New Gingerbread Leak for the Samsung Captivate Based on Android 2.3.5
A new Gingerbread build has leaked for the Samsung Captivate, this time based around Android 2.3.5. Going under build number UCKJ1, the new software looks to freshen up the AT&T device in light of the release of the Samsung Galaxy S II , its successor. If you are stuck in a contract and can’t look forward to taking home the upgraded sequel, at least you can feel like AT&T and Samsung have not forgotten you and your Captivate.
[via AndroidCentral]
Rogers Samsung Captivate Users Reportedly Receiving Android 2.3 Gingerbread Update
Some Samsung Captivate owners on the Rogers network in Canada are being notified that the Android 2.3 update is now available for their device. The update is applied via Kies and should fix a number of issues the device has been plagued with for awhile now, namely — Android 2.2. The update being ready for “America Jr.” can only mean one thing: the US can’t be too far behind. I’m rooting for you guys!
[Via MobileSyrup]
Refresh Roundup: week of August 22, 2011
Your smartphone and / or tablet is just begging to get updated. From time to time, these mobile devices are blessed with maintenance refreshes, bug fixes, custom ROMs and anything in between, and so many of them are floating around that it’s easy for a sizable chunk to get lost in the mix. To make sure they don’t escape without notice, we’ve gathered every possible update, hack, and other miscellaneous tomfoolery from the last week and crammed them into one convenient roundup. If you find something available for your device, please give us a shout at tips at engadget dawt com and let us know. Enjoy!
Official Android Updates
- Motorola’s Photon 4G was the recipient of a minor over-the-air firmware revamp that offers improvements to responsiveness and voice calls, and offers more bug fixes and other enhancements. [via PhoneArena]
- Want another bug fix update? The HTC EVO 3D is the next contestant, rolling out its second OTA refresh in as many weeks. This time it appears that a new “Corporate 4G” widget and a new radio have been added. [via AndroidCentral]
- Gingerbread 2.3.4 is now rolling out to Bell’s Motorola Atrix 4G OTA. [via MobileSyrup]
- Now that its official Gingerbread support page has gone live, Verizon’s Motorola Droid 2 will likely be receiving Android 2.3 in the very near future. [via AndroidCentral]
- Sasktel’s HTC Incredible S is now the beneficiary of Android 2.3.3 in an OTA install. [via MobileSyrup]
Unofficial Android updates / custom ROMs / misc hackery
- Remember that Gingerbread update the HTC Droid Incredible was supposed to get? The official version’s been leaked out and is awaiting your download. Just remember the follow the directions and back up your device before proceeding. [via AndroidPolice]
- Speaking of leaked versions of Gingerbread, the Droid 2 Global has one now. More info can be found here. [via Droid-Life]
- The Motorola Droid 3‘s been successfully rooted. As it turns out, there may be a couple different methods to do so, so check out the link to learn how to do it. [via XDA and AndroidCentral]
- An official build of Android 2.3.4 for the Samsung Captivate has been leaked to XDA. [via Phandroid]
Other platforms
- The Nokia N8 was recently blessed with Symbian Anna, but a few camera-related upgrades were left out. No need to fear, as an “experimental” update is now being offered, which adds continuous auto-focus and tweaks the UI to allow for faster access to the camera — among other improvements, such as a boost to 30fps. Check out the change log here. [via ZOMGitsCJ]
- Given last week’s news about webOS, we were concerned the newly-launched Pre3 would be DOA, with no promise of future updates. HP’s proving this isn’t the case, however, as the device got a minor update that brought the phone’s help center live and fixed a few bugs along the way. [via PreCentral and PhoneArena]
- Research in Motion released an upgrade to its Tablet OS for the BlackBerry PlayBook. Unfortunately, it’s not the 2.0 version we saw leaked screenshots of earlier this week, but it still brings a nice feature to the tablet: differential updates. This means that in future OS refreshes, only the affected sections will be changed. In addition, the new version, dubbed 1.0.7.2942, will improve WiFi connectivity via WEP and enhancements to BlackBerry Bridge. [via RIM]
- WP7Mod showed a video of the HTC HD2 booting up with Windows Phone Mango’s RTM build installed. We’ve been told that it’s almost ready for any daring souls interested in a new challenge for their Windows Mobile device. [via WMPowerUser]
Refresh Roundup: week of August 22, 2011 originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 28 Aug 2011 09:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Android 2.3.4 Gingerbread Leaked For The Samsung Captivate
Back in June we saw Android 2.3.3 leak for the Samsung Captivate and the leaks just keep on coming. This time we have an official leaked build of Android 2.3.4 for the Cappy courtesy of Przekret over on XDA. I’m not going to tell you how to flash this (Odin) or even recommend that you try it out for yourself. Just know that it is out there and if you’re rooted, I’m sure some crafty developers have already cooked up a few good ROMs from this.
[Via XDA]
Thanks, Drew!
Android 2.3.3 Gingerbread Leaks for the Samsung Captivate
Though no official word has gone out on the status of the Gingerbread update for the US lineup of Galaxy S phones, a leak of not one, but two builds of the Android 2.3.3 firmware for the Samsung Captivate suggests it might not be far off. Build number UCKE3 and UCKF1 are dated May 26th and June 8th, respectively, and come courtesy of SamFirmware. These come as the first official builds of the latest version of Android for smartphones for any of the US variants of the Galaxy S, though the international model has already seen the update in some regions. When the update could become official in the States is anyone’s guess.
