Samsung to bring Android 4.0 to Galaxy S II in Q1 2012
updated 04:45 am EST, Tue December 20, 2011
Ice Cream Sandwich inbound for Galaxy devices
Samsung has officially announced that it will give its Galaxy S II and Galaxy Note an update to Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich as soon as the first quarter of 2012. “The platform update for Galaxy S II and Galaxy Note will start in the first quarter 2012, and other Galaxy devices will soon follow,” reads a statement from the company. A notable absence from the list of handsets to get the Ice Cream Sandwich update, however, is the original Galaxy S, which is apparently incapable of being upgraded.
Other Galaxy handsets set to get the Ice Cream Sandwich update will be the Galaxy S II LTE, Galaxy R, Galaxy Tab 10.1, Galaxy Tab 8.9, Galaxy Tab 7.7 and the Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus. Samsung has said that as each update is to become available, it will make separate announcement informing users.
A recent leak showed Android 4.0 running on a Galaxy S II, however unlike the Galaxy Nexus, which runs a ‘plain vanilla’ install of the OS, the version shown running on the Galaxy S II includes Samsung’s TouchWiz overlay.
Samsung has previously had a patchy record when it has come to updating its handsets to the latest version offered by Google. A recent breakdown of Android updates in October showed that Samsung was among the worst offenders when it came to being a laggard in getting OS updates to its handsets. Its models often received updates late, or not at all in some instances. News that the Galaxy S is not going to get an update to Ice Cream Sandwich is also likely to upset a segment of its current install base.
