superphone vendors to push out an upgrade. HTC’s Droid Incredible and Evo 4G were updated in August. Motorola’s Droid X got the upgrade in September.
Still, Samsung may not deserve all the blame here. Wireless carriers are ultimately responsible for sending out updates, and Samsung has updated its Galaxy S phones in the Nordic region, the United Kingdom and Canada. The company has cited “complexity/unique functionality” as reasons for the delay in the United States, which makes me wonder whether carrier bloatware is to blame.
Even so, Samsung is the one whose reputation takes a hit. I like to think that enthusiasts, such as the ones who run Android blogs, trickle their product recommendations down to the masses, so it’s bad news for Samsung when one blog accuses the company of intentionally short-changing its customers and another says that it no longer trusts the company.
The solution? Samsung ought to explain in detail what’s taking so long and when, honestly, Galaxy S owners can expect their upgrade. Nothing like a little clarity to put out incendiary rumors.
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January 13th, 2011 at 2:07 am
I absolutely do not discount such a possibility. Samsung had been VERY unclear and shady with this 2.2 update, only someone naive would not sense that something is not quite right. How is 2.2 so very different in the US, but Canada, the UK, Europe and Asia can get the update? Samsung dropped the ball and this is my last Samsung product with only one exception – last month I got the Nexus S for my wife only because Samsung has NO SAY in the software handling. It is a pure Google phone and from now on this will be the only kind of Android devices I will be buying. Samsung can shove their tabs and "touch wiz" crap up theirs. VERY disappointed. There is no way Galaxy S owners will ever be running an up-to-date version if Android OS.
January 13th, 2011 at 9:46 am
my wife and son's samsun intercept updated to android 2.2 last week on sprint. my epic still hasn't updated.
January 13th, 2011 at 9:47 am
Yeah but, they also have Bada OS to work on! I wonder how long they will carry that out.
January 13th, 2011 at 9:56 am
I'm a captivate owner. This is the first samsung and android, this will be the first of many android phones but the last samsung i buy. With android, you have to be committed to staying current with the os. Samsung would rather focus on home appliances than update their android phones
January 13th, 2011 at 10:31 am
Samsung has a long track record of not providing updates, false promises and incomplete updates, examples are:
– Behold
– Momento
– Galaxy S
So there us no way you can blame carriers, this is Samsungs fault all the way.
I am advicing all my customers to stay clear away from Samsung, given their track record. They are not worth any money.
Samsung had a chance to come clean, now I shall never consider it a worthwhile option.
This past week I dissuade hundreds of customers away from Samsung towards other brands, on merits of other devices, though mainly on the fact that Samsung equals frustration, all that needs to be done, is ask consumers to read users reviews online, Samsung drops out of the radar instantly, their hardware is worthless without timely updates, no one likes ti own an outdated phone.
January 13th, 2011 at 10:38 am
What this all comes down to is that regardless of the blame, millions of Galaxy S phone owners in the United states are the victims. Whether it is the carriers or Samsung that is holding the Froyo upgrade up, Samsung stands to be the loser in this mess since the perception is they are the villains. They have released a seemingly somewhat defective product, issues that have been reported since July, and they have done as little as possible to rectify them. I speak of the GPS issue, the random shutdown issue and in my case, the Captivate that I own switches into search mode without any intervention on my part what-so-ever. I agree if Samsung did explain as to why there has been no upgrade that it would go a long way to mending their public relations issue that is brewing big time. I remember when the IPhone4 was released and some people who complained about the reception issue were sent a Galaxy S free of charge so Samsung seemingly has forgotten about this and has put it's customers in a compromising position just as Apple did. Apparently they learned nothing from this and that is sad however we do have choices when our contracts are over. Only time will tell if Samsung will be hurt by this fiasco.
January 13th, 2011 at 12:45 pm
I sent Samsung an email about the lack of froyo update for my the epic 4g. The response was that froyo has already been released for the epic……the delay must be sprints fault but it makes samsung look foolish to tell a customer their phone should be updated when it is clearly not.
January 13th, 2011 at 4:54 pm
Last Samsung product for me.
January 13th, 2011 at 6:00 pm
Thank goodness a lot of phone manufactures will be coming out with nice hardware for android.. NEVER AGAIN Samsung you greedy little Korean MOFOs!
January 13th, 2011 at 7:20 pm
This is exactly the reason that I will never buy another Android phone, from Samsung or otherwise. Samsung may be the worst offender, but most handset makers stop providing updates within a year of launching any of their handsets.
With Android 2.3 already out, why is Samsung even still working on 2.2? By the time they get 2.2 shipped, 2.4 will already have been released by Google. It's completely idiotic, and it's going to push a lot of people off the platform.
iPhone, WP7, and WebOS are all more polished experiences. They've each got their deficiencies, for sure, but so does Android. However, at least with those other platforms, you know what you're getting. Android is a total crap-shoot.
January 13th, 2011 at 8:47 pm
You know AT&T wants to have it 'fixed' first to stop tethering, install bloatware, take off Google search/maps, make your YouTube 'safesearch' only, and pretty much cripple the crap out of it. Supposedly they keep sending back the finished product.
January 14th, 2011 at 4:01 am
I left Samsung years ago and will never consider the brand again (at least not their phones and other gadgets that resemble some sort of mobile computing device) for the same reason: Lack of after-sales support. I've had lots of Samsung phones (mostly WinMo-based) that have been left out from updates despite a huge number of bugs still existing.