Samsung Galaxy S to update to Android 2.3 in 'late May'

Samsung Galaxy S owners who've been impatiently waiting for the Android Gingerbread upgrade can rest a little easier now. The smart phone will be ready to accept Android 2.3 later this month.

Funnily enough, Samsung has kept pretty quiet about last month's failed upgrade attempt where Google pulled the plug on the Galaxy S update due to "an issue".

UK users with the Galaxy S should be able to upgrade from "late May". Owners of other Galaxy phones, including the Tab, will have to wait a little longer as Samsung works on Gingerbread software updates for those devices. An exact timescale hasn't been given, and it's made all the slower because each network has its own software approval process.

When moving from Froyo (2.2) to Gingerbread, you should see a noticeable improvement in the performance of multimedia and 3D apps, thanks to a reduced load on the phone's CPU, and a faster, more intuitive user interface, including updated copy and paste. When ready, the upgrade can be initiated via the joyous experience that is Kies.

While the hordes of Galaxy S 2 owners can rest easy knowing they're already hooked up to Gingerbread, other Galaxy users should no longer feel like poor relations.

The huge discrepancies in upgrade timings across handsets and networks is one issue that Android Ice Cream Sandwich is being designed to address. A merging of the two variants of Android -- Gingerbread for smart phones and Honeycomb for tablets -- should bring many benefits.

We're not convinced that future Android upgrades will go completely smoothly or roll out at exactly the same time, particularly as the fine details haven't yet been sorted out, but we live in hope.