Galaxy S on Orange UK. I need some advice

[paddyb]

I have just taken delivery of a replacement Orange handset and, unlike my first one, it is simlocked and heavily branded by Orange. They have their own launcher (or a skin for touch wiz?), and have redesigned the permanent icons at the bottom in orange and white and have their own widgets, nothing particularly exciting, and more preinstalled games. I later found out that there is a preinstalled Orange app called Homescreen which allows you to select Touchwiz, and then everything is back to normal, bar the Internet Icon now being orange rather than blue, which I can live with.

*#1234# shows: PDA: BVJGI, PHONE: BVJF3, CSC: ORAJG1? Is this still JF3 firmware?

The only other difference I noticed was that the Vibration icon in the drop down list has been replaced by Data, and the 3G etc indicator now displays along with WiFi, not either or as before.

[paddyb]

Further to this, I connected to Kies and was offered a firmware update. It only changed the PDA version from BVJG1 to BVJG2 and CSC to ORANJJG2. Can any one tell me what this means? I guess I’m still on the JF3 Firmware, but not sure what PDA and CSC are, and what difference this makes?

I also ran Quadrant and got a benchmark of 907, which is a bit faster than an average Galaxy (without lag fix etc) according to their chart, and I’ve hot a lot off apps installed.

[clareriley]

I have mine on orange. Not branded at all with anything unlike my friends Wave.

I got mine through dialphone.

[steffworthington]

Android on Orange is orange's own build. As an Orange customer I have been waiting for the 2.2 Froyo for ages. Most other networks have had it for months... I found out last week that 2.2 is ready for Orange Samsung galaxy S customers.
Only today I find out that because it's Orange's 2.1 Android 'build' Samsung won't upgrade it via Kies. They can't touch it. So i go to orange and they tell me the only way the firmware can be upgraded is via a Samsung service centre... the nearest one is in Liverpool. A 45 mile round trip.
It's a pain if youre in a big city I suppose but if you're in, say, Cumbria or Cornwall you have to travel to do it. I said 'ah well, i'll leave it.' and was told that i'd have to do it soon because Orange can't guarantee they can service 2.1 for much longer (not sure how true this is tbh)

some phone makers don't even have service centres in the UK and the salesman said 'well at least you dont have HTC. It might be the case that they have to send their phones to Korea.'

gee thanks.

As a follow on i got a phone call from Orange telling me I can send my Galaxy S to Samsung directly for 14+ days, go to Liverpool, or there may be a work around I can test on an XP machine (which I dont have) but it wont work on Vista or windows 7.

[Doomed]

1:

i'd have to do it soon because Orange can't guarantee they can service 2.1 for much longer

This is crap, there are phones still on Android 1.5 and I have phones that are 10 years old that still work. Unless they mean app support wise.

2:

there may be a work around I can test

There is, it's called odin and here's a guide How-to-use-Odin-to-upgrade-to-Froyo-from-Eclair, which should also work with win7 and you won't get oranges bloatware either Now the only downside is you'll need the 3 button combo, but don't worry if you don't as there is a fix

And YOU SHOULD ALWAYS MAKE SURE YOU HAVE THE 3 BUTTON COMBO WORKING BEFORE YOU FLASH, EVEN IF YOU DO IT BY KIES

[ancient geek]

2.2 is available for Orange UK users through Kies-think you may need latest version 1.5.3.10103_102 though. Was posted on this forum in Galaxy S News if i remember rightly.
Upgrade details are
PDA -I9000BVJP8
Phone-I9000BVJP3
CSC-I9000ORAJP8
Build info 2010.12
Dont have it on mine anymore though as went over to unbranded jpy which is much better.

[Hampe]

Dude....just reghack your kies and be done with it. It's even easier than flashing the phone yourself with Odin, and you get rid of all the orange crapware. I've got an Orange Galaxy (Switzerland though, not UK) and I've had Froyo since November, and JPY for about a month.....all updated over Kies.

There's a thread on XDA that even has a tool you can use to edit the registry, which makes it even easier than it was before.

[amilloyd]

The reg hack was very easy to do even for a noob like me. Start to finish 10 minutes. Now have JPY and no orange junk on phone.

[Tufftoad]

Further to this, I connected to Kies and was offered a firmware update. It only changed the PDA version from BVJG1 to BVJG2 and CSC to ORANJJG2. Can any one tell me what this means?

This is a breakdown of how they title the firmware - HERE

I have mine on orange. Not branded at all with anything unlike my friends Wave.

I got mine through dialphone.

Probably more likely to be unbranded from Dialphone rather than direct from the provider

edit: Samsung users and more so Orange customers should get to know how to maintain their SGS, read up on various methods. You will be grateful to yourself for doing so.

[Goots]

There is, it's called odin and here's a guide How-to-use-Odin-to-upgrade-to-Froyo-from-Eclair, which should also work with win7 and you won't get oranges bloatware either

Yep, it does work with win7 - I am using win7 home premium 64bit.