Dave Martin's blog

Flashing the Samsung Galaxy S to Gingerbread.

2011-04-17T10:39:00.008+01:00

Update Samsung Galaxy S GT I9000 to Stable Gingerbread XXJVK 2.3.3

Finally the time has arrived for installing the latest Android’s Gingerbread 2.3.3 version for the mighty Samsung Galaxy S. With so many versions in place for Froyo, we too expect that this remains one of the stable versions with better battery stand by time, improved user interface with an all new redesigned set of graphics with improved overall speeds and Quadrant speeds. So, for all those whose Samsung Galaxy S GT I9000 is bricked or is not working can breathe a sigh of relief as with this version of Gingerbread you can get back your phone to life, so all you need to do is to just simply follow the below procedure point to point as given below and irrespective of which version you are on, you can proceed with this update for your phone. This update is applied for all the Android users of Galaxy S GT I9000 irrespective of what version you are on, to check on which version you are currently on, just tap on the Settings > About Phone > Firmware Version where you will find the version of Android OS. This version also comes with working Swype keypad which was not working for some of those in the previous Gingerbread version of 2.3.2 but has some minor issues* which are mentioned at the bottom of this article. Also, most importantly this update can be applied to any of the Galaxy S across the World, so go ahead and follow the flashing instructions as mentioned below.

This version of XXJVK 2.3.3 is a KIES leak version. So, let’s check out what are the set of pre requisites one should have before proceeding to update your Galaxy S GT I 9000 with 2.3.3 version of Gingerbread.

Pre requisites and Instructions:

1. Before proceeding to update ensure that you sync all your contacts with your Google Account, all sms, apps, videos and music files which are there in your phone should be taken a backup or else the data will be lost. Anything which is in SD card will not be lost, so you can alternatively move to SD Card.

2. Next up remove the SIM card as well as the external SD cards if any in your phone,

3. Now, ensure that you keep some things handy like USB cable which you have got with your Galaxy S GT I9000 and also the Galaxy S device,

4. Most importantly you need to ensure that your phone has atleast75-80% of battery power left, this is just an advisory which if followed then you will not experience any difficulties as while updation of the device the battery consumption is at a maximum,

5. Ensure that your computer / laptop which runs on a XP, Vista or Windows 7 OS the firewall and other antivirus programs are disabled and also you should have admin privileges to download and install the software including the drivers and also along with this you will be requiring the USB port on your computer which supports USB 2.0.

6. (Optional) Many of the Galaxy S users have reported the problem that they are unable to get into the download mode which is the top most necessity for updating your device, so for all those we came up with a tutorial here, just follow the given instructions and you can easily fix the download mode and also the recovery mode bug. This procedure is only for those whose devices unable to get into the download mode and the recovery mode.

7. Please note that flashing with the firmwares doesn’t mean that you are ROOTING your device. If you have flashed with Voodoo Lag fixes then too you can easily flash your device with this firmware.

8. Ensure that you have closed the KIES completely and also disable any firewalls if any.

Procedure to flash / update XXJVK 2.3.3 stable version on your Galaxy S GT I9000:

After downloading the XXJVK 2.3.3 flash firmware kit which contains 3 files, PDA, Phone and CSC along with the Odin as well as the PIT file which you will get when you unzip the same with the help of WinZip and need to extract the same on to your desktop and if it prompts you for the password then you will have to enter the password as “androidadvices.com”.
Now, you need to switch off your phone and also ensure that you have completely closed the KIES application on your computer and ensure that you haven’t connected the mobile to the computer.
Now as mentioned in the above pre requisites, first switch off your phone, take out the sim card along with the memory card and turn on your device in the download mode. To start download mode in Samsung Galaxy S GT I 9000, you need to hold the Volume Down button + the Home key button (the middle button). While holding these both buttons, you need to switch ON your device. If you see a screen like the below one then only it means that you have successfully started your device in the download mode. If your device restarts normally with home screen then that means download mode have not been initiated, in this case you again need to switch off the device and again you will have to try restarting your device in download mode. The biggest benefit of the Download mode is that it acts like a safe mode for your phone which has the ability to restore the files if anything goes wrong.

Now, after successfully getting into the download mode, you will have to connect the Phone to the computer with the help of USB cable while Odin opened in the desktop. As soon as you connect the phone, you will see that first ID:COM box as shown below will turn yellow and in the message box you will see that it will show ADDED as shown in the below screen shot.

