Long story short: 

Did you get a different brand headsets (earphones with a mic) for your Galaxy S and now Googling to find out why the sound is crippled (very weak)? Well, because many manufactures match Apple’s iPhone or iPod headsets which use a different wiring. Check out the earphone’s manufacturers website or the package if it doesn’t state: compatible with iPhone. If it does and you really want to use your new headphones with a mic (3 pin conector = 3 circles on the silver/gold plug), then you need to get an adapter. 

Adapter: 

Fiio LU1 Adapter Cable – use iPhone specific headphones on different brands of phone

This adaptor reverses the mic and ground connections so that the sound and the mic work. Play/pause and track skip functions should also work but this might depend on a smartphone brand. It is a 5cm cable that you plug into the phone and plug in your earphones into it. 

This adapter should get your earphones and your microphone working not only on Samsung (Galaxy S, Galaxy Spica) smartphones but also on others - such as Motorola (Droid, Cliq, Q series), LG (Voyager, Venus, Chocolate, enV), and some Sony phones. Basically all mobile phones or smartphones wired in a way where the mic and ground are opposite of the iPhone/iPod wiring (and the industry manufactures earphones with a mic primarily for iPhone/iPod).

To buy FiiO LU1 Adapter:

Europe: Amazon.co.uk sells it here (also with L shape male plug FiiO LU2)

Canada: www.headphonebar.com/fiio-lu1/

Other parts of the world: Please try Googling for “FiiO LU1” and see if you can find an online shop shipping to your country. If you do then please let me know in the comments below. I’ll then update this section and others will be thankful to you ;) Alternatively look up other adapters from another manufacturers below in this post (the red text in updates).

JABRA headsets with adapter – a better value and alternative?

As this post is still kind of live, people ask/comment once in a while and I also have been looking for new headphones or headsets, have discovered JABRA headsets come with a nice (cordless) adapter!

“Jabra CHILL Corded Headset” on amazon.co.uk sells for almost the same price of the Fio adapter alone! :) (They come also in white color)

Not sure if the adapter is JABRA headsets only compatible. I might order them and see. If someone else orders them earlier, let us please know in comments below.

Warning: 

I don’t recommend cutting the headphones cord and trying to swap connections yourself. You might end up, very easily, with no headsets and no choice of either sending them back for a refund or geting the adpater.

Note:

If you bought headphones without a mic (2 pin = 2 circles on the silver/gold plug) you should be fine. In other words, all such headphones should work with your Galaxy S unless they are faulty.

Now, the long story:

After more than 2 weeks,  I’ve received my order from ZAGG. (It took them 1 week to fulfill and ship the order and than it took over 1 week to cross the Atlantic: USA to Bratislava, Slovakia).

Beside the USB travel charger ZAGGsparq 2.0, I also ordered the ZAGG invisibleSHIELD for the Samsung Galaxy S i9000 (maximum front and back coverage) and ZAGGsmartbuds.

I’m really getting use of the ZAGGsparq 2.0 as the Galaxy S is extremely power hungry and battery won’t last more than 4 hours when listening to music/radio and browsing on Orange SK 3G network. Apparently  it’s the nice AMOLED display that eats up over 75% of the battery (see Settings > About Phone > Battery use). Wonder why didn’t they rather make it thicker with 3000 mAh battery.

I will need the invisibleSHIELD replaced as mine has some 1px line on the front foil (manufacturing fault)?

But the last item ZAGGsmartbuds are unusable for my Galaxy S :-(

I plugged them into the Galaxy S 3.5mm jack and barely heard any sound coming out. Immediately started looking for the cause. Plugged them into the laptop and sound was coming out just fine! Tried them on colleagues’ iPod Touch, iPhone 3GS and HTC Desire and none of them had any audio problem whatsoever. Just me, with my Galaxy S!

Then tried the 3-pin Apple original headphones that came with colleague’s iPhone and here things started clearing up as audio/sound didn’t work with them either!

