Greetings to all!
OK, obviously I'm new here, plus I'm dealing with an older Android phone or a 2010-era SGS Vibrant to be exact. More so than the PC world going obsolete in just a few years I've found it interesting how a 2-year young-old phone is already considered 'old'! I reckon such is life in the techno age, new today and old tomorrow. Seems like only yesterday when my AMD FX-60 dual-core CPU made its' debut, and now that CPU and my ATI X1950XTX Uber LE Crossfire cards have become outdated or as they say are now 'Legacy'. So anyway, I got this Samsung GS T959 Vibrant 3G from a friend that didn't appreciate the Radio Shack people offering to buy it back from them for a measly $30 when they went to upgrade to a newer 4G model. Can't say I blame them, at being insulted at the el-cheapo offer made on a phone that cost them $100s+ back in 2010 or just 2 years ago when the phone was brand new. Honestly if it were me I'd be more than insulted at an offer like that, but at least it got me my first Smartphone and a nice one at that as far as I'm concerned. Another lucky thing was that I already had T-mobile service, a pay-as-you-go only thing, so I was fortunate to be able to just pull the SIM out of my old Motorola V3 Razr and slap it in this new-to-me phone! As it is I'm on a pay-as-I-play service w/o contracts, can't afford any more monthly fees, but having a wireless router and Internet service I'm at least able to get online for apps even w/o having a contract for data.
On to why I'm here; I've been trying to learn what I can about getting firmware updates, still running Android 2.1 update 1 Eclair on this phone. That probably another reason I got it free, the original owner would not have been able to access Froyo or Gingerbread from Samsung or T-mobile. So now I have lots of homework to do, been at this for weeks trying to either find a way to update the firmware or perhaps learning how to root and go with CyanogenMod? I've read in many places, like xda-developers forums for one, how this phone can really benefit from an OS upgrade and how hard it is to 'brick' a Vibrant. I've also read that people who've used Kies to get a firmware update really messed up their phones, so I feel fortunate that after weeks of trying I'd never been able to get Kies [full version or mini, old versions or new] to recognize this phone. Oddly enough programs like Android Injector and such actually do recognize my phone as a T959 w/o a hitch, so I'm feeling glad Samsung Kies didn't recognize my phone or I'd have to deal with ridding myself of the Kies update!
I'm no young pup any longer and not getting any younger as they say. Whilst I've forgotten more about electronics and computers than most people know, it's getting tougher for me to sit for hours on-end trying to get solutions to this firmware upgrade issue. I've built computer since the day when a HDD weighed in over 80 lbs, was building them long before I knew how to run even the simplest OS, made my way up the ladder to even building my own liquid-cooled gaming PCs and various setups. The world of the Android OS is still somewhat new to me, yet I'm loving it already and I'm doing my best to learn and to enjoy doing so in the process.
I do feel fortunate to have been given this phone, being it's my first Smartphone and quite possibly my last. I came here seeking information, I've registered here to gain access to some of the Links that require membership and now hoping to also share in this new-for-me adventure inside the world of Android. With so many Web-Links now showing 404-Not Found errors and so much Malware floating around these days I'm reluctant to undertake any changes until I feel more secure in where the information is coming from.
So that's basically why I'm here, to learn and maybe even help to teach others once I do. I hope to someday give as well as receive. With your help I hope to become more 'Android- prolific' as it were, to become more fruitful and to multiply my app-world to a greater potential. With any luck, and a few pounds of patience and hopefully more endurance than I've had lately, I'd like to to at least get a Gingerbread-level of OS [going all the way to ICS-4 may be somewhat overkill for this little 1G Hummingbird I'm running, or so I've read] on this phone or learn to root & run. So much to learn, seems so little time to do so, but if I've come to the right place this 50+ old dog may yet learn some 'new tricks'!?!
OK, obviously I'm new here, plus I'm dealing with an older Android phone or a 2010-era SGS Vibrant to be exact. More so than the PC world going obsolete in just a few years I've found it interesting how a 2-year young-old phone is already considered 'old'! I reckon such is life in the techno age, new today and old tomorrow. Seems like only yesterday when my AMD FX-60 dual-core CPU made its' debut, and now that CPU and my ATI X1950XTX Uber LE Crossfire cards have become outdated or as they say are now 'Legacy'. So anyway, I got this Samsung GS T959 Vibrant 3G from a friend that didn't appreciate the Radio Shack people offering to buy it back from them for a measly $30 when they went to upgrade to a newer 4G model. Can't say I blame them, at being insulted at the el-cheapo offer made on a phone that cost them $100s+ back in 2010 or just 2 years ago when the phone was brand new. Honestly if it were me I'd be more than insulted at an offer like that, but at least it got me my first Smartphone and a nice one at that as far as I'm concerned. Another lucky thing was that I already had T-mobile service, a pay-as-you-go only thing, so I was fortunate to be able to just pull the SIM out of my old Motorola V3 Razr and slap it in this new-to-me phone! As it is I'm on a pay-as-I-play service w/o contracts, can't afford any more monthly fees, but having a wireless router and Internet service I'm at least able to get online for apps even w/o having a contract for data.
On to why I'm here; I've been trying to learn what I can about getting firmware updates, still running Android 2.1 update 1 Eclair on this phone. That probably another reason I got it free, the original owner would not have been able to access Froyo or Gingerbread from Samsung or T-mobile. So now I have lots of homework to do, been at this for weeks trying to either find a way to update the firmware or perhaps learning how to root and go with CyanogenMod? I've read in many places, like xda-developers forums for one, how this phone can really benefit from an OS upgrade and how hard it is to 'brick' a Vibrant. I've also read that people who've used Kies to get a firmware update really messed up their phones, so I feel fortunate that after weeks of trying I'd never been able to get Kies [full version or mini, old versions or new] to recognize this phone. Oddly enough programs like Android Injector and such actually do recognize my phone as a T959 w/o a hitch, so I'm feeling glad Samsung Kies didn't recognize my phone or I'd have to deal with ridding myself of the Kies update!
I'm no young pup any longer and not getting any younger as they say. Whilst I've forgotten more about electronics and computers than most people know, it's getting tougher for me to sit for hours on-end trying to get solutions to this firmware upgrade issue. I've built computer since the day when a HDD weighed in over 80 lbs, was building them long before I knew how to run even the simplest OS, made my way up the ladder to even building my own liquid-cooled gaming PCs and various setups. The world of the Android OS is still somewhat new to me, yet I'm loving it already and I'm doing my best to learn and to enjoy doing so in the process.
I do feel fortunate to have been given this phone, being it's my first Smartphone and quite possibly my last. I came here seeking information, I've registered here to gain access to some of the Links that require membership and now hoping to also share in this new-for-me adventure inside the world of Android. With so many Web-Links now showing 404-Not Found errors and so much Malware floating around these days I'm reluctant to undertake any changes until I feel more secure in where the information is coming from.
So that's basically why I'm here, to learn and maybe even help to teach others once I do. I hope to someday give as well as receive. With your help I hope to become more 'Android- prolific' as it were, to become more fruitful and to multiply my app-world to a greater potential. With any luck, and a few pounds of patience and hopefully more endurance than I've had lately, I'd like to to at least get a Gingerbread-level of OS [going all the way to ICS-4 may be somewhat overkill for this little 1G Hummingbird I'm running, or so I've read] on this phone or learn to root & run. So much to learn, seems so little time to do so, but if I've come to the right place this 50+ old dog may yet learn some 'new tricks'!?!
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