Now, after this you need to fill in the options like as mentioned below,

PIT – s1_odin_20100512.pit

PDA – PDA_XXJVK_Sbl.tar.md5

Phone – PHONE_XXJVK.tar.md5

CSC – CSC_OXAJVK.tar.md5

Please note that you don’t add or select any other option, as this may do some serious consequences to your device after which you may not be able to use your device. After double checking the above parameters, all you need to do is to just simply click on the Start option to proceed for the updation process.

Now, after this just click on the Start option and after which the firmware installation on your Galaxy S will initiate, do note that you don’t plug out the USB cable and also ensure that the power supply to your computer is not interrupted or else you will have to just repeat the whole procedure again
After 2-3 minutes of the process updation, the updation process will be completed after which you will see that the device will be restarting and this reboot generally is a bit longer one as this is the first reboot after the firmware update.
Now, after reboot you will see that you will be asked to set up the startup options, choose the options accordingly and then after you see the home screen and after the completion of Media scanning, you will have to go in the recovery mode wherein you will have to delete the cache memory so that all unwanted files are removed if there are any left in the phone.
For this you will have to first turn off your device, long press the volume up key, press Menu as holding both the buttons press the power button to start. You can see that after device gets switched ON, you will find options like clear cache data. You can clear that by selecting options Wipe data/factory reset and also you need to select Wipe Cache partition after which you need to reboot your device by selecting reboot system now after which your Galaxy S will be rebooting and again you will have to set up your Google accounts etc.

Now, last but not the least, you are now successfully on the Gingerbread 2.3.3 version which is quite stable and also there are no functions which doesn’t run on Galaxy S after this update, since this one is the KIES release it’s the most stable version.

Now, to check on which version you are on then you will have to just tap on the Settings > About Phone > Firmware Version where you will find the version of Android OS where it will show 2.3.3.

*One problem after installation of this firmware has been reported that if your GPRS/EDGE connection is very slow then it will prompt an error of Reliable data connection error which is not faced on WiFi or on 3G network and also the option of USB “Ask on connection” has now been removed in this new version of Gingerbread.

At the moment there no newer build than this for Android except for build 3.0 Honeycomb which is meant for tablets only.

So now I have Gingerbread better get Root! Ah not as easy as I thought, this method here, How to root Gingerbread Galaxy S DOES NOT work properly so don't try it, all though it's worth watching for an update. What it does is it gives root by changing the stock kernel but in doing so it stops some of the internal sensors from working. For instance the phone doen't now it's orientation, so you get no page rotation from portrait to landscape in the browser. After finding that out I had to flash back to the original kernal and all was ok.

So I'm still looking for a root method, I'll post when I find one.

Dave

Credit for this article should be given to Neal Pradeep at Android advices

Network unlock for Galaxy S froyo

2011-04-15T16:38:00.004+01:00

I was thinking about upgrading my Galaxy S to the lastest Android build, Gingerbread 2.3.3 but thought I should do the network unlock on it first. This way I can put a SIM from any network in it. So turns out that there is a video showing you how to do it here,

It's actually the second attempt that works, here's the proof that my phone is unlocked. I have tried SIMs from UK networks T-Mobile, Orange, O2 and Vodafone all worked perfectly. So now onto the upgrade.

Android apps that I am using

2011-01-09T15:09:00.001Z

These are the apps I use most, as you see they are functional not frivolous.

Sent from Samsung mobile

Listening to internet radio on Android

2011-01-09T11:05:00.005Z

People keep asking what I use to listen to internet streams with on my Galaxy S.
Well I use an APP called A online radio available free from the Android market place.

The first screen shot shows the APP in the foreground and the second shows it running in the background with the green play button in the notification bar. To get A online to play the station you can either click on a pls link within a web page or enter the URL directly.
Using Flash player 10 which Android 2.2 (Froyo) has but the I Phone doesn't I can even use the flash players from stations main websites just as I could on a desktop PC. This includes watching TV via the BBC Iplayer page.

Samsung Galaxy s running Froyo

2010-11-23T11:58:00.009Z

Got my Galaxy S from T Mobile UK back in the beginning of August 2010, it was one of the first from them and wasn't branded in anyway but was locked to T Mobile's network.
To start with it was running Eclair 2.1 update1 but now after doing a little registry hack with the Kies software it's running the official Samsung release of Froyo 2.2.

