UPDATE: So much for that. The update is not happening. Per SlashGear: Less than 24 hours after the first siren sound coming from blogs across the mobile bloggersphere (including SlashGear) that the Galaxy S II would be getting an Android upgrade this week, Samsung has redacted.” Another bump in the ICS road… not exactly the most surprising news.
Turns out I should rant more. After writing about how slowwwwly Ice Cream Sandwich is appearing on devices both new and old, comes news that Android 4 will be rolling out to the Samsung Galaxy S II (GT-I9100). It should happen this weekend (March 10), if Samsung sticks to its scheduled date per Phandroid. From Samsung: “Just get the latest version of KIES to enjoy ICS 4.0.”
Note that this update is for the international version only.
Consider this Android phan, amped. I’ve got an S II (use wi-fi only) and it’s still — even with all those Maxx, Nexus, and Note smartphones out there — one of the top Android experiences to be had. The S II is absolutely speedy. I’ve never had freeze issues or crashes (the same can’t be said unfortunately for my Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1). And that display! Bellisimo. Testament to Samsung’s engineering ethos that a 1 year old device can still impress. And take my word for it: the S II performs equally as well as the new Galaxy Nexus on many tests. Put both devices side-by-side. Then open the web browser. Or launch Facebook. Pull up settings, etc. I won’t win everything, but the S II is a sleeper.
I stand by view that Google has messed up with ICS, however.
Yes, I realize that vendors and carriers need to test new builds on their devices and that can be a long, complex process thanks to customizations, fragmentation, etc. That doesn’t mean Google can’t do a far better job of launching a new OS. But rather than repeat my rant from yesterday, you can read all about it here. Suffice to say, improvements are in order, and I expect Google will do better with Jelly Bean (already?!).