By We’re hearing that the JI5 update for the Samsung Vibrant is now available through Samsung’s syncing and update app – Kies. As soon as you download the app, you can pull in the latest update and apply it to your Samsung Vibrant which will bring about a number of maintenance fixes including – yes – the GPS fix. We’re still not sure when T-Mobile will be offering this over-the-air, but at least we know you won’t have to wait on their word. Go ahead and grab Kies now.
[via DroidDog, Thanks, swehes!]
When will this come for the Fascinate and other Galaxy S phones? It should be pretty quick seeing as they are all the same phone right?
We can only hope…
I just installed this update. TIP: If you can’t get your phone to connect to Kies and you are using a 3rd party launcher, switch to TouchWiz before trying to connect!
Now for my impressions. So far so good! I’ve noticed the following:
– GPS works great! Lock on 6 sats within 30 seconds indoors, went outside and drove for 5 minutes and it stayed accurate.
– Swype voice recognition added, works great
– Voicemail tab launches T-Mobile Visual Voicemail if installed instead of dialing voicemail
– Task manager added, accessible by tapping a new button after holding down home and getting the recent applications list
– Camcorder renamed to HD Camcorder
– Seems a little faster, but this might just be in my head, or could be due to the rebooting after the flash
– MediaHub added… haven’t tested.
– Market updated. Seems much faster.
After downloading KIES and running it for the first time, Kies will tell you that there is an update to Kies application available – DO NOT INSTALL THE KIES UPDATE: it will make firmware update for Vibrant fail. Just cancel the Kies update and you will be able to do the Vibrant firmware update. Just an FYI as lot of people had to fight with Kies to figure this out.
How do I get Kies? I don’t see it when I click that link…
Ah, nvm. Apparently the app has to be downloaded to my computer, not my phone.
can you do this update if you rooted? will this break your root on the vibrant?
@Angela You might want to read up more about it at forum.xda-developers.com (just go to Vibrant section) before you go forward. Might save you a lot of headache although it is pretty simple but still possible to bump into obstacles without knowledge.
@Moises You can update when rooted but you will loose root. Just root again afterwards.
@George of the Jungle, OK THANKS.
When I click on the link what am I lokgoking for.
…when will these GPS updates be available for the international galaxy s (I9000) variants!? Great to hear that it seems to actually be showing improvements to GPS lock!
Wow My GPS just locked on inside a building….
Can someone record a track with mytrack and publish it? I would like to see how precise is the GPS.
I don’t see any app can someone tell me step by step please. I’ve downloaded the kies and now I don’t know what to do
I’ve downloaded Kies, per the tip did not update. After I connect Vibrant to USB and computer, when I try to update message says Vibrant needs to be in Kies mode. I saw this option once I think under SD Card/ Storage for USB, but it no longer shows up. How do I enable Kies mode on my Vibrant? I would like to be able to take advantage of these updates, love the phone hate the non functional GPS
Thanks in advance for your assistance,
Mark
Derrick, how do you switch to touchwiz? Isn’t touchwiz already installed on the Vibrant?
@ Markc
Do this: At home screen hit Settings > Applications > Usb Settings > Samsung Kies
@ trevreds
Go to Settings > Applications > Manage applications> [Your Launcher] > Clear defaults
The next time you hit the home key, it will ask you which to use. Just click on twLauncher, I think it’s called.
so am i downloading the 1.5.1 kies? because thats all i see. And if so after it downloaded and i connect my phone into kies mode.. what do i do next? please help
thanks
Thanks Anthony, I set to Kies on my phone and restarted the Kies app on my desktop. It downloaded & installed the update. GPS issue seems fixed.
Thanks for your help,
Mark
Looks like the GPS is fixed at the moment…. inside a building I actually got a lock, but I will test it against my old Nexus one and see how it fares….
How would one go about getting this update on a Mac that can’t install Kies? Thanks!
thats another problem i have had. My vibrant will not connect with my MAC. i cant even put music onto it. WTF is that about. FAIL
I cant get the driver to install for my vibrant when in kies mode is there somewhere I can download it at?
Samsung and Kies absolutley suck, it;s like win 95 all over again..crap crap crap..I’m selling my vibrant abd going back to the iphone, this a complete joke…
doesn’t work for Mac’s. any idea on when they would release this fix for Mac’s? If anyone can help me please email me @ [email protected]. thanks in advance.
Thanks for the response Derrick, the problem was what Anthony said…USB Setting to Samsung Kies.
I got all of the above stuff as reported by Derrick.
Media Hub…old movies so far.
Voice recognition in Swype.
Task manager.
Much more Apps available in Market.
My biggest problem has not changed GPS still cannot locate me anywhere near my home!!!!
Tomorrow I will road test the GPS on the way to work, but right now I feel like throwing my beloved Vibrant into the toilet!!
