Samsung i8910 HD update (JB1) finally out

JB1 is the first February firmware release, although it is now 2 weeks old and has been available via 3rd party "custom" firmwares, such as HyperX's HX2.02 firmware: http://www.hyperx.allroms.net/?page_id=335 (HyperX's firmware gives 80MB free on C😊

Basic changelog for this firmware:

* Kinetic scrolling throughout OS, except for when viewing messages. (there is kinetic scrolling in main menu, but its implemented "oddly"😉
* Podcasting application fixed
* New build of Web (internet browser). The browser automatically loads full screen now
* Changed and improved camera and video recorder settings, including some audio codec tweaks
* Default connectivity options changed (improves battery life without affecting how the phone actually "works"😉
* 5.1 surround audio available in Music Player without having headphones plugged in

General consensus (from people who tried it yesterday) is that:

1) (and the biggest sticking point) is that free space on C after flashing is only 16.9mb!). This from several people who have installed and then *#7370# before using.

2) Video is still the same. IE, Drops frames at 720p. Camera quality appears to be the same.

3) Kinetic scrolling is there (in some screens), but considered to be slow, especially in the gallery and music player.

I think that this is a "if it ain't broke..." firmware. If your current firmware is working fine for you, skip this one. There appears to be nothing notable to go through the hassle of updating a non-UDP device.

Those people who have an i8910 (and are not already using this firmware in one version or another), I would recommend you use a custom version of the firmware, which includes many tweaks and fixes *above* those that Samsung delivered.

Go to http://www.hyperx-i8910.com and download the HX 2.0.2 firmware. It is based upon Samsung's JB1 firmware, but with additional tweaks which make it a far better phone. And it comes with over 80MB free on C: as default.

Things which are *wrong* with the JB1 firmware:

* Kinetic scrolling through large lists (large mailboxes and large music collections) is slow and choppy
* Gallery thumbnails have to be created / loaded the first time gallery is used. This can be slow if you have lots and lots of pictures / videos
* The basic Messaging application bugs still exist. (Nokia / Symbian Foundation need to re-write the application)
* This firmware (and ALL the Samsung kinetic firmware builds (there have been many)) break some of the functionality in Route 66, leading to application crashes if a particular part of the interface is pressed

Incidentally, even using the stock Samsung firmware, the lack of free space on C: is no where near as much of a show stopper as it proved on the N97. No Samsung firmware has made decent use of the space / availability of the C: drive, and I don't know of any user, in any i8910 community, who has actually suffered a problem.

Sorry, but that's naive. Web still seems to use disk C: for its cache. So browse a few heavy sites and that's another 10MB gone. Which leaves you with only 7MB free for ALL your PIM data and ALL operating system temp files.

Simply madness.

Stu, that's an interesting statement you made. Can you elaborate more please?
We all know that use of applications like web, opera, etc. consumes space on C for cache and certain applications (when installed) force themselves on the C drive (like quickoffice). Plus I have seen that even if you install all apps on memory card / mass memory, certain files as part of installation are still on C and over a period of time, this space keeps reducing. Plus, we have heard people all around the web that it is possible to install Nokia apps on the i8910. Can you imagine what would happen if you decide to install the latest version of Ovi maps?

Keeping this in mind, 17 MB seems pretty trivial. Wonder what went wrong? I guess that kinetic scrolling has come at a huge price.

Stuclark's argument is stupid, I'll admit. But Steve's is as well. Firstly, any 'power user' with an i8910 would be using the Russian variation of this firmware with a greater amount of free memory, or indeed their own 'cooked' firmware. Steve obviously isn't an i8910 power user.

Also, it takes literally one minute to move the browser cache from C to E.

Regardless, the amount of space that Samsung Italia have left is just very, very sad.

Also, it would be very interesting to learn how the hacked versions manage to have 80 MB free on C drive? Logically that would mean that some functionality is been sacrificed? If nothing has been, Samsung needs to learn from these guys, grab their hands on a hacked version and remove whatever bloat they have added...

