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Short questions about firmware from a Android N00b

I

iceq

Lurker
Hi and thanx for coming over.
I got this Galaxy Gio with Android 2.2.1 Froyo XXKC4 .

I like it, but the battery life and the very poor messaging management.
Of course I am obsessed with upgrading, just like any other Android user.
I installed Kies latest version (2.0.3), and it does not say there is a new Android upgrade (what a stupid piece of software anyway that can't backup messages!)
So, Googling, I found these 2 articles:
EDIT: the forum prevented me from posting links, so just please paste this into your Google search bar and check the first 2 results:
how to update Samsung galaxy gio S5660 234:androidadvices.com

Notice that although both articles refer to firmware 234, the code (or firmware version,I really dont know what you call these) is different: in one it is lvhkp7 and in the other it is XXKQ3 , and the guys there do not explain what is the difference !

I have been searching for 7 hours now for the official website where one can download the new Android firmware to upgrade, guess what, NONE !
I dont believe Android has only android market which they profit from !
I dont trust any website and dont want to download any firmware that might not be safe or virus infected.

So:

1- If one wants to upgrade, where should he go?

2- Kies did not say anything about a new firmware, not even 2.3.3 (which it seems is released). So does Kies upgrade firmware anyway? How? When?

2.5- what is the difference between the above mentioned 2.3.4 firmwares?

3-Is upgrading usually safe? I know I have to backup contacts, messages, etc, but other than that?

4- Can I backup my current system status (like System Image in Windows) so that if anything goes wrong, I simply revert back?

5- Can I download android apps NOT from the Market? I am having a problem getting my device to be associated with my G account. Can I download the APKs from somewhere else which does not demand an association with any device?

I would be glad for any tips, important info that any new Android user should know. I really searched for hours and no luck.

Thank you
 
OK....

1- don't know...my phone was had 2.3.4 pre-installed and there is no update above that as far as I know.

2-don't know, see above.

2.5- 2.3.3 and 2.3.4 are almost identical...check the android wiki page

3 and 4-see #2...g-mail backs up some things..I had back-ups of everything on my old galaxy i7500 but I was swapping rom's and themes every second day. (phone started as 1.5 and finished as 2.3.1 before i abandoned it).since this phone (for me) does not need a bunch of modded firmware or rom's to make it a decent, usable phone, I haven't bothered looking into it.

5- i have downloaded apps (.apk) directly from the developers and put them on my phones sd card through windows explorer...go to whatever file manager is on your phone, find the copied file and install it....works great

I was prompted to plug my phone in last night and my up-time since last unplugged was 4 days and 2 hours +...this has been the best battery life of any phone i have had in the last 5 years...my wifes i-phone only lasts 2 days.

there used to be a website called samsungfirmwares.com or something...supposedly a reputable site by samsung/android devs...never used it myself...I don't think samsungs own website would ever contain firmwares...they want you to buy a new phone...not upgrade your old one...thats the problem I had from day one with my old galaxy i7500. fortunately there was a nice little community dedicated to that specific model and the improvement of it...I don't know if that will ever happen with this phone...probably not until a new version of android is released followed by samsung not upgrading this line of phones...somebody with some programming knowledge will get pi**ed off and crack the kernel and code for this phone and then we will start playing a bit deeper with these phones. right now, as long as the most current version of android available is out for this phone...I don't think anyone will try to do anything wild and crazy with the firmwares. I beleive keis only initiates upgrades as the provider(s) in your country request it to be put out. (I might be wrong)
 
Thank you friend.
1- I did not ask about firmwares 2.3.3 and 2.3.4 but the two different versions of 2.3.4 whose names I quoted above.

2- Regarding the APKs, I can't download from the market using the phone itself cause I have no internet access in it, and there are no free wireless networks here at all. The only option is to download via PC and move them to the phone using the USB cable. But it seems one can't download anything from the silly damn market except using the phone, which just sucks.

3- I guess you are referring to samfirmware.com . Yes, I saw it, but that is why I asked in the first place whether there is a safe place, official which gives the upgrades to be downloaded. I dont have enough reasons to trust that website as long as it is not official.

4 - my last question was about whether it is safe to upgrade using that software called Odin, or not.

Thank you for your time and effort
 
My quick reply

2) It is not safe to download APKs from third party websites and install into your phone, however you can find virtually all APKs on the third party websites. For example, goto filecrop.com and search for APK, you will find tons of them

4) It is safe to upgrade your phone through Odin, I have done it several times and I am using firmwares from samfirmware.com, so far so good, no problems.

If you have internet access on PC, why not you just add a wireless access point and use your phone to download Apps direct from market ?
 
Ijaz Ahmed said:
My quick reply

2) It is not safe to download APKs from third party websites and install into your phone, however you can find virtually all APKs on the third party websites. For example, goto filecrop.com and search for APK, you will find tons of them

4) It is safe to upgrade your phone through Odin, I have done it several times and I am using firmwares from samfirmware.com, so far so good, no problems.

If you have internet access on PC, why not you just add a wireless access point and use your phone to download Apps direct from market ?
Click to expand...

Salam Alaikom and Shokran bro.
Do you know of a quick guide somewhere which explains "adding a wireless access point" ? Please dont tell me I need to buy some equipment for this though :)

I'd be glad also if you could tell me what is the difference (if you know) between the different versions of the same 2.3.4 Gio firmware.
 
Wa-alaikum Salam

Android OS (as released by Google) needs to be customized by handset manufacturers so that it can be used on particular hardware. Also, many handset manufacturers modify the basic OS and add new features, for example if you have a look at Nexus One and a Samsung Galaxy, you will notice lot of differences. This is because Samsung has modified the basic OS.

Since Samsung is a big company and sells mobile phones worldwide, so they offer region specific ROMs. These numbers like XXJVK or XXJVH are telling you which region this ROM is for, and its revision number etc.

For a detailed letter code scheme of Samsung, have a look at http://www.samfirmware.com/WEBPROTECT-s5660.htm

Samsung releases firmware via Kies only - no official website is there. These releases are made as and when available and not necessarily to every region on the globe.

Most of the firmwares are however, leaked and then published on the net before they become available via Kies.

So there would be very minor difference between the two variants which you are curious about. Since these both are leaked versions, so really nobody knows the differences or changelog.

I hope you understand my point. There are two ways, either wait for your region specific update to be available via Kies or go ahead and install a leaked ROM.

Finally before I can tell you how to add a Wireless Access Point (which you will have to buy, unfortunately) tell me how do you connect your PC to internet ?? Do you have DSL , cable or a wireless internet thing ?
 
Aah.. thank you very much. Things are much clearer now. I connect to internet using a USB netstik.. internet is very costly here in South Africa (I am Palestinian came here to study), and I could afford to buy this netstik. But usually when at campus, I connect either through the university's wireless network or wired network (LAN). I tried an application called Connectify, and tried the three routes: netstik, wireless, and wired, but no luck with it. I just want to download the APKs to my laptop and transfer them to the Gio then install them.
Anyway, I think I will dismiss that all..
may I ask you, if you were me, would you upgrade to the latest available leaked rom or just wait for it to be offered via Kies? Since my Gio's rom is now 2.2.1 Froyo, and I saw on Samfirmware that there is already 2.2.3 and even 2.3.4 ,and Kies still does not offer an upgrade, could it be that they will NOT at all offer it?
should I upgrade then?
 
iceq said:
if you were me, would you upgrade to the latest available leaked rom or just wait for it to be offered via Kies? Since my Gio's rom is now 2.2.1 Froyo, and I saw on Samfirmware that there is already 2.2.3 and even 2.3.4 ,and Kies still does not offer an upgrade, could it be that they will NOT at all offer it?
should I upgrade then?
Click to expand...

Probably South Africa is not a good market in the eyes of Samsung. Mostly they issue upgrades for Europe first, and then for other regions.

I have upgraded my Galaxy S using a leaked ROM and found out that battery management is much much better and the phone performs more smoothly without any lags.

There are some ways to fool the Kies so that it thinks as if you are in a region for which upgrade is available, I don't remember exactly but it was something modification in registry. You can Google for Kies registery hack for Gio
 
Hi guys!
I have a Samsung Galaxy Gio (S5660) since July. It was working fine until I updated to Gingerbread.
When the display was on standby once I pressed the power button it would light up almost instantly...now it takes about a second. Same goes for when I've finished a phone call: it takes about a second for the display to come back again when I move the phone.
It's annoying considering upgrade should improve things, not make them worse!
I don't know exactly what the original firmware was, but I don't really care...I would just like one that makes it as fast as before.
Searching in the forum I've found this link:
[Custom Rom]GIOPRO v1.3 (Android 2.3.4) - xda-developers
and this other website:
Login - www.SamFirmware.com
But I don't know which firmware to choose. What do you suggest?
Ah: I live in Italy and at the moment my firmware is branded (I think...it has the telephone company's name next to the firmware).