After applying Z4root and One click lack fix I'm now getting Quadrant benchmarks scores over 1900 all the time. This is one hell of a smart phone.As you can see it's now twice as fast as the standard phone.

Full Flash player is now available within the standard browser below is a screen shot of The RemoteHams ORB control running in flash.

My trip to Bedford beer fest.

2009-10-13T11:32:00.007+01:00

Bedford Beerfest 2009

On the 7th of October I took myself off to the Corn exchange to the 32nd Bedford beerfestival. Below are a few pics of the bar and a list of beers that were available.
The beers were all excellent average price was £2.70 a pint.
I don't remember much, so it must have been good.

REAL ALES
1648
East Hoathly, East Sussex
Triple Champion (4%)
Lammas Ale (4.2%)
3 Rivers
Stockport, Greater Manchester
GMT (3.8%)
Old Disreputable (5.2%)
Alehouse
St Albans, Hertfordshire
Simplicity (3.6%)
Robust Porter (4.3%)
B&T
Shefford, Central Bedfordshire
Two Brewers Bitter (3.6%)
Golden Fox (4.1%)
Black Dragon Mild (4.3%)
Edwin Taylor's Extra Stout (4.5%)
SOS (5%)
Bank Top
Bolton, Greater Manchester
Dark Mild (4%)
Pavilion Pale Ale (4.5%)
Port O Call (5%)
Buntingford
Royston, Hertfordshire
Pargeter Dark Mild (3.7%)
Golden Plover (3.8%)
Polar Star (4.4%)
Bushy's
Braddan, Isle of Man
Ruby 1874 Mild (3.5%)
Old Bushy Tail (4.5%)
Cairngorm
Aviemore, Highlands
Sheepshaggers Gold (4.5%)
Wildcat (5.1%)
Cherwell Valley
Brackley, Northamptonshire
Kineton Flight (3.6%)
Cropredy Bridge 1844 (4.2%)
Old Noll (4.9%)
CONCRETE COW
Milton Keynes
Midsummer Ale (3.8%)
Cock 'n' Bull Story (4.1%)
Old Bloomer (4.7%)
Crouch Vale
Woodham Ferrers, Essex
Essex Boys Bitter (3.5%)
Hurricane (4.2%)
Amarillo (5%)
Dorset
Weymouth, Dorset
Ammonite (3.8%)
Durdle Door (5%)
ELGOOD’S
Wisbech, Cambridgeshire
Black Dog (3.6%)
Cambridge Bitter (3.8%).
Golden Newt (4.1%)
Barleymead (4.8%)
Greyhound Strong Bitter (5.2%)
Great Oakley
Great Oakley, Northamptonshire
Welland Valley Mild (3.6%)
Gobble (4.5%)
Great Orme
Conwy, North Wales
Cambria (3.8%)
Merlyn (5%)
Green Jack
Lowestoft, Suffolk
Orange Wheat Beer (4.2%)
Trawler Boys (4.6%)
Gone Fishing (5.5%)
Harviestoun
Alva, Clackmannanshire
Hoptoberfest (4%)
Ptarmigan (4.5%)
Hogs Back
Tongham, Surrey
Hogs Back Bitter (3.7%)
A Over T (9%)
Hopshackle
Market Deeping, Lincolnshire
Extra Special Bitter (4.8%)
Historic Porter (4.8%)
Resination (7%)
Jarrow
South Shields, Tyne & Wear
Rivet Catcher (4%)
McConnell's Irish Stout (4.6%)
Keltek
Redruth, Cornwall
Magik (4%)
Keltek King (5.1%)
Leyden
Bury, Greater Manchester
Black Pudding (3.8%)
Crowning Glory (6.8%)
MileStone
Newark, Nottinghamshire
Black Pearl (4.3%)
Olde Home Wrecker (4.9%)
Raspberry Wheat Beer (5.6%)
Milton
Milton, Cambridgeshire
Minotaur (3.3%)
Sparta (4.3%)
Cyclops (5.3%)
Nethergate
Pentlow, Essex
Umbel Ale (3.8%)
Essex Border (4.8%)
Old Growler (5%)
Oakham ALES
Peterborough
Inferno (4.4%)
Mompesson's Gold (5%)
Oxfordshire Ales
Marsh Gibbon, Buckinghamshire
Triple B (3.7%)
Marshmellow ( 4.7%)
Potbelly
Kettering, Northamptonshire
Best (3.8%)
Beijing Black (4.4%)
Crazy Daze (5.5%)
POTTON
Potton, Central Bedfordshire
Shannon IPA (3.6%)
Penny Bitter (4%)

