14 DAY TRIAL // Samsung Captivate is one of the last Galaxy S branded smartphones to receive the long-awaited Android 2.3 Gingerbread update.
The Canadian version of the Captivate was launched by Rogers last year with Android 2.1 Eclair on board, but received an upgrade to Froyo in January 2011.
The U.S. Samsung Captivate was released by AT&T and it's still stuck on Android 2.2 Froyo, but hopefully the smartphone will receive the Gingerbread upgrade as well.
Although Samsung and Rogers have yet to make it official, it appears that the carrier has already started to deploy the Android 2.3 Gingerbread update.
According to the guys over at MobileSyrup, the update is only available via Samsung Kies desktop software, which means an OTA (over the air) upgrade is out of the question.
Aside from bringing the firmware version to Android 2.3, the update add a range of enhancements and new features, including user interface improvements and improved power management.
It is also worth mentioning that Rogers Samsung Captivate users will be able to use the front facing camera for video calls via Skype, as soon as they update to Android 2.3 Gingerbread.
In addition, a shortcut to the Manage Applications control will be available in the Options Menu in the Home screen and Launcher, which will make it easier to handle application activity.
With Manage Applications users can check the list of active applications, as well as the storage and memory being used by each of these apps.
Furthermore, the Downloads application allows users to access any file downloaded from the browser, email, or another application more easily.
One-touch word selection and copy&paste capabilities have also been introduced. Users can quickly select a word by tap-hold, then copy it to the clipboard and paste it wherever they need.
Entire paragraphs can be copied to the clipboard using the free-selection mode and dragging the selection area as needed.