Samsung Canada support for Galaxy S Vibrant stinks
Samsung Galaxy S Vibrant
Love the phone, not so much the company
While I may love the device, I can hardly say the same thing about Samsung or their software. I have a small Samsung HD camcorder, which I also love, but I don’t have to update an open source operating system on that device. While their handset hardware will get no complaints from me, their approach to software and updates for this phone just plain sucks. One of the advantages of buying an Android or iPhone is that you should be able to get OS updates easily, and that there are always new apps to test and use. The apps that Samsung builds are largely useless and the couple extra goodies that Bell adds are, well … lets just say I won’t be using my phone to control my Bell satellite TV any time soon.
Like many others, I’ve been anxiously awaiting the release of Android 2.2 Froyo, as the Vibrant was released in Canada with 2.1 Eclair. An improved Gmail app, proper Flash support and many search enhancements are pretty significant updates. Samsung promised in the summer (basically as the device was coming to market) that Froyo would be released in September, then October, then November and – finally – it came out in the past couple weeks. There has been plenty of speculation when the update would actually arrive and whether it would be Over The Air (OTA) or delivered via Kies (Samsung’s desktop software distro conduit), or both. Well, now that Froyo for the Galaxy S Vibrant is out, it’s only available via Kies. Kies can really only be described as an awful piece of software.
Kies is so awful, I barely know where to start. First and foremost, to get an official Samsung update for this phone on Bell, you can only use Kies. No notification on your phone, no push OTA, no download, nothing. You have to download Kies, install it, have it recognize your phone and, if you’re lucky enough to be able to do that, update your phone with Samsung’s Froyo that way. Great. Crappy desktop software to try and update your phone with a crappy customized phone OS.
I should note that a work colleague and I both purchased an Android handset around the same time. We both evaluated the Galaxy S Vibrant and the HTC Desire. I’m beginning to wish the storage and display had not swayed me Samsung’s way. As far as I know he’s never experienced lag, GPS or wi-fi issues, and got a Froyo OTA update a couple months ago.
Samsung screws Mac (and Windows) users
As you might imagine, Kies is Windows-only software. Under normal circumstances in, say, a Microsoft-centric office environment, this an inconvenience you learn to live with. Fire up VMWare and away you go. While I eventually took this tack with the Froyo update, I think it’s a huge mistake. The open and ubiquitous nature of Google tools, and the conscious decision of Google to do (almost) everything in the browser runs completely counter to building a handset on their Operating System and then forcing software updates through one platform. I accepted that I would have to do this on my VMWare Win installation and I moved on.
Kies mini doesn't recognize my phone
When I went to the Samsung site to download Kies, I was pleasantly surprised to find Kies mini for the Mac, software that is stripped of all other desktop features and only a conduit for software updates. I downloaded both anyway. Kies mini, flat out, does not work for me. It doesn’t matter whether I run it first, plug my phone into my Mac first, or which USB mode I have my phone in, Kies cannot recognize it. My pleasant surprise quickly dashed, I figured I’d suck it up and run Kies on VMWare to get my hands on Froyo.
The first time I ran the executable to install Kies on VMWare, it couldn’t complete setup because it dropped the connection with the server several times. After a couple of unsuccessful install attempts, I figured I’d try it on the only native Windows box at home, an old HP Pavilion my son uses exclusively. I managed to get Kies installed, after .NET and a cornucopia of other software installed first. This was probably a 15 minute procedure that ended in a functioning version of Kies that I was expecting to use to finally install Froyo on my handset. While it could detect the phone when I plugged it in, it only did so in mass storage or PC mode, but couldn’t actually recognize what it was. Putting it in Kies mode, as the software requested, resulted in nothing. After another half an hour of attempting to plug the phone into the computer in all manner of modes, I finally gave this up and figured I’d take another whack at Kies on VMWare, and was finally successful. I was probably at least a couple hours of wasted time into this process and no closer to Froyo than I was when I started.
Again, no luck getting Kies on VMWare to recognize my phone, and very similar behaviour to native Windows Kies. When I finally did a little Googling, I found that Kies and VMWare don’t play nice together – there’s a USB problem. I found a supposed fix via some editing to VMWare’s VMX config file. Editing the file produced no better results than anything had to this point. In essence, regardless of which machine or version of Kies I have used, I cannot upgrade to Froyo via Samsung’s only supported methodology.
Bad process forces poor customer service
I happened to tweet my frustration with the process and received a direct message from Samsung. Seriously? You want me to call, get a ticket number and then arrange to send my handset in for an OS upgrade? I’ve seen stories of service visits taking anywhere from 1-3 weeks and, since my wireless phone is my only phone, going without is not an option. Plus, it simply shouldn’t be this convoluted to upgrade the OS.
I’m basically left with two choices. I can go through the return process, going without my phone for possibly several weeks. Based on what I’ve read so far, the Froyo upgrade is anything but a surefire install. In fact, there are many reports of the official update bricking phones:
Dilemmas, dilemmas. As with pretty much any Android device, there are many custom ROMs available, many of which are actually pretty simple to implement. In particular, I like the look of the Darky’s 2.2 Froyo ROM. Unfortunately, of course, flashing a custom ROM runs you the risk of bricking your phone with no recourse, and will void your warranty. This is the case when hacking pretty much any phone, including the iPhone, but there’s a major difference here. Manufacturers such as HTC have made Froyo available OTA, with very few hitches reported. The manufacturer is simply not providing a solid update to the firmware and, as such, owes their customers an apology, a better solution for the Froyo update and better quality software for the update. Seems like there’s the possibility of ending up with an expensive paper weight, regardless of which direction I go.
