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    Samsung says no to Galaxy S/Galaxy Tab Ice Cream Sandwich upgrade

    Brace yourselves, Galaxy S owners, as we’ve got some bad news. Samsung has decided it can’t integrate its own software with the latest version of Android, meaning your phone will remain a Gingerbread device.

    This news comes after the company announced its ICS upgrade schedule before Christmas, where the Galaxy S and the Galaxy Tab 7-inch tablet were notable in their absence. However, Samsung was forced into “re-evaluating” the Galaxy S and the Galaxy Tab’s compatibility after an outcry from owners.

    Since then, there has been talk of what Samsung called a “value pack” being released. This would include several of Ice Cream Sandwich’s features in order to refresh the devices, but not the entire operating system that was proving difficult to integrate with TouchWiz.

    While this could have been better than nothing, this too seems to have fallen through, at least according to a Samsung spokesperson chatting to The Next Web. They’ve said the decision has been made not to update the devices due to limited “hardware specifications,” and that they’re “fully optimized for the Gingerbread experience” already.

    As has already been pointed out, there’s nothing wrong with the Galaxy Nexus S’s “hardware specifications,” a device very similar to the 4.0 compatible Nexus S, just without the TouchWiz UI.

    So, a frustrating end to a tale that deep down, we never really expected to play out any other way. Owners who want the latest version of Android must either root their phone and find a custom ROM, or upgrade to newer hardware when their contract allows.

    This article was originally posted on Digital Trends

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    12 comments

    • Real Real  •  4 mths ago
      ''when their contract allows'' = wait a long #$%$ time.
    • Curt  •  4 mths ago
      Ouch, that sucks for Galaxy owners! Samsung is just too lazy to make Ice Cream Sandwich work :P
    • will  •  Cedar Rapids, Iowa  •  4 mths ago
      My 'near stock' Honeycomb tablet works great- and will get ICS soon. No need for all that KRAP some manufacturers shove onto their devices. Samsung did the same garbage move with my Moment on Sprint, it doesn't even have gingerbread. Guess which brand phone I won't buy again??
    • WHITEASRICE  •  4 mths ago
      These BRICKS (Samsung) lead everyone of their customers to believe that there would be an update to Ice Cream Sandwich for them so they would purchase their products for Christmas, then after the Holidays are over the come out with this announcement. I hope people don't forget what these Con Artist did to them.
    • Stefan  •  4 mths ago
      So what do you don't you do? Do not buy any samsung phones other then the google version called nexus.When it comes to android stick to the google phone. With iOS it is iPhone, with android..google phone. And in time samsung will remember to program their bloatware better.If you keep buying the other phones..they will keep pulling this stunt.
    • WastelandHero  •  4 mths ago
      And I still don't even have Gingerbread on my Captivate, but the rest of the world does. Thanks for nothing AT&T!
    • yahoo user  •  Monrovia, California  •  4 mths ago
      HAHAHAHA! All you retards putting down the Iphone with your praises of the new Galaxy S. Go choke on some ginger bread cup cake! Bahahaha
      • MJ 4 mths ago
        So how do you upgrade an iphone? Buy a newer one - IDIOT!
    • Fldude  •  Omaha, Nebraska  •  4 mths ago
      Samsung did this last year with the Galaxy S phones (I had a Vibrant). They kept delaying the Android update because of their bloatware and because they didn't give a hoot about their customers. Took forever to get an update and it was a joke. The phone kept freezing and shutting it self off, and so finally, I dumped it and got an iPhone 4 which works perfectly (even though my 2 year old son has dropped it so many times I've lost count). Samsung makes good washers and dryers (I have those) but their phones suck (the Vibrant was my second Samsung smartphone). So does their tablets (so glad I got an iPad 2 and didn't wait for the Galaxy Tab 10.1 which has been plagued with so many problems since its release). Motorola sucks too at making smartphones. They're way worse than Samsung. Learned the hard way there as well. I have an iPhone 4, iPad 2, iMac and Apple TV and they all work flawlessly. Once I dumped the Android products and went to the dark side (Apple), everything works so nicely and it's all integrated into the same ecosystem, not fragmented all over the place like the Android stuff. I gave Android so many chances via Samsung and Motorola and it sucked! Finally figured out why Apple sells so many iPhones and iPads even though they're much more expensive than other devices. They're soooooo much better! Not even close!
      • DaveO 4 mths ago
        How much do you get paid to write that? True, the Apple user experience may be better, however it's a load of balderdash to say that the device itself is better!

        If you don't like waiting for samsung, just pop your own OS on. At the end of the day if you have an iPhone 3G and apple stops upgrading you, you have no choice at all, at least with Samsung there are options for upgrades!
      • yahoo user 4 mths ago
        agree 100% about apple being far supperior to Android/ samsung
    • Richard  •  Cleveland, Ohio  •  4 mths ago
      If I ever needed a reason to NOT buy a Samsung, I think this is it. The LAST thing I want my phone to be is another casualty of the Android fragmentation that Google is actually TRYING to resolve.
    • a Yahoo! User  •  4 mths ago
      Glad I switched from ATT to Sprint and got an HTC Phone!
    • Mike Pa  •  4 mths ago
      Well no official release. But since Android source code is available, there's already versions out there without the Samsung overlays.
    • Baibars  •  Melbourne, Australia  •  4 mths ago
      I upgraded to golden gaytime.
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