Went on Google and my fears got confirmed! Samsung Galaxy S 3.5mm uses a “new” standard because of the TV OUT functionality.

The main problem is that right now the 3rd party headphone manufacturers don’t support the layout Samsung’s using whereas they do for the iPhone. So if you want a high quality headphone with mic and controls you’re stuffed, otherwise you are stuck with the included set or just stereo headphones.

Hopefully as the SGS’s popularity grows there will be adapters coming out to solve this problem – it’s certainly not hard.

whirpool forum

TV OUT functionality sounds good but how often will I need that over plugging-in headphones with mic of my preference!?

Any 2-pin headphones will work just fine but the moment you get non-Samsung 3-pin headphones with mic like my new ZAGGsmartbuds, then they will not work properly! (neither the sound nor the mic, although if you press the mic button you get the proper sound coming out!)

I would expect Samsung to provide solution for this. The easiest would be to include some adapter right in the box! But not only they don’t include one, their customer representatives have no idea about where/if I could get one. How do I know? I called Samsung.

First, I called Samsung US on: +18889874357. They are selling Galaxy S in the States like hotcakes , so I thought why bother with some local European distributor. US 800 numbers are free from Skype, so off I went to get the answer straight from the Samsung US customer care.

Did I get the answer? No. But they got my personal details as I spent good 1/2 hour releasing to the customer care lady my personal details (name, surname, address, zip, IMEA of the device…). Hell did I ask why/if she needed all that (“yes, but only this very first time you are calling us”).  Then she didn’t understand that somebody from non-US territory could be calling her as the ZIP code didn’t work, the IMEA number wasn’t showing up and so on…  However, I warned her right after we said “Hello” that I’m calling from outside of US and asked her whether that is a problem to which she replied “no, that’s fine, we value Samsung customers world-wide”. Samsung US customer support = Terrible experience!

Right after Samsung US failed to give me the answer, I called ZAGG. They didn’t need my personal details (actually they already had them as all they asked for was my last order number). Plus, ZAGG customer guy was more creative with his assistance: “Sir, please try google it”.  ROFL, as if I don’t do that very first time I have some question these days!

As the last resort, I also tried Samsung Slovakia/Czech republic. They just gave me a dry answer: “go to samsungmobile.cz and if you find it there, then we have it otherwise we don’t”.

If anybody finds the solution and/or the 3.5mm adapter (adaptor) which will make non-samsung headphones with mic work with Samsung Galaxy S, please let me know!

Updates/links:

20 Aug 2010:

• Galaxy S Headset Jack – Useless!

21 Aug 2010:

• Looks like it is (kinda) Apple’s fault at the end as they’ve decided to go with wiring similar to one used in Aircraft headsets
• I might have found the adapter!
  It’s called iPhone Headset to other Cell Phone Adapter 3.5mm 4 conductor TRRS Male to Female. Will order it and see if it really works:

iPhone Headset to other Cell Phone Adapter 3.5mm 4 conductor TRRS Male to Female This short (~2 inch) Adapter cable allows you to connect your iPhone/iPod Touch compatable headsets to other cell phones and devices that have incompatable wiring (see below for details). The iPhone compatable headsets use the 3rd conductor of the 4-pole TRRS 3.5mm plug for the ground connection which makes them incompatable with the more common 4th conductor ground configuration. This adapter has a 3.5mm TRRS Male with the 4th conductor ground and a 3.5mm TRRS Female with the 3rd conductor ground (iPhone wiring). By switching the ground connections, this adapter will allow you to use your iPhone headsets with most other 3.5mm 4-pole cell phone headset jacks. NOTE: This adapter may not work to adapt your iPhone headsets to some cell phones, if you are unsure if it will work for your phone then contact us with the Make and Model and we will try and help you determine the correct adapter. Features: 3.5mm TRRS 4 conductor Male Plug 3.5mm TRRS 4 conductor Female Jack Premium Shielded Coax Audio Cable for Excellent protection against EMI/RFI interference. Cable Pinout T ———>T R1 ——->R1 R2 ——->S S ———>R2

28 Sep 2010:

• I ordered and did get the adapter (above image) almost a month ago. It worked so well that I got carried away and went on using it with my ZAGG smartbuds and forgot to update this entry.  So yes the:
  iPhone Headset to other Cell Phone Adapter 3.5mm 4 conductor TRRS Male to Female
  ^ it works and I recommend the kv Connections even if ordering from outside US (me from Europe, came in thin envelope straight into the letterbox, no customs clearance/taxes necessary).