So, I’m left with the following options:
- live with Android 2.1 (something I simply shouldn’t have to do with this kind of phone)
- take my phone into a service depot for a few weeks (without a loner since this is the manufacturer and not the carrier), and get an update that has a good chance of failing or bricking my phone
- take the plunge and install a custom ROM (rooting my phone has already voided my warranty), but risk bricking my phone with no recourse
Ed note: As I was doing final edits to this post in advance of publishing, I became aware of a post from Friday, stating that Samsung Canada was suspending Froyo updates via Kies as of December 17th. Further, it suggests that further news will be available on this issue via their Facebook page. Facebook, for customer support on a device that has shipped a metric tonne of units? Unbelievable. You can really feel the love on that Facebook page, though.
Samsung (and Google) are missing opportunities
I’m starting to see the simplicity of the Apple iPhone model. One hardware platform, one version of the OS and a dead-simple procedure for updating it – through iTunes when it’s ready. With the Android model, it’s not the different phones that are the problem, rather the mind-boggling numbers of custom OS implementations. It may encourage innovation, but standardization is non-existent and it’s the customer who ends up frustrated.
IMHO, Google should move toward a standard OS implementation. Rather than leaving it to manufacturers to implement the OS in whatever way they see fit, Android should have a stock kernel that anyone can upgrade directly through the Android Market. As with the notifications users get for downloaded apps, updating the OS should be via the same methodology. Manufacturers could still publish add-ons and OS enhancements for their hardware, but not ones that the device must have to run. If all phones were required to work on the stock OS, then users would have the kind of choice that Android promises. Right now this is not the case.
Finally, the poor implementation of Android by companies such as Samsung encourages the very thing from more adventurous users that they don’t want. Rooting, custom ROMs and hacking. This is the only way many users feel they will get the benefit of Android without manufacturer crud. I know it’s certainly the way I’m beginning to feel.
January 3rd, 2011 at 6:43 pm
Great article. I got a Vibrant in early Dec. and tried the Kies upgrade – phone froze – something about server not available. Bell replaced the phone, already upgraded. After installing a Kingston micro SD card I got for Xmas, and working for a couple days, the phone started rebooting itself every 20 mins. Then it froze with the back and menu backlights on.
Tried a reset – phone does not boot. Any suggestions?
January 4th, 2011 at 1:02 am
I wish I knew what to tell you. I forgot to mention in the post that my external 16GB SD card can only be used for photos/videos. If I put music on it, the phone randomly forced me to format it.
Since I wrote this I managed to flash the 3-button boot partition to my phone (missing on select Bell Samsung Galaxy GT-i9000 phones) so that I’d be able to flash other software and get back out to recovery/download if needed.
I did flash a Froyo ROM that was very good. However I started experiencing some 3G data issues with the browser (no other data apps and no problems on wi-fi) so I changed the APN port to 80 based on all references I could find, which anyone can do and which has nothing to do with the version of Android.
After that, the 3G issue wasn’t fixed so I re-booted and lost my phone service and all installed apps (even though the data is still on the internal SD card). Then the phone started throwing errors regarding the MMS and phone service, and then when I wanted to look at the APN settings again the phone couldn’t read the SIM card. After rebooting another time the phone hung at the boot animation. After trying to boot into recovery and to back out to a stock Eclair ROM, the phone simply and completely bricked. Since the phone completely died I’m pretty sure this is related to the internal SD Card issues I wrote about in the post.
I’m only on wireless so this is my only phone. I pretty much have to go through Bell for repair since I need a replacement (for which they’ll charge me $25 and the repair will likely take 3-6 wks) and the only other option is to send it directly off to Samsung, where I can’t get any kind of replacement. The fault of the whole fiasco lies with Samsung – whether it’s their ROM or the SD card, but Bell is doing nothing to stand up for their customers either.
I wish I’d waited until this phone had been in the market for 6 months before I bought it. If I could have seen on the web then what I can now I never would have done so, as I pretty much always know what I’m getting into with product purchases. I pray they’ll honour the warranty and not try to suggest that flashing software is to blame.
February 10th, 2011 at 1:48 am
I so totally agree with you these phones suck big time, just trying to get a simple flash player is like impossible. These phones really bring the Samsung name down. Why is it no one can HELP!!!! Do not go wit a SAMSUNG……..VERY DISSAPOINTED…
February 12th, 2011 at 3:04 pm
Actually Debbie I never thought the phone was bad, just the Bell and Samsung software approach. It’s not the phone that causes the problem with Flash. Android 2.2 Froyo is the first version with Flash support.
An update to this story: the phone finally bricked and, in truth, getting it dealt with was a breeze. They have had so many problems with it that they are replacing them with units made in December and after, with better quality internal SD cards, and with the Froyo update installed. Plus, they automatically credit your account $100. I had my new phone about three business days after I placed the service call.
Of course, when the update comes for Gingerbread, the Samsung Kies update gong show may occur all over again.