PS: If this is the wrong section or if my question is unappropriate, I excuse myself and will move it somewhere else. :)
 
Ijaz Ahmed said:
My quick reply

2) It is not safe to download APKs from third party websites and install into your phone, however you can find virtually all APKs on the third party websites. For example, goto filecrop.com and search for APK, you will find tons of them
Click to expand...


I think that this statement is only partially true...you need to be very specific where you get your .apks from. Many developers who build the apps/games on the market have their own websites and if you do a bit of investigating you will find the sites/developers that seem a bit shady and the ones that are more upstanding. I have downloaded a few dozen apps this way when the market makes them unavailable.
I recently downloaded the .apk for an earlier version of google maps. I read that a previous version contained a 'lab' for saving maps to use as offline navigation...it was eliminated in an update a few months back and I wanted to try it...I found the correct .apk in several places..did a bit of investigating to find the most trustworthy looking site and downloaded it...works great...I just needed to turn off the auto update for maps and now I have offline nav for a few cities I will be vacationing in this fall.
I also got the dsp manager app from xda (I think)...I like the way I can shape the sound of my music with this app over any other...it is not available in the market (I believe it is a factory app for HTC, I could be wrong)...works great
Be picky, don't grab the first .apk that catches your fancy...chances are if it is available in the market and you can find the developers website - you will be o.k.....downloading a non-market .apk from a bootleg site that is promising free downloads of normally paid apps is putting your phone at risk.

For me, this was a $100 phone...I am going to use it to its fullest and experiment with the different facets of gingerbread until I am ready to get into a new contract with a more upscale phone.....If I brick it...oh well, another $100 and swap my sim and a lesson learned. I know this is not the case for everyone...just my opinion
 
Up. :)
Basically my question is: what can I do to speed up my Galaxy Gio which has slowed down since I updated to Gingerbread? What is the best firmware for my phone?
Thankyou. :)
 
maghians said:
Up. :)
Basically my question is: what can I do to speed up my Galaxy Gio which has slowed down since I updated to Gingerbread? What is the best firmware for my phone?
Thankyou. :)
Click to expand...

I upgraded my Gio to the stock firmware 2.3.5 with the firmware provided by SAMfirmware.com. It works well and the instructions are rather straight forward. Some custom firmware version may be faster but hardware incompatibilities are always a risk.

linky

The instructions is there too.

The 2.3.5 version is in German but it's easy enough to change it to anything else (settings->locale and text -> Select Language).
 
FrizzleZA said:
I upgraded my Gio to the stock firmware 2.3.5 with the firmware provided by SAMfirmware.com. It works well and the instructions are rather straight forward. Some custom firmware version may be faster but hardware incompatibilities are always a risk.

linky

The instructions is there too.

The 2.3.5 version is in German but it's easy enough to change it to anything else (settings->locale and text -> Select Language).
Click to expand...

maghians said:
Thanks for the help! I'll try.
The link you posted doesn't work though.
Click to expand...

Fixed the link in his post:)

try it now
 
That link is perfect! Thankyou both. :)
I'll try and see if 2.3.5 does the trick!
Will let you know and if it does, I will open a topic explaining the problem and the solution.
 
FrizzleZA said:
I upgraded my Gio to the stock firmware 2.3.5 with the firmware provided by SAMfirmware.com. It works well and the instructions are rather straight forward. Some custom firmware version may be faster but hardware incompatibilities are always a risk.

linky

The instructions is there too.

The 2.3.5 version is in German but it's easy enough to change it to anything else (settings->locale and text -> Select Language).
Click to expand...
I've put 2.3.5 on my Galaxy Gio but nothing's changed: the phone is slow...in every aspect of it.
If you don't have any other suggestions, I will probably try to go back to Froyo (2.2.1). :(
 
Just installed Froyo 2.2.1 and the increase in speed is amazing! :)
Finally it's gone back to how it was!
You probably know GioPro...it's based on Gingerbread but claims to have a "Batery life & performance tweak". Do you know if this is really something tangible or if it is just a very small improvement? I mean: does it maintain the lag problems I had with Gingerbread or does it solve them?
If it's not worth trying, I'll open the topic I promised to Nightangel explaining problem and solution. ;)
 
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