Unregistered wrote:Stuclark's argument is stupid, I'll admit. But Steve's is as well. Firstly, any 'power user' with an i8910 would be using the Russian variation of this firmware with a greater amount of free memory, or indeed their own 'cooked' firmware.

"Firstly, any 'power user' with an i8910 would be using the Russian variation of this firmware with a greater amount of free memory, or indeed their own 'cooked' firmware. Steve obviously isn't an i8910 power user."

I've never heard a power-user described only as someone who uses obscure firmware versions or cooks his own. If this is what it takes to make the i8910 a useable phone then Samsung really are missing the point. At least Nokia, for all their flaws, and there are many of them at the moment, release new FW fairly frequently without all this messing around...

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Perhaps a bit of compartmentalisation is needed here. Remember 90%+ of users will never stray anywhere near 'rom kitchen' sites such as XDA for Winmo and Android or Hyper-X for i8910. They don't want to run the risk of installing non-standard firmware and the associated warranty (and anxiety) issues related to that. They don't want to have to read up on how to change file paths and other changes to fix what Samsung hasn't.

They just to be able to plug in their device and have a nice safe, approved firmware update be run by the approved PC suite. And have it work, and work well, once its installed.

And the majority of normob's won't even do that. How many people do you know that have NEVER updated their firmware? I have a co-worker who's 5800 is still on 21.0.25. Its killing me not to reach over, grab his phone, plug it into Ovi Suite and 'fix it'. But he's happy. It works for him.

Steve, sort of understandably, has to stick to the route of the normal user and how they think. So tweaked Russian (Chinese, Italian, etc) firmware is off the radar, at least here (AAS). I don't think either Steve or Stu are naive or stupid, they are just coming at this from different lines. Stu on the power user/tweaker, Steve from the normob.

Next is the problem of the OEM firmware. Relatively speaking, its crap. For us. Who's to say a normob would experience or notice 1/2 the issues we seem to find? We do and want things that most people wouldn't even think of, let alone use on a regular basis.

That said, Samsung's implementation of the Symbian 5th edition platform seems to be... poorly worked. And its just not getting better. We've (i8910 owners, followers) have been waiting weeks for a better version. Anaphase's work on this made us think Samsung had heard our issues. Looking at the feedback on the most recent firmwares, that's not happening.

So, as i see it

a) Samsung needs to try again, and try harder. The issues found on the current firmware just shouldn't exist any more. 17mb left on C is NOT acceptable. They know it can be better, they should make it happen.

b) if you can't wait for Samsung to get it right (and employ Hyper-x full time...😉, then try out the custom roms. If you don't like them you can always go back to OEM (an advantage over Nokia's, IMO). Just accept that going down this road is at your own risk.

Well said, a good summary!

UKJeeper wrote:I have a co-worker who's 5800 is still on 21.0.25. Its killing me not to reach over, grab his phone, plug it into Ovi Suite and 'fix it'.

That was a close one! Nearly bought an i8910 at the weekend, feel very pleased that I didn't having read this discussion.

What a coincindence that this comes a week before the WMC next week. Clearly Samsung is trying to win back some of the disgruntled i8910 users. Well Samsung, you aren't fooling me. I've been using the custom firmware, and it's awesome to have 80mb free space on my C: without losing any of the inbuilt applications. But custom firmware can only be built upon the half-assed fixes you have made, and this is still not enough work on your part.

My next phone is definitely not going to be a Samsung. Back to Nokia it is.

I don't see any updates for me in India. Is samsung doing it region wise?

Unregistered wrote:I don't see any updates for me in India. Is samsung doing it region wise?

I don't understand, Stuart. This firmware is clearly marked as 'February', yet you say it's been out for weeks elsewhere? How is that possible?

I think its time symbian adopts some iphone style of os drive management where the os could be as big as phone storage and there is no physical separation of storage areas.

