Android 2.1 Testing for Sprint's Samsung Moment

Authored by: Douglas Carter Apr 7, 2010

It seems that the first pictures of the Android 2.1 update for Sprint's Samsung Moment are out. AndroidCentral got a tip from KansasCityJoe in their forums and the bad news is that the update is not ready for general release. He wrote down a description of the changes experienced so far and you can read it below.

Apparently the update wipes all the data on the device. He also notes the phone as being more responsive and that it has VPN built into the phone. With this testing phase starting, those of you with a Sprint Samsung Moment hopefully won't have too much longer to wait.

The quote does not tell how the update was received, but AndroidandMe made the suggestion that "it is believed to be PC based like earlier Moment updates. When the time comes, customers should also be able to update their phones at a Sprint repair center."

Here is the post from Kansas City Joe:

Here are the details:

Firmware version: 2.1-update1
Baseband version: S:M900.8.05.DC23
Kernel version: 2.6.29
Build number: ECLAIR.DC23

Just got it early this morning and it is not for general release yet. I just started playing with it, but it seems much faster/more responsive than 1.5.

It does not appear to have pinch-to-zoom on either the Gallery or the Browser. Same backgrounds/bloatware that 1.5 has. When you launch NFL Mobile Live, it tells you it will be replaced by "Sprint Football Live".

It actually, now, has VPN built in (PPTP, L2TP, L2TP/IPSec both PSK and Certificate-based). Bluetooth is vastly improved. There is no more cutting out. Your headset will re-pair without having to put the phone into discoverable mode after you reboot.

You slide-to-answer a phone call now. It has voice input ("an experimental feature using Google's networked speech recognition") built it and it actually works! No more texting while driving! Extremely cool!

Email will now work with any certificate (not just signed).

The update erases everything on the device, and it's probably a good idea just to reinstall everything from scratch. Some of the 1.5 apps I'm not finding in the Market for 2.1. And some versions of apps in the Market say they don't work with 2.0 yet.

I'll post more as I find interesting stuff.