Samsung has announced that the Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) upgrade to its Galaxy S, Galaxy Tab, and Galaxy Ace/Gio/Fit/mini devices has begun to roll out on Kies, the company's device management software. The upgrade will start with the Galaxy S in the UK and Nordic countries from mid-May, and gradually roll out to other European markets, North America, Southeast Asia, the Middle East Asia, Africa, and the rest of the world, according to the regional plan.

Samsung touts that the upgrade from Android 2.2 (codenamed Froyo) to Android 2.3 will give users a better user experience thanks to enhanced performance and an improved user interface:

  • Faster Performance - Multimedia content now has a lower CPU consumption rate, while support for more powerful 3D Graphics enables an enhanced mobile gaming experience.
  • Upgraded Usability - The user interface has been improved, enabling faster access and control and a more intuitive user experience. Users will also benefit from improved copy-and-paste functionality.

The Galaxy Tab features a TFT-LCD capacitive touch screen with a 1024 x 600 resolution, a 1GHz Cortex A8 Hummingbird Application processor, 512MB of RAM, 802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 3.0, 3G, and dual cameras for capturing still images, videos, or making video calls. It also has a robust HTML Web browsing experience with Adobe Flash 10.1, as well as support for a number of different formats, including DivX, Xvid, WMV, and MPEG-4.

The Galaxy S is available on all major US carriers; though on each it sports a slightly different name (but the Galaxy S moniker is present on each) and set of features. All of them still boast a 4-inch AMOLED touch screen display, 1Ghz Cortex A8 Hummingbird processor, 5-megapixel camera with LED flash and 720p video capture, six-axis sensor for gaming, up to 16GB of internal storage, Bluetooth, GPS, and Wi-Fi.

Although Samsung has already announced the Galaxy Tab 10.1, Galaxy Tab 8.9, and the Galaxy S II, it still supporting the older models. While the upgrade could have definitely come much sooner, it's still great to see that Samsung takes care of customers that buy the first version of its products.