[via Pocketnow]
CyanogenMod 7 comes to a handful of new Samsung devices
The CyanogenMod family of devices is continuing to grow, with this week seeing official support of its first Samsung device, AT&T’s Captivate. But that wasn’t the only Sammy phone to gain the privilege. Also added to the ranks were the Samsung Galaxy S, Vibrant, and Nexus S 4G.
ROMs for these phones haven’t reached official release candidate stature, but the first nightly builds of CyanogenMod 7, based on Android 2.3.4, came online last night. If you feel comfortable enough with your rooting skills to give these early builds a go, you can find them at CM’s page for your downloading pleasure. Or simply click here for the Galaxy S, here for the Vibrant, here for the Nexus S 4G, or here for the Captivate.
[via AndroidPolice]
Select AT&T Android devices may get app sideloading as early as today
It’s a classic romantic tale of “network meets OS, network disables OS,” and just like any love story, this one is building up to a happy ending. Fourteen months after AT&T introduced a lineup of crippled Android phones that weren’t allowed to install third-party apps, the carrier extended an olive branch to fans of the OS by quietly slipping the sideloading capability onto the Samsung Infuse 4G; now, the network is reportedly updating three members of its Android lineup — the HTC Inspire 4G, HTC Aria, and Samsung Captivate — sometime today. We’re sure there were many Atrix users scanning this short list with fingers crossed, but unfortunately your phone did not make the cut this time. No word on why your favs were left out, but at least four devices with Amazon Appstore access is still better than zero. At present time we haven’t seen the updates get pushed to our phones, however, so we’d love to hear if any of you have seen differently down in comments below.
Select AT&T Android devices may get app sideloading as early as today originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 16 May 2011 17:50:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
AT&T Issuing Updates to Select Android Phones to Enable Sideloading
It’s time. Time for AT&T to give you a bit more freedom over your Android smartphone, that is. It’s been leaked that they’ll begin issuing updates to select Android handsets – including the HTC Aria and Inspire 4G and the Samsung Captivate – that’ll allow users to sideload applications. (IE, install applications from sources outside of the Android market.)
We knew of their plans back when the Amazon Appstore launched. AT&T had a page specifically for the incompatibility and assured everyone that updates would allow users to take advantage of Amazon’s Appstore in the near future.
They didn’t hint toward what solution they’d be going for at that time. (Some speculated they were working with Amazon to customize the Appstore to install applications without using Android’s native .APK installer. We’re glad they just chose to open the phones up, though. I
t’s worthy to note that the newly-released Samsung Infuse 4G already has this functionality. And oddly enough, Motorola’s stable of phone – including the dual-core ATRIX 4G – are missing from the equation. Let’s hope that changes sometime soon. [AC]
Radio Shack Offering Some Decent Discounts on AT&T Devices May 1st
If you’re looking to pick up the HTC EVO 4G, the HTC Inspire 4G, or the Motorola ATRIX 4G soon, consider what Radio Shack has to offer. The EVO 4G can be had for $200 but only after trading in your own device for a guaranteed $50 store credit. Two high-end Androids from AT&T are also up for grabs, too, with the HTC Inspire 4G and the Motorola ATRIX 4G comig in at $50 and $100, respectively.
The promotion begins May 1st and ends May 7th. Not the greatest deals (in fact Best Buy has the Atrix 4G for $30), but options are options. As a bonus, the Samsung Captivate for AT&T is being offered for free as part of their Mother’s Day sale between May 4th and May 8th.
Samsung Captivate Gets Direct AT&T Billing For Media Hub Purchases
Part of the reason making mobile purchases from your phone haven’t quite taken of yet is because, well… it’s a pain. You’ve got to fill in your credit card information, add this information, verify your e-mail address and whatever else. The promise of NFC is encouraging but its real-world integrations are currently limited.
Samsung Captivate Users, on the other hand, are enjoying a seamless process where they can purchase goodies on their phone and have simple billing provided directly through their AT&T account. Now THAT’S simple. The purchases apply to content downloaded from the Samsung Media Hub app on the Captivate from which movies and televisions shows are available.
Most people are enemies of carrier billing services due to scams like monthly “ringtone” rebills and ” joke of the day” offers where you download something once, didn’t realize you had to pay for it, and all of a sudden you’re paying a monthly fee from which you can’t unsubscribe. Once more legitimate companies start offering “real” services like this… purchases from mobile phones should definitely increase and get more diverse.
Here is the E-Mail I received from Samsung regarding the new service:
Samsung Mobile is excited to announce access to direct billing for Samsung’s Media Hub Movie and TV content service through AT&T. Captivate users can now download their favorite movie or TV show on their Samsung AT&T Android device and have the option to place that charge directly to their monthly AT&T service bill.
By aligning with top studios, Samsung’s Media Hub service allows users to rent or own their favorite movies, TV episodes and entire TV seasons and enjoy the best possible viewing and sound experience on our Media Hub-enabled devices. Media Hub offers customers a robust collection of movie and next day TV show titles from CBS, Fox, MTV Networks, NBC Universal, Paramount and Warner Bros. Digital Distribution. Media Hub customers who purchase content to permanently own can share that content with five devices enabled with Media Hub at no extra cost.
Enjoy, Captivate users!