25 June 2011:

• Cheaper adapter from MEElectronics with what looks more soft/bendable cable.
  (thanks to Dave, see his comment from May 11, 2011)

After having Samsung Galaxy S running Android 2.1, the first and foremost thing I’ve struggled to grasp on was the battery life.

Honestly, not even a half day of use for music player, 3G internet browsing to occasionally check public transport timetables, news, twitter and do some short email replies and phone calls…?

What’s going on? My Nokia E66 lasted for 3+ days under similar usage conditions!?

So I went ahead to find the cure. I’ve used juice defender app. I read article about calibrating the battery by discharging fully then resetting the battery stats in boot loader menu and charging fully again. Then I read another article about lithium batteries and how they shouldn’t be discharged less than 30% (< slovak article, try google translator ;). The article talks how full discharge is actually killing the batteries lifespan due to their no-memory effect and other parameters. So I even purchased a new original Samsung battery!

But no, nothing of above worked, still only a few hours of battery life.

Then, not sure if accidentally or how, I started experimenting on my own. Actually those experiments were promoted by tweets of people claiming extraordinary improvement in their battery life after upgrading to Darky’s ROM 10.x. I upgraded to that custom ROM too but experienced the opposite, battery life decrease. (But I have to say it is a great custom ROM, based on Android Gingerbread 2.3.x resulting in a lot of improvement in speed and responsiveness).

So I started own experiments by leaving the phone in the flight mode. And then I wasn’t too far away from finding what caused the issues.

Background data sync ON vs OFF! Be it Google accounts like Gmail, Yahoo mail, Twitter or POP3 mail… Not sure how often they sync, push or whatever they do but they do it so often and so power hungry that since I’ve turned it off I got 4-5x battery life. In other words, before I had 3-6 hour battery life with Background data sync on. When turned off, I get 2+ days.

When you turn it off, even the android pops a notification message mentioning battery saving.

Ok but what about getting notifications of new email, tweet or app updates?

Simple, I manually manage it now. When I feel like it, I turn the Background data sync to ON couple times a day for a few minutes. It’s not that hard nor annoying and I don’t need any app to manage it either (I searched a few to auto manage this but they failed to achieve the same result).

I tap the menu button, go straight to Settings > Accounts and sync > Background data [checkbox]. I check it, let the phone sync (wait for the sync icon to disappear from the top notification bar). Then uncheck it and come back to home screen to see updated Gmail and other sync update depended apps.

This way I even get less distractions, dependency on pulling the phone out of pants and pausing my chillax music as I used to before when beeps and rings came whenever and whenever.

Try it for yourself ;)

(I don’t care about Auto-sync below Background data, it didn’t stop my apps from auto sync. I really just manually turn on & off the whole Background data a 2-3 times a day.)

As mentioned in my updates to previous post, on my second attempt I was successful in installing the Froyo (Android 2.2) Nordic release on my Samsung Galaxy S.

However, I still don’t feel like Froyo is a major leap (upgrade). There are a few improvements like the possibility to install Adobe Flash Player 10.1 and get to actually see Flash in the browser. Also the USB tethering is pretty cool, screen rotation lock prevents unwanted display flips, front and back facing lens button in Camera App, ability to switch off the use of active mobile data through the power-off button/options (good when roaming),  search/find in web-browser/webpages.

However, a big disappointed is that the Swype keyboard doesn’t work anymore. Samsung keyboard has to be used and it works well. There is a new welcomed feature though, precise character by character browse selector/pin (an alternative to iPhone’s magnifying glass).