And perhaps Apple could adopt something that the rest of the world takes for granted, the ability to expand storage using a memory card.

slitchfield wrote:I don't understand, Stuart. This firmware is clearly marked as 'February', yet you say it's been out for weeks elsewhere? How is that possible?

i think (and i could be wrong) that Stu is referring to similar versions of the same firmware. There seem to be various 'regional' versions floating around. I, for instance, flashed a Russian version of the same firmware a few days ago.

But buster, just having a microsd slots sometimes mean the phone can't garantee higher minimum storage. Yes having it is nice but not having it and having a bigger minimum standards is what allows developers to make programs with very very large apps.

But nevermind about 3rd party, even first party like Nokia and Samsung insist some programs to only use C drive.

If symbian had better management that the microsd could virtually be part of the internal storage or phones with seperate internal storage be seen as 1, isn't that better way?

slitchfield wrote:I don't understand, Stuart. This firmware is clearly marked as 'February', yet you say it's been out for weeks elsewhere? How is that possible?

However, the modem and CSC (software) portions of this firmware release are JA1 (indicating January 2010). The PDA code, which is the Italian customisation, is the only part of the firmware dated February.

The actual code within the modem, CSC and PDA portions of this firmware (excluding the language and region specific application customisations) are ALL January 2010 releases and so dated.

... that's how and why this "February" firmware has been around for a few weeks now.

Also, it would be very interesting to learn how the hacked versions manage to have 80 MB free on C drive? Logically that would mean that some functionality is been sacrificed? If nothing has been, Samsung needs to learn from these guys, grab their hands on a hacked version and remove whatever bloat they have added...

To reply to ur post maleocks, THEY DON'T. Samsung just has WAY too many duplicate files on Z Rom, which eats up MOST of the C space (since it is shared with Z). And more importantly has only spend less than 2 weeks on this update, as shown by the bugs but were forced to release (as with many other phone firmwares) before MWC as scheduled. Samsung engineers r not interested anymore updating this device, and therefore just put no effort (don't bother cleaning up the ROM) in order to get paid!!!

Sorry, but that's the unfortunate news....

Unregistered wrote:But buster, just having a microsd slots sometimes mean the phone can't garantee higher minimum storage. Yes having it is nice but not having it and having a bigger minimum standards is what allows developers to make programs with very very large apps.

But nevermind about 3rd party, even first party like Nokia and Samsung insist some programs to only use C drive.

If symbian had better management that the microsd could virtually be part of the internal storage or phones with seperate internal storage be seen as 1, isn't that better way?

I believe that the type of RAM used for the C: drive is different, and higher performing than the expandable slot memory. If you stick gallery pictures on C:, they appear much quicker than SDHC ones. Having a C: drive is a link back to EPOC when assigned drive letters were included to give users a familiarity with their DOS/Windows knowledge. I honestly believe that there is an architectural constraint that is limiting the C: drive memory and there is going to have to be another generation of hardware, with a kernel change to accommodate a bigger C: or a single large partition.

Perhaps now that Symbian is open, we might find out.

hey guys, the 17mb free in the C drive just killed my phone... i don't know how to get it to boot. I updated the fw without any pb then restored my data but got the "not enough memory" message, then the phone restarted (as it does after every restore) but now it says "phone can't boot, contact your support".... i'm pretty sure it's because it lacks memory now that i have restored my data...

anyone can help me do a reset of the phone? cause i can't even get it connected via USB to reflesh it. please

Unregistered wrote:hey guys, the 17mb free in the C drive just killed my phone... i don't know how to get it to boot. I updated the fw without any pb then restored my data but got the "not enough memory" message, then the phone restarted (as it does after every restore) but now it says "phone can't boot, contact your support".... i'm pretty sure it's because it lacks memory now that i have restored my data...

anyone can help me do a reset of the phone? cause i can't even get it connected via USB to reflesh it. please

guys, found the method to format your phone if it won't boot. Just hold the call button and the menu button down then press on, it will ask if yo�u want to format. I was scared!! got it working but had to restore my contacts only... d=those 17 mb left are a real problem

i downloaded the base.rar extracted it, opened it. and connected the phone. it did not say connected in any pda device.

what to do ??