Samsung Captivate (SGH-i897) Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) Upgrade Now Available!

[hrarig]

It's here!  It's finally arrived!  It's official! Just saw it with my own two eyes!

AT&T Cell Phones : How Do I Update Samsung Captivate (SGH-i897) Phone To Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) using Kies Mini On My Window's PC?

Follow this link: http://www.samsung.com/us/support/SupportOwnersFAQPopup.do?faq_id=FAQ00024051&fm_seq=24219

Too late tonight, will upgrade tomorrow when I have more time. 

Been waiting a long time for this, FROYO has been fun but looking forward to some GINGERBREAD. Thank you AT&T from the bottom of my kernel!

DroidFan

[Max69 ACE - Wizard]

Well it's about time! I was already running a Samsung Gingerbread ROM, but not the official. Upgrading now.

[Evil_Homer]

Has anyone checked if this update from AT&T puts any CarrierIQ stuff on the phone?

[Max69 ACE - Wizard]

According to Lookout's detector app it does not have Carrier IQ.

[Wild Banchi ACE - Professor]

It's nice that it's finally here, but I think I will keep my current Android 2.2. It looks difficult to update the phone and I don't think it's worth the hassle of possibly losing all of my music, pictures, etc.

[desiguy]

Just updated my wife's handset took 10 minutes, and didn't loose anything on the phone after the update.

[hrarig]

Just finished upgrading my Captivate from FROYO 2.2 using the procedure below:

1. Backup #1: attach phone to PC using USB cable. Backup the folders that appear (I saw two on my pone).
2. Backup #2: backup the contacts to AT&T using Applications > Contacts > Menu,  touch More > Settings > AT&T Address Book. Confirm by selecting OK , then touch Accept to continue.
3. Backup #3: Download "SMS Backup and Restore" (free) and save your SMS text messages (sorry, this won't save your MMS attachments!)
4. Since I had previously installed FROYO using Kies Mini on my PC, step #3 in the installation guide ""Configuring Device/Driver Install" did nothing--no messages appeared--probably because the drivers were already present.
5. Bring up Kies Mini, plug in the phone via USB cable, then follow the "Samsung Captivate Android Upgrade" instructions exactly as detailed in "Step 4: Device Upgrading"
6. After the phone reboots (be patient, this takes a while!) all the previous settings should be saved (but it is nevertheless nice to have the backup security blanket!)
7. The phone will complain about Tethering. Just do a "FORCE CLOSE" on Tethering (it happens when switching from Wireless to 3G). It went away by selecting and unselecting "Mobile AP Settings" in "Tethering and portable hotspot".  (Found this useful nugget of information in another AT&T forum posting). Use the following prcedure to accomplish this: Settings > Wireless and network > Tethering and portable hotspot > Mobile AP settings ("Check" then "unCheck")

Miss having the "Silent mode" mode in the top drop down menu (replaced by "Flight mode"), "Silent mode" is now accessed by pressing and holding the power button.

One other plus (at least for my phone)--GPS is much improved. Faster lock-on, greater accuracy, but others have complained the opposite--go figure!

DroidFan

[langstro]

It makes sense to be able to have flight mode available by holding down the power button to select it. You don't have to unlock the phone to do it.  But, it doesn't make sense to have it in the notification menu.  I'm upset that they got rid of the option to disable the 3G network from holding down the power button, now you have to go into the wireless setting to do that.

[Entropy512]

---

Evil_Homer wrote:

Has anyone checked if this update from AT&T puts any CarrierIQ stuff on the phone?

---

AT&T was integrating CIQ into many firmwares, but backtracked when the whole thing blew up in the media - they ripped it out of every firmware I've seen since late November.

[avisap]

Finished my upgrade late yesternight/early morning today. The first attempt was a nightmare - file download/decryption was fine but installing on the cell phone hung up the process and I was unable to proceed. I tried many things, even did an online chat with a rep from Samsung. Removed the battery from the cell phone and replaced it a few times; what finally worked was removing and replacing battery with the phone connected to the PC. Starting up by holding the power and the Vol Up and Vol Down buttons started the phone in the Emergency Restore mode (or something like that) and that did the trick. I AM IMPRESSED BY THE ANDROID OS ! After so many changes such as rebooting the PC used for the upgrade, removing and replacing the battery and power up and so on, I would have expected to have been the not-so-proud owner of an expensive brick. Yet, the emergency restore did its job and did it wonderfully !

Anyway, noticed a few things good and a few things not so good.

Good:

1. Overall speed and responsiveness noticeably better

2. Navigation across home screens improved

Not so good:

1. Where is my Daily Briefing screen ?! I LOVED THIS WIDGET ! I WANT IT BACK !

(I noticed that it was implied somewhere that this widget was responsible for some sluggishness in the phone - well, it wasn't all that bad. Also, was it so difficult to improve it or to offer it with a caution ?)

2. Why is the enabling/disabiling of 3G removed from the long press of the power button ?

3. Where is the Car Dock app/widget ?

Overall, I think the upgrade was worth the trouble. I am only looking forward to getting my Daily Briefing back - really, Samsung/AT&T, is it so difficult to optimize the network usage of the app so as to prevent it from hogging the battery ? This is a truly wonderful app, giving an excellent executive summary of several important things on a single screen. Did you know that if your phone had an alarm for the morning then the Daily Briefing would automatically update its contents at that time and not before or after (thereby saving on processing power?)

Hope this helps.

[justwondering897]

Voodoo CarrierIQ Detector reports a score of 170 after I upgraded to 2.3.5.  It listed some messages in the debugging log and the presence of com.carrieriq.iqagnent.service.receivers.BootCompletedReceiver.  It also reports that "it seems to be inactive".

[wolveinsocal]

After upgrading I am also very much missing the Daily Briefing widget on my Captivate which I refer to often for news, weather and stock updates.  If one of you clever lads figures out how to restore this feature I would be very grateful. Thanks,  Chris {personal content removed for safety}

[tpflum]

Yes, I missing the Daily Briefing also.  Is it not compatible with 2.3?  Is it still on my phone, but just not loading?  If so, how do I turn it back on?