Samsung Promises Ice Cream Sandwich By 1Q12 For SGSII & Galaxy Note
by Jason Inofuentes on December 20, 2011 7:11 AM ESTIn a post on Samsung Tomorrow, Samsung Electronics announced that they would begin rolling out Ice Cream Sandwich to the Galaxy S II variants and Galaxy Note by the end of the first quarter in 2012. This matches up fairly well with the timelines laid out by other manufacturers and they should hopefully meet their targets. Additional devices would be updated soon after and include the Galaxy R, Galaxy Tab 10.1, Galaxy Tab 8.9, Galaxy Tab 7.7 and Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus. Stateside, carrier testing will play a role in when we see the updates.
Samsung developers have spent the most time with the Ice Cream Sandwich code, having collaborated with Google for the Galaxy Nexus. They will also be possibly the only manufacturer to develop Ice Cream Sandwich ports on the four current platforms. The Galaxy Nexus exposed them to TI OMAP 4, their Galaxy R and most of their Galaxy Tab line-up brings Tegra 2, most SGSII variants use Exynos with the exceptions being the LTE and T-Mobile variants, which use Qualcomm Snapdragon S3. So many platforms could lead to delays in updating certain devices, though their lead time should help mitigate this.
What won't help in a timely updateis the inclusion of TouchWiz. A leaked alpha ROM circulated last week with Samsung's skin layered atop Android 4.0. While we've praised Samsung's developer wizardry for improving UI speed and browser rendering, the styling and widgets of TouchWiz are a bit more of an acquired taste.
Lastly, the Galaxy Note recently made an appearance at the FCC, sporting AT&T friendly frequencies, so we might see the 5.3" phone/tablet at CES next month. There's also been some speculation that an LTE version of the Note would appear on AT&T. If the rumor is to be believed, it would likely sport the same Qualcomm-based configuration as the Galaxy S II LTE (AT&T's Skyrocket in the US).
Source: Samsung Electronics
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storm20200 - Tuesday, December 20, 2011 - link
Is it not almost time for a new Galaxy S like a Galaxy S III? I know it's still not that old but technology seems to have made some pretty big performance leaps since it was released, the quad core tegra 3 for example. When are they planning a new release?JasonInofuentes - Tuesday, December 20, 2011 - link
I wouldn't be surprised if we got an update on GSIII at CES, MWC at the latest, it depends on the next generation Exynos tape-out.Cisephys - Tuesday, December 20, 2011 - link
And then once Samsung is done hacking their modifications onto it, have fun waiting for the US carriers to delay things even further. For the original Galaxy S, Samsung did finally get it up to Gingerbread some four months late, good for them. It took then took the carriers another 7 months to get it out for their respective versions -- and T-Mobile still hasn't, and probably won't, release it for their original non-4G version. Yet they all still do their best to discourage rooting and custom ROMs.Samsung may be pathetic, but the carriers are an outright joke.
mcnabney - Tuesday, December 20, 2011 - link
Actually, Facinate received updates about 6 months after the quarter promised. Samsung was trying to get $$$ out of the carriers to receive the update.r3loaded - Tuesday, December 20, 2011 - link
What about the Galaxy S? Can we expect an update for that or is that going to be a CyanogenMod-only affair?JasonInofuentes - Tuesday, December 20, 2011 - link
Not likely. I don't imagine anyone will be updating phones dating pre-CES 2010.ananduser - Tuesday, December 20, 2011 - link
Seems like Samsung is keeping the superior AMOLED+ variant for themselves. By Q1/Q2 next year I can only imagine the Galaxy successor's specs.vision33r - Tuesday, December 20, 2011 - link
I'm patiently awaiting for the ICS release for SGS2 but it is clear that Apple is superior than Google in the software game.When Apple releases their software update, it comes every single Apple device they support in the same time. The iPhone 3G still gets updated to iOS5 and no delays and Google can't even get a friggin ICS update for the Galaxy S.
When the iPhone 5 comes out if it is bigger, I'll be happy to switch back to iOS.
insurgent - Tuesday, December 20, 2011 - link
Yeah... no. Apple has to update how many devices? They use a closed f***ing system with hardly any available customization for the end-user, they really have no excuse for delays of any kind but they still release buggy products (battery problems anyone?)... iTards really are stupid.kmmatney - Wednesday, December 28, 2011 - link
it doesn't matter that it's a closed system - the bottom line is you get updates a lot quicker with the iPhone. iHaters really are stupid.