UK gets Samsung Galaxy S Froyo update

Samsung had finally started rolling out Froyo, the latest version of Android, to UK users of its Galaxy S handset.

Google released Android 2.2 in May, but it took months for the update — which brings Flash support, speedier performance, Wi-Fi sharing and other enterprise-friendly features — to get customised by the various phone manufacturers. Samsung started a European rollout of its version of Froyo on 18 October, but it was only on Thursday that UK contract customers got it.

"Froyo starts rolling out today; everyone will have it by the end of Nov. To prepare, get the latest version of [synchronisation suite] Kies," Samsung UK said in a post on Twitter on Thursday.

The Galaxy S has been a very successful handset for Samsung. On Thursday, the analyst house IDC said the manufacturer had posted the best growth of all smartphone vendors in the third quarter of 2010 — up 454 percent on the same quarter last year — thanks to Galaxy S and Wave devices. The nearest level of growth was experienced by HTC, another Android manufacturer, which saw 176 percent year-on-year growth.