Having way too many issues with Keis, used Odin and some threads on XDA to get around Samsungs crap Desktop app:
http://www.molotovbliss.com/android-os-g1-sdk/t-mobile-samsung-galaxy-s-vibrant-gps-fix-without-keis/
downloaded kies and connected my phone to the computer. kies says that i cannot update the phone. what do i do?
I would like to stall this but I can’t open KIES for some reason. Keep getting a MainStage error. Lame
mine saids can not install update on this phone, what a joke Samsung is…
is there an instrution on how to install this update manually?
Um. I use Linux, not Windows. I take it that mean T-Mobile/Samsung doesn’t want me to update, right? Or is there another alternative?
ne help i cant update my vibrant every time i try to it says it doesn’t need to be updated.. ne help?
Does everyone have the sgh-t959 version? For the people who actually got it to work, what versions do you have? I keep getting a this device’s version cannot be updated.
I installed kies, it can see my vibrant but everytime i click to upgrade firmware i get a “this device’s version cannot be updated” error. WTF! Samsung SUCKS BIG DONKEY DI*K
Mine says i cannot install update to my phone also. Is this update only for the international version?
Great update, but there has been big lag when swyping around the home screen and the app screen. Anyone else having this problem?
Waiting for the OTA firmware update from T-Mobile.
Can someone tell me how exsaclly how to install the up date
Is this a UK update or is it in the US as well? I get an error saying that the device’s version cannot be updated
Thanks for any help,
G
Me too
I get an error saying that my device’s firmware cannot be updated. There is no notification saying that there is a firmware update when I have my phone connected. Didn’t update the Kies when instructed to do so and my phone is running in the Kies usb storage mode. What’s the deal???
Mine says: SGH0-T959, version: Phone:JFD “this device’s version cannot be updated”
via twitter
http://twitter.com/TMobile/status/25942543501
Great update, but my only problem/concern is there is a lot of lag when swyping the screen and switching through apps. Is anyone else noticing this? Is there a way to correct the problem?
Mine says the same thing, Phone:JFD “this device’s version cannot be updated” Had the One Click Lag Fix installed but I removed it and unrooted prior to attempting any upgrades. So close, yet so far…
For those you haven’t jumped on this, heads up
http://twitter.com/#!/TMobile/status/25942543501
The update has been pulled from Kies, and Tmo has said not to use it.
Get “This device’s version cannot be updated. It’s JFD. Why??????
Having an issue getting the update says current version PDA:Jeff this device’s. Version cannot be updated…help?
Same here. I also get “This device’s version cannot be updated.” It’s JFD as well. About 7hrs ago I was getting the message to download the firmware but I was getting an error when attempted to do that. But now I get “This device’s version cannot be updated.”. Looks like Samsung may have shut down the update for Vibrant owners.
Or maybe someone else have another explanation of what is going on…
i clicked on the samsung kies usb settings and it still comes out fail while loading the mpt, what am i missing
I used to get the update to install a few hours ago but I was getting an error when attempting the install. However now I get “This device’s version cannot be updated”. So it sounds to me like Samsung has shut down updates to Vibrant.
I think it’s possible that this update was not a TMobile authorized update and so they shut down the ability to update the Vibrant via Kies. Hopefully a OTA update will be coming soon for TMobile users.
From DroidDog:
UPDATE: Not a lot of info here, but T-Mobile announced via their Twitter account, in response to a user, that it’s best to wait for the update OTA:
“An OTA update will be announced soon. Please do not install the kies update due to some known issues.”
seems to me that tmobile users always get the short ends of the stick when it comes to ota updates smh.. its the g1 all over again. whats next my vibrant is gonna b stuck at 2.2?
tmobile telling us to wait for the ota update, and not download the kies update due to some known issues? i have updated through kies, and my vibrant is working alot better. i can finally use my gps, the phone seems to run a little faster, and they have added a few changes/updates to other things listed above. i don’t trust tmobile’s ota update. why??? i still have nightmares of the samsung behold ii update… when it got 1.6! yeah, my phone worked just fine, up until it was updated to 1.6. and i waited patiently for the tmobile ota update. it also took over a month for me to receive the update. i had one behold ii for 6 months, worked fine. ota update 1.6 comes around, and i replace it 4 times. if they offer the 2.2(froyo) update on kies before the tmobile ota, then i’m going to get it through kies as well. i don’t trust tmobile and their ota updates.
Buddy gps on Fascinate is working u sure u know how to use it?
The fascinate was also released two months after the vibrant, which have samsung enough time to correct the issue with the gps!
No.. some Samsung phones have GPS issues while others are lucky and have a GPS that works relatively well.
I am having sooo many issues downloading this…where should I go and what should I click? Please leave a step by step…I have Samsung Vibrant….Thanks
I bought a Samsung Galaxy S Vibrant Model SGH-T959 online from T-Mobile on 10/8/2010 and It arrived on 10/12/2010. So far the GPS by Google worked just fine.I am thinking about downloading “Kies” mainly so I can use it to drag and drop music files from my Computer to my Samsung Vibrant.
How do you keep your phone in usb storage ?