Purple Moose
Porthmadog, Gwynedd
Snowdonia Ale (3.6%)
Glaslyn Ale (4.2%)
Quartz
Bromley, Staffordshire
Crystal (4.2%)
Heart (4.6%)
Red Squirrel
Hertford
Conservation Bitter (4.1%)
London Porter (5%)
American IPA (5.4%)
Son of Sid
Little Gransden, Cambridgeshire
Muckcart Mild (3.8%)
Slepe Eze (4.2%)
Bedas Ford Bitter (5%)
Spectrum
Tharston, Norfolk
Black Buffle (4.5%)
Old Stoatwobbler 6%)
Traditional Scottish Ales
Trosk, Stirling
Red Torpedo (3.8%)
Aleoween Pumpkin Bitter (4%)
Lomond Gold (5%)
Tydd Steam
Tydd St Giles, Cambridgeshire
Barn Ale (3.9%)
Roadhouse Bitter (4.3%)
Piston Bob (4.6%)
Armageddon (5%)
Ufford
Ufford, Cambridgeshire
White Hart (3.8%)
Red Clover (4.5%)
Nirvana (5.7%)
ValE
Brill, Buckinghamshire
Black Swan (3.9%)
King Ludd (4%)
Gravitas (4.8%)
WELLS & YOUNG’s
Bedford
Wells Eagle IPA (3.6%)
Young’s Bitter (3.7%)
Courage Best Bitter (4%)
Wells Bombardier (4.3%)
Young’s Special (4.5%)
Courage Directors Bitter (4.8%)

Westerham
Edenbridge, Kent
Grasshopper Kentish Bitter (3.8%)
British Bulldog (4.3%)
Wickwar
Wickwar, Gloucestershire
Coopers WPA (3.5%)
Long John Silver (4.2%)
Woodforde’s
Woodbastick, Norfolk
Sundew Ale (4.1%)
Norfolk Nog (4.6%)

CIDER & PERRY
Broadoak
Clutton, Somerset
Perry (7.5%)
Countryman
Tavistock, Devon
Dry Cider (6.5%)
Double Vision
Maidstone, Kent
Impeared Vision Perry (7.5%)
Gwynt Y Ddraig
Pontypridd, Glamorgan
Scrumpy (6%)
Lyme Bay
Axminster, Devon
Jack Ratt Medium Cider (6%)
Mr Whitehead's
Selbourne, Hampshire
Strawberry Cider (4.2%)
Midnight Special Perry (4.5%)
Heart of Hampshire (6%)
Boxing Dog (7.5%)
New Forest
Ringwood, Hampshire
Perry (7%)
Sweet Cider (7%)
Newton's
Leominster, Herefordshire
Medium Perry (7%)
Oliver's
Ocle Pychard, Herefordshire
Medium Cider (6.7%)
Perry (7%)
Medium Dry Perry
Parson's Choice
Taunton, Somerset
Sweet Cider (6%)
Ralph's
New Radnor, Powys
Medium Cider (7.5%)
Sandford Orchards
Crediton, Devon
Medium Cider (6%)
Sheppy's
Taunton, Somerset
Farmhouse Dry Cider (6%)
Farmhouse Medium Cider (6%)
Farmhouse Sweet Cider (6%)
Troggi
Earlswood, Monmouthshire
Dry cider (6.5%)
Westcroft
Highbridge, Somerset
Dry cider (6%)
Jungle Juice (6%)
Westons
Much Marcle, Herefordshire
Country Perry (4.5%)
Bounds Scrumpy (4.8%)
First Quality Cider (5%)
Traditional Scrumpy (6%)
Old Rosie Cloudy Scrumpy (7.3%)
Organic Vintage Cider (7.3%)
Winkleigh
Winkleigh, Devon
Sam’s Medium Cider (6%)
Sam's Sweet Cider (6%)

No I didn't try them all!!!

Dave

Applications on the G1

2009-06-20T11:36:00.009+01:00

I've been playing with the 1000's of Apps that you can get since day one but lately I've been deciding on which is the best streaming audio app to have. Well first off I used "Antplayer" but I didn't like the way it worked and it buffered a lot, so then I thought I'd found the best one, "Stream furious", did everything I wanted except for AAC/AAC+. Any way used it everyday for the last few months until a new App appeared, this is called "A Online Radio", now this does everything "Stream Furious" does plus the AAC/AAC+ formats inaddition to mp3/m3u/pls.