Google maps with Voice navigation still most likely work only in the USA.

Other claimed improvements (Setup Wizard, pinch-by-zoom home) I don’t consider as a major upadate/worth mentioning  (as Samsung did in their press release).

I made a video showing my Galaxy S running the Froyo Nordic release which I installed following instructions/steps through a registry hack.

Update: (1 Nov 2010):
- Reinstalled my Galaxy S Froyo thru Odin http://bit.ly/9Wbj82 also applied OneClickLagFix & CircleFix. So much happier now (me & my phone :) Swype also works now!

Today, I’ve seen couple of tweets about people in Europe, Scandinavia (Nordic states: Norway, Sweden, Denmark) being able to get Froyo (Android 2.2) upgrade for their Samsung Galaxy S.

Samsung also has released an official press release (published on 14 October 2010 but dated 18 October 2010 !?) confirming this:

SEOUL, Korea – October 18, 2010 – Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., a leading mobile phone provider, today announced the Android™ 2.2 (Froyo) upgrade to the Samsung GALAXY S, giving users access to new features, enhanced navigation applications and improved performance.

The Android 2.2 upgrade will be available via Kies, Samsung’s unique in-house software upgrade program. Kies can be downloaded at the Samsung mobile website (http://www.samsungmobile.com).

The GALAXY S is Samsung’s cleverly designed smartphone with a bright 4-inch SUPER AMOLED screen and a 1 GHz application processor, giving users an intelligent, immersive and integrated mobile experience. The Android 2.2 upgrade offers voice-controlled GPS through Google Maps^TM with Navigation, faster performance by JIT(Just in Time) compiler. Additionally, further functionalities including Search in-browser, Adobe® Flash® Player 10.1, improved customization options will be provided with OS upgrade.

- Google Maps^TM with Navigation: GPS navigation system with voice guidance

- Adobe® Flash® Player 10.1: Allow the web browser to make full use of the whole web

- Setup Wizard: Quickly customize the GALAXY S and access networks with ease

- Home Screen/Menu Preview and Edit : Preview by pinch-zoom

- Search in-Browser : Google™, Translate, Wikipedia, Dictionary

The Android 2.2 upgrade will be available from the mid of October 2010 in the Nordic region and gradually rolled out to other European markets, Southeast Asia, the Middle East Asia, North America, Africa and rest of the world.

Source: Samsung Mobile Singapore (14 Oct 2010)

Obviously me being an owner of Galaxy S, I was happy to learn that after the delay (Samsung originally promised Froyo update for late September) I can soon update my Samsung GT-I9000 mobile phone.

The question was how soon? I tried to google the answer and started to get mixed feelings that it still might not happen any time soon (Samsung Galaxy S FroYo update ‘delayed until next week’ & Samsung Galaxy S Froyo Source Code Yanked).

However, impatiently digging for more info, I stumbled upon this article: How to Get the Galaxy S Froyo 2.2 update RIGHT NOW if you own a GT-i9000 device, regardless of country which I followed step by step while screen/video recording my experience:

Long story short, my premature upgrade failed!

It took about 40 min. (download, decompression, transfer to phone) after which the upgrade failed.

But my Galaxy S still runs OK with the 2.1

Don’t forget to copy & save the original registry values before entering the new in!

Update 1: (later on Sat, 16 Oct 2010):
- I tried the whole upgrade process (with the registry hack) one more time and it worked this time!
- However, the phone is much slower now, swype keyboard is nonfunctional (if I try to switch it on,  I only get some strange vibrations). I also cannot see any flash content on webpages. Not happy, not worth of upgrading for some of the (minor) feature improvements I’ve noticed so far. Thinking of downgrading back…
- To get Flash I had to install it  from the Android Market (Adobe Flash Player 10.1).

Update 2: (1 Nov 2010):
- Reinstalled my Galaxy S Froyo thru Odin http://bit.ly/9Wbj82 also applied OneClickLagFix & CircleFix. So much happier now (me & my phone :)