Samsung Epic 4G Can Be Manually Upgraded to Android OS 2.2

The long-awaited Android OS 2.2 upgrade for Sprint's Samsung Epic 4G is now available. Among other changes, this brings support for Adobe Flash to this smartphone's web browser, and fixes its GPS problem.

The Epic 4G debuted last summer with Android OS 2.1, even though OS 2.2 was starting to become available at that time. Since then, users of this device have been waiting with increasing impatience for their upgrade. But the wait is now over.

Sprint and Google are sending this upgrade over the air to this smartphone, but those who want it now can manually install it.

New in Android OS 2.2 (Froyo)
This version of Google's mobile operating system is required for devices to run Adobe Flash Player 10.1, which allows the web browser to fully make use of websites that use Flash for navigation, games, and showing video.

This Android OS 2.2 upgrade also contains a number of other enhancements, such as faster performance thanks to a new JIT compiler and the ability to store applications on a removable memory card.

In addition, this system software upgrade includes a fix for a bug that sometimes causes this smartphone to be unable to get a GPS lock.

Manual Installation Instructions
The manual version of the update has been made available by Samsung. This gives users two options, one involving a Windows PC, or another that can be done entirely on the smartphone.

The PC version involves downloading an executable file onto a desktop or laptop from Samsung, connecting the Epic 4G to this PC, and running the app.

The other version is intended for Macs, but can be used by anyone who doesn't have a PC handy.

• Make sure the Epic 4G has at least a half battery charge before starting this process
• Download the Mac OS version of the system software update from Samsung
• Put it in the root directory of the microSD card
• Turn off the Epic 4G
• Turn the smartphone back on while holding down the Volume Down button, Camera button, while pushing the Power button
• The update process will begin, and take several minutes.
• When the Epic 4G starts again, it will be running Android OS 2.2