Samsung & T-Mobile Face Vibrant Class Action

A class action lawsuit filed against Samsung and T-Mobile claims the companies are intentionally delaying Android updates on the Vibrant Galaxy S smartphone so that users will buy newer – and possibly more expensive – phones.

The Samsung T-Mobile class action lawsuit accuses both companies of violating the Uniform Deceptive Trade Practices Act for promising an Android 2.2 upgrade, but not delivering. The class action claims the upgrade is being delayed so that users will opt to buy the newer Vibrant 4G, which will ship with the Android 2.2 OS already installed. Samsung has apparently rolled out the 2.2 update in Canada, Europe and other countries, but has yet to release it in the U.S. 

The Vibrant also suffers from a known GPS glitch, which was supposed to have been fixed by a minor upgrade, but is still plaguing the smartphone. Other bugs still persist in the current Android 2.1 OS, the Samsung T-Mobile class action claims. 

If certified as a class action lawsuit, the case could bring to light the issue of Android fragmentation, in which different manufacturers and carriers are rolling out upgrades at different times. Google has repeatedly denied that a problem with Android fragmentation exists, but mounting criticism from the industry as well as evidence from users has weakened Google’s case.

Samsung, for example, has been historically slow at pushing Android updates and has been accused in the past of intentionally withholding updates to drive users to purchase upgraded phones.

The Samsung Vibrant Galaxy S owner who filed the Android update class action lawsuit posted the following statement on the XDA Developer Forum [which we’ve edited for grammatical reasons]:

“Samsung and T-Mobile have clearly violated the law concerning unfair and deceptive consumer business practices. They have continuously lied to us about the hardware and software reliability of this phone. They promised us updates…over and over, NOW they plan to release NEW Galaxies without updating the old ones they currently have. The GPS is clearly a hardware defect. There are just too many issues with this phone and the customer service reps have been combative, even bullying and threatening customers.”