Samsung Q1 updates are out. Or are they?

A few folks including me were wondering why the Samsung Update Manager application didn't tell us that there was a new version of the Q1 BIOS on July 28th. I figured because it was listed as "Firmware" on the Samsung site, but now I'm not so sure. A little investigation shows evidence of new Samsung Q1 software available on the product site, but lo and behold, the Update Manager app is still coming up dry.

Here's what I found so far....

First up is the Samsung Battery Manager application. On my Q1, if I click Help, About in the Battery Manager application, Sammy shows me v.2.1.1.8. If you look on the Samsung Q1 download page, however, you see that v.2.2.0.0 is available. Realizing that I should have been a Hollywood Stuntman, I took the risk of downloading and installing the 2.2.0.0 version and sure enough, it's upgraded on my Q1. Unfortunately typical of many companies that provide software, there's no listing of features or fixes in this version. (And this is acceptable because.....?)

Anyway, if you feel like some mindless manual labor, I'm attaching a screenshot of what's currently available on the Samsung Q1 software download site. I won't belabor my point here by telling you what's new and what's old; frankly, I don't use some of the Samsung software anyway. Happy downloading and be sure to share your experiences with other Q1 owners in the comments.

-kct

Comments

[Carsten]

Yeah, I had this feeling for all the time I own the Q1 that the update manager does actually nothing at all... I installed all updates by hand :-(

[Bill]

Thanks for doing the detective work on the update situation.

[Stu Gisburne]

I try to check updates sites regularly as I am anal about updates. Anyway, I have noticed that the updates, although they have a date of 8/8/06, are the same versions that used to have a date of 7/27. (could be 7/28, I forget) What gives! This forces me to be leary of the update date and instead compare version numbers. Yuck. Not very professional at all.

[Bill]

I installed all the new files and my life hasn't changed any. I want those minutes back! :)

[Mike Drips]

Thanks for the tip on the BIOS upgrade and the other files. I have only downloaded and installed the BIOS, and I now get some odd behaviors out of my Q1 since doing the BIOS upgrade.

1. Regularly the Q1 boots, goes to a screen with the normal windows background and halts. No icons, no toolbar and no disk drive activity. Just a screen with the Windows background. Pushing all available keys and the on/off switch eventually brings the Q1 back to life.

2. Sometimes the Q1 boots up with the screen in 1024 portrait mode! Go figure.

None of these behaviors occured prior to my installation of the new BIOS.