If it covered the mms:// format it would be perfect.

The other streaming media player that I've been playing with is Beeb player, now this lets you watch live BBC TV plus watch again programs and live and recorded BBC radio.
It's a shame nobody is doing one for ITV, although saying that, "Zatoo" are supposed to be working on a Android version of their player.

More on the G1

2009-06-18T13:31:00.005+01:00

Been playing with the Android SDK this week and first thing
I've done it to set up screen grabs.
What you see below is how the web sites appear on the phone itself.
This one is viewing the phone in landscape mode ( the phone has auto rotate!)

Below is a shot of my new Commando transmitter page.
I had to set that up as Yahoo Geocities have decided to shut down all of their free webspaces.

Extended battery for T-Mobile G1

2009-03-16T12:47:00.004Z

On Friday morning I ordered a extended power battery for my G1.
It's a 2200mAh Li-ion job and comes with a deeper replacement back cover.
The original battery is only 1150mAh and costs £19.56 from T-Mobile in the UK.
The high power one I brought cost £19.47 with the new back cover! Apparently the same item in the USA has been selling for around $50, so for once the UK is cheaper.
I got mine from here, superetrader , oh did I mention, I ordered on Friday morning and received it Saturday morning at 11:45, now that's what I call service!
Now does it make a difference? Well I'd say yes, I'm constantly surfing and listening to the WNKR stream using Stream furious and normally the original battery would be flat after 4 hours, the new one after only one full charge lasted over 12 hours.

Well that's all for now, Dave.

Coming soon, update on the T-Mobile G1

2009-03-14T19:50:00.001Z

Yes done a few things with the G1 and got a few add ons, more tomorrow.

The USA, handguns and Tea!

2009-03-12T15:32:00.002Z

In the light of recent events in the USA I've had 2 things reinforced in my mind.
The first is there's still a case for banning public ownership of handguns,
ask anyone who lives in Kinston Alabama!
Secondly, why should Brit tourists, looking for a decent cup of tea find that not only
is Liptonite too weak (I can't see why? It nearly killed Superman!) But they have to
hide the blog of their tour from the public incase the FBI/CIA/FCC track them down
For subversive behaviour and the promotion of strong brews!

My birthday and real ale

2009-03-02T16:22:00.003Z

Well it's my birthday and I've dragged me self up north to the Wellington Arms in Bedford. 14 real ales plus loads of Belgium bottled beers. This pub is really excellent if you like a drop of the real stuff take a look at the pics below.

Click on the pics for full size versions.

My new T mobile G1 phone

2009-02-22T18:35:00.012Z

Well on Wednesday I bit the bullet and went and got a new T mobile G1 phone, the first i phone with the android operating system.What can I say, well pretty good!
Like the Apple i phone it relies on adding applications to give full functionality. I will say that I see this as a mobile browser that has a phone, as opposed to the other way around! Any way after messing around with it for sometime I realised that I had registered it to the wrong Google account, ( yes it ties a lot of it's app's to a Google account, so you can't use it until you have one! No big sweat.) not a problem though as opposed to what some people say you can easily start over again and put the google account details of your choice in.
Now there's a rather nice web receiver over in Bedfordshire and I thought that it'd be nice to access this via the G1, ah but there is no streaming audio facility, a quick trip to the 'Market' and I installed a free application called Antplayer which let me access the receiver's audio stream.

So there I am walking down the road, tuning and listening to a web receiver as if I was there.
The internet connection is via the 3G network and is always on, although as it has Wifi as well, when in range of your home or an open network you can connect to that instead!
I still can't stop playing!
I'll do a more in depth review at a later date.

Dave

Seal, Killer on the loose EP

2009-01-28T20:38:00.014Z

Been listening to this & inch EP on vinyl that was released in 1991.
It has the yet unreleased version of "Killer" plus Seal's version of Hendrix's "Hey" Joe and a self penned number called "Come see what love has done."

London pirate station closdown 16th of July 1984

2009-01-28T20:29:00.012Z

This one has just blown me away, found it in my old cassettes.
28 minutes of London pirate stations mostly from close down day 16th of July 1984.
Enjoy.

Welcome to my blog.

2009-01-28T13:09:00.000Z

Welcome to my blog, here I will be talking about the music I like and giving you a chance to listen to it as well.