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Samsung Galaxy S Firmware Upgrade (JG4)

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Last night when playing around with Kies (Samsung software for the computer to communicate with Samsung phones), I noticed a notification of Firmware Update is available at the lower right corner of Kies.

New Firmware: PDA:JG4 / PHONE:JG4

I remember two weeks ago when I use Kies, there is no firmware upgrade available. So this must be released only recently.

samsung_kies_firmware_jg4.jpg

This is NOT Android 2.2 (Froyo) yet. Samsung has announced in their Korean website that there will be Android 2.2 for Galaxy S in September 2010. Definitely a MUST upgrade later (going through the pains again…). 😛

Since my wife’s Galaxy S is new, I so thought why not upgrade it! (no valuable data inside it yet).

It took around 15 mins to complete the firmware upgrade, depending on your internet speed as it need to actually download the firmware (binary files) from Samsung website. I am on a 4MB/s Streamyx line.

Upgrade will actually DELETE and ERASE everything from your phone, back to factory default. So beware! You need to back up a few things first before attempting the firmware upgrade:

Contacts

  • Contacts (if you are using Google Contacts, then just sync it with Google)
  • Contacts in Phone (Copy and backup using Kies first to your PC)
  • Contacts in SIM (again, can copy and backup in Kies first to your PC)

SMS / MMS

I am not sure how to back this up. Kies seems not able to view my SMS stored in my Galaxy S. A bug in Kies? It should by right…else how am I able to backup my messages?I don’t know and I have tried several times by plugging and unplugging my Galaxy S to my PC, still Kies can’t load or find my messages.

Nevermind, not that those messages are of super important, so I just proceed to upgrade my phone.

Installed Software

I am not sure how to back this up. I don’t think there is any option to backup the installed software. So, manually note down what you have installed and wanted to install, as you will need to reinstall them later.

Upgrade? What Change? New Features?

I am not sure. Samsung did not mention it during the upgrade. One obvious change I saw after the upgrade is a new Apps Running icon, which you can click to see what apps are running in your phone and can choose to kill it as well. Good feature I would say.

Upon searching for the upgrade info in the internet, I saw some mentioning about the improvement in speed and reducing lag time in using the phone. Also improvement in sound quality. I am currently upgrading my own Galaxy S, will know later after upgraded and played around with it for a while.

It is actually GOOD to upgrade the firmware if you want to CLEAN and put your phone back to its original factory condition!