Developers signed up at Samsung’s open source website have started to receive emails stating that the source code for the Captivate (AT&T’s version of the Samsung Galaxy S series) has been released to the open source community. The source code is 161 megabytes in size. With this download, ROM developers will have an easier time creating custom ROMs for the device. The Captivate (and other Galaxy S devices) has been plagued since release with a bug when accessing its external SD card, This is due to Samsung’s internal memory implementation.  Once corrected it promises to double Quadrant benchmark scores. There is currently a “fix” available to install as a patch, However the source code will allow it to be built directly into the source. Samsung Galaxy S owners can expect higher Quadrant Benchmarks once Android 2.2 (Froyo) and the mimocan lag fix have been implemented boosting scores to the 2000-3000 range.

This move by Samsung basically puts Touchwiz 3.0 out in the open source world. Giving developers the ability to pick apart the features of Touchwiz that users enjoy, and implement them in their own projects.  For example the Touchwiz lockscreen with Music controls and the Contact list swipe left and right to Text or call a contact could be seen in market apps for other devices.  All in all this is good for the open source community, and will hopefully speed along the open sourcing of other Galaxy S models.