Giving everyone to a reason to remember our earlier article on Samsung support, Samsung has been sending mixed messages the last few days about whether or not their hugely-successful Galaxy S line of Android phones will be upgraded to Android 2.3 Gingerbread. As we previously noted, Samsung is typically very poor when it comes to supporting and pushing through upgrades to their phones, particularly after one update. According to Pocket-lint, a U.K. Samsung representative gave weak response to this issue, essentially saying that Samsung would have to evaluate and decide if they'll be able to support a Gingerbread update:
“In case a new version of Android operating system is publicly announced and released, Samsung will review the possibility of implementation of such new version to the existing Samsung products with Android operating system (“Update”).
"Such a review will be based on various factors including, without limitation, the overall effect of such Update to Samsung products, the system requirements, the structural limitations, and the level of cooperation from the component suppliers and the software licensors”.
Of course, the idea that the Galaxy S line couldn't support Gingerbread easily is silly, especially considering that the new Nexus S is essentially a tweaked Galaxy S running the same processor. In addition, there have been numerous reports like this one from CNET that the Android 2.3 requirements are essentially the same as for 2.2. So while a U.K. Samsung rep may have been singing one tune, Smasung Mobile India had this to say on Twitter:
@juranandi Gingerbeard will be available for GalaxyS users. ^PC
Well, good to know. Or not know. Expect this story to flip back and forth multiple times between now and Spring. Keep in mind that the Galaxy S phones in the U.S. are just now getting Froyo. At this point, does anyone think it's likely that months from now Samsung will put up a fight against the carriers to deliver Gingerbread, with newer, Honeycombed phones on the brink of being sold?