So you finally got your hands on a smart new Samsung Galaxy S, or you have had it for quite a while, and you want to harness all the power and goodness available in the Gingerbread update?

The problem is that Gingerbread is only just being released in some European countries and wont come to South Africa for quite a few more months. If you are anything like me, then the wait is simply too long. Luckily one big advantage of Android is that you can do it yourself!

The only problem now is where to start. Installing a new ROM is a big decision to make since it voids your warranty, and if something goes wrong, you might end up with a bricked phone (so called because you can only use it as a brick/oversized paper weight afterwards). Please not that if you decide to do this it is at your own risk. I take no responsibility for a bricked device!

Don’t be too worried though, the Galaxy S is reported to be one of the hardest phones to brick, and if you do it right, everything should go fine, leaving you with access to a lot more apps and features than before.

Step 1: Does 3-button combo work?

The first thing you need to know before attempting to do ANYTHING to your phone is if the 3-button combo works on your phone. To see if it works, first turn off your phone. Pressing and holding in the volume-down button and the Home button and then pressing and holding in the power button should put you in Download Mode. If the 3-button combo is working, the following image should be displayed on the screen:

Simply hold the power button to turn off your phone and exit download mode. Pressing and holding in Volume-Up + Home + Power should take you to the recovery screen shown below:

If the 3-button combo works on your phone then you’re ready to go and can skip the next step, otherwise you first have to enable the 3-button combo on your phone.

Step 2: Getting 3-button combo

Samsung released a fix for this in Froyo, so simply taking in your phone to update to Froyo at any Vodashop or whatever service provider you use should do the trick. This would be the safest method since it doesn’t void your warranty just yet, so if something goes wrong it would be replaced.

If you want to do it yourself however, there is a guide to get 3-button combo to work on the XDA Forums

3-button combo guide

Step 3: Setting up your computer.

In order to install custom software, you need to be sure that your computer recognises your phone properly. First install KIES software from SAMSUNG and make sure that your computer recognises your phone. The latest version of KIES has a Install drivers option under the Tools tab which should take care of most driver issues.

Next you need to set up ADB (Android Debug Bridge). Doing this can become quite complex depending on driver issues and operating system and so forth, so I added a link to two full guides and gave a short version over here that should work with windows 7. If anything goes wrong or doesn’t work, refer to the guides in the links. Other operating systems are also covered in the linked guides.

Guide 1

Guide 2

The short of it is as follows though: 

{note: backslashes are shown like this [backslash] because the blogging software keeps deleting them for some reason}

Download and install Android SDK: Download

Unzip the file and paste the "android-sdk-windows" folder in your C drive.

Run SDK Manager.exe located in the android-sdk-windows folder and select all options and download and install it.

After this, right click on My Computer, select properties

Go to Advanced System Settings (should be to the left of the window)

Click on Environment Variables.
Scroll down the System Variables until you find the “Path” Variable.
Click on it and click edit. Do not delete any information in here!
Scroll to the end and add  ;C:[backslash]android-sdk-windows[backslash]platform-tools

It might also be ;C:[backslash]android-sdk-windows[backslash] tools if your sdk version is outdated for some reason.

This is all that’s needed to set up ADB. Now go to Settings on your phone.
Select Applications.
Select Development.
Make sure 'USB Debugging' is checked.

Now connect your phone to your computer via USB and DO NOT mount it!
Your computer should install drivers for your device. If it doesn’t automatically you can find some here:
Samsung Galaxy S USB Drivers
To test if ADB is working properly, open command prompt by typing ‘cmd’ in the start menu search bar and pressing enter. Then type the following in the command prompt window:

cd C:[backslash]android-sdk-windows[backslash]platform-tools              ** Press Enter** 

adb devices                                                         **You should see your device listed**

adb shell                                                              **you should see $ or # in the next line**

If you see your device listed ADB works perfectly. You can close cmd window now.

Step 4: Getting Odin

Download Odin here: Odin3 v1.7

Extract it anywhere.

Step 5: Download Gingerbread

Please note this ROM is for the international Galaxy I9000 S version (the one in SA also).
Gingerbread for Galaxy S JVH (with bootloaders)

Extract the files by double clicking the .exe file.

Step 6:

Make sure Kies is closed (in the system tray too).
Open Odin v1.7.
Select PDA, PHONE and CSC files as shown. Make sure that Auto Reboot is selected and that repartition isn’t.

Before you install a new ROM its best to have your battery fully charged.
Now boot into Download Mode.
Once in Download Mode (with Odin already open and ready) connect your phone via USB.
It’s very important that Odin is open before connecting your phone!
Some drivers will probably first install now, allow that to finish installing.
Odin should pick up your device and look something like this:

Now just press start and wait for Gingerbread to install.
After it installed the phone will reboot and it will stay at the Galaxy S boot up logo for about 10 minutes the first time as the new ROM is finished installing. Its safe to remove the USB cable now.
Welcome to GINGERBREAD! :D

I installed a custom ROM on my phone. I will write another guide on how to root(or jailbreak) your device and how to install a custom ROM.