A Few Newbie Questions - Galaxy S firmware

[Guest Ben-B]

I'm about to get a Galaxy S, and I've been researching all the mods I'd more than likely do to improve it as soon as it arrives!

• GPS is important to me in a phone - am I right in thinking that the JG3 firmware gets better results for the GPS than the JG5 or have I misunderstood?

These 'JG' firmwares, are they written by someone independent, or do they come from someone in Samsung??

• I've seen the guides for flashing the firmware, and I'm comfortable with doing that, but when an official firmware comes out (2.2 Froyo etc) what will the procedure be for flashing it with that? Will they make a more user-friendly installer for that one?

• What exactly does 'rooting' mean??

Edited August 16, 2010 by Ben-B

[Guest Dan Mullen]

I'm about to get a Galaxy S, and I've been researching all the mods I'd more than likely do to improve it as soon as it arrives!

• GPS is important to me in a phone - am I right in thinking that the JG3 firmware gets better results for the GPS than the JG5 or have I misunderstood?

These 'JG' firmwares, are they written by someone independent, or do they come from someone in Samsung??

• I've seen the guides for flashing the firmware, and I'm comfortable with doing that, but when an official firmware comes out (2.2 Froyo etc) what will the procedure be for flashing it with that? Will they make a more user-friendly installer for that one?

• What exactly does 'rooting' mean??

Hi mate,

I've never had a problem with GPS on the Galaxy S, although I've read stories from quite a few people that have. The newer firmwares seem to fix the issues most people have reported.

The "JG" firmwares are leaked Samsung firmwares. They are written by Samsung, but as they are leaked they may not necessarily be the final, stable versions. I'm currently running the official JM1 update provided by the Samsung Kies software - no issues to report!

I'm holding out for an official 2.2 update via Kies, but there are already leaked Froyo firmwares available.

"root" access will give you access to functions and features of the phone that would normally be unavailable to a typical user. Examples include the ability to run certain backup software and the ability to remove system apps that were shipped with the phone. Unless you need root access, it's probably worth holding off as you can do damage to your phone if you aren't careful!

Hope this helps :huh: