Android Phones
Samsung: We’re not charging for Froyo update
January 19, 2011 | by Andrew Kameka
Samsung, T-Mobile
Since last week, Samsung has been accused of being the sleaziest Android manufacturer on the planet. First, someone claimed that it ordered T-Mobile not to release Froyo for the Vibrant in order to increase sales of the Vibrant 4G. Then, the company was reportedly holding Froyo “hostage” from all U.S. carriers because it wanted money for each device that would receive the update.
This is the first you’re hearing it on this site because we thought both stories were fishy, even for an anonymous rumor. Both featured statements that didn’t mesh with known methods of operation for mobile phone updates. Yesterday, Samsung finally stopped sitting on its thumbs and stood up for its honor.
“No. Samsung is not charging carriers for Froyo updates to Galaxy S,” a Samsung spokesperson told PhoneScoop. “We hope to have more detail on status shortly. Promise!”
Samsung is not holding updates hostage or making undue demands on carriers; at least there’s not a shred of verifiable evidence to suggest that the company is doing something so dastardly. What’s far more plausible is that Samsung is slow to update the many carrier versions of Touchwiz to Android. It’s inexcusable for them to take this long, but we must criticize them for incompetence or sluggishness; not evil.
Samsung simply don't care. They sold the device, they got their money. End of story, as far as they are concerned. Developing updates just eats into their bottom line, directly through dev costs and indirectly by allowing people to put off a new purchase. The details on how they are delaying are simply irrelevant.
They never released an update for the Galaxy i7500.
They are not holding updates…. they are just really lazy. They just do not care at all about who has already bought their devices. THIS IS THE POINT.
I have my second HTC devide and I am so happy with it. They are really fast for updates.
This is totally how Samsung operates, they don't post purchase support. They make generally nice stuff, and their TVs are beautiful, but if it is a product that should have regular maintenance updates of some kind – DO NOT buy it from Samsung. I learned this by buying a Samsung blue-ray player (the BDP1400). Anyone who has a blu-ray play knows, they need regular updates because of the java based disc menus that are constantly being revised, and production companies keep using newer revs not thinking about owners of older players. Well, to put a bow on it, Samsung has already (more like 6 months ago) stopped updating it, and basically moved it to an end of life unsupported status. So now playing newer discs is like pulling teeth, and when I contact support they basically blow me off. I'll likely never buy another Samsung product, maybe a TV, but I'll probably go LG purely out of spite.