Alright, Nexus S 4G owners, it’s your turn. After waiting on the GSM Nexus S and Galaxy Nexus phones, then the WiFi version of the Motorola XOOM, the CDMA Nexus S is getting its time in the sun with an official Ice Cream Sandwich rollout. If you’re still using the stock Gingerbread ROM, check your Settings menu to see if it’s rolling out to your region at the moment – the carrier says that it will begin sending out the updates this afternoon.

Nexus S GSM owners got an early looks at Ice Cream Sandwich back in December, but it was yanked almost immediately for further testing. All the current Nexus-class devices were updated to the latest version (4.0.4) of Android last week. The CDMA devices… weren’t. The Nexus S 4G is the first among them to get the update, but Verizon customers who bought a XOOM or Galaxy Nexus LTE are still waiting. CDMA XOOM owners have the most to be upset about, since they’re still rocking Honeycomb, assuming that they’ve stayed on the official software releases.

Why the delay? Google has decided not to support CDMA phones or tablets at the same level that they do for GSM and WiFi, owing to a quirk in the way that CDMA devices are authenticated on the network. When using CDMA a phone or tablet needs a unique software key that’s different for every carrier, and by its very nature cannot be open source. Therefore the CDMA Galaxy Nexus and XOOM were taken off the list of official developer devices… notably after most of the first round of early adopters got a chance to put down their hard-earned cash. Want to know when your Verizon Galaxy Nexus or XOOM will be updated? In the words of the Dread Pirate Roberts, get used to disappointment.

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47 COMMENTS

  1. My phone was switched off the other night when my partner’s nexus s phone was upgraded, will I have to install my upgrade manually, or will they send it out again. I’m in Adelaide, South Australia. CHEERS

    • Mine updated today, Adelaide, South Australia.  Does anyone know how to switch the language on your sms now.  It is no longer in the space bar

  5. Don’t update your nexus s as I did and can’t edit contacts and pick a decent ringtone and it changes the whole look on phone need a new update to fix this one out

    • I got the update a few days ago on Talkmobile.

      You can edit contacts – click on the “People” icon from your apps screen and do it from there.

      I think it’s better – improved voice dictation. Phone now remembers downloaded ringtones and notification sounds. Syncs better with email and facebook. A few things take a bit of getting used to but seems ok.

      • The voice dictation isn’t going to be a great extra for me; can’t say that i’ve used it in the past & don’t see me using it in the future! 

        Folders are fab for me! (Just trying to work out, though, how I can merge the Emma in the contacts with ‘me’ to save me having to re-enter it all!) 

    • I hate the new update. I can handle consmetic changes, but it changed how you do things like edit contacts, how contacts are displayed, notifications (on top), and I am going through the battery like crazy!! What used to last more than a day now only 1/2 a day and the charging seems very slow, next to not existant.

    • Yes you can. Go to your contact list chose a contact by tapping there picture or the icon for a picture for that contact. Once you do that look at top right there’s an icon that looks like a list or may look like folders. Tap on that and it gives you your options of what you want to do to that contact.

  8. i think der just trying to know whats wrong wit our phones when we downloaded it, nd after der guna fix it, but stil its annoying

  11. Mine’s just updated (not the 4G one, just a Nexus S – I’m in the UK); but looking at http://www.android.com/about/ice-cream-sandwich/ it seems that my camera won’t support all the camera features (not really a problem; I have assorted camera apps!)

    Also, zooming on webpages seems to be harder; no longer to you get that nice (well, I liked it) +- control that would zoom & fit at the same time. Googling taught me that double tapping has the same effect; only sometimes it seems to return to the old unscrolled out view … 
    It’s a bit different – but I really like the ability to have folders of apps 🙂

  12. I got my update yesterday and I have a nexus s 4g and i love the new ice cream sandwich but it kills my battery so fast how can i help it

    • here’s the best way to get the ota on your NS4G, go into your settings, go to applications then click the all tab or usb storage. go to google framework click clear data, don’t worry its going to tell you about deleting data just click ok… then go to your settings, about phone, and try system update, it should work thats how i got mine to update.. If for some reason it doesn’t do this, do *#*#checkin#*#*, then go to system update, it will work.

      • My phone kept prompting me to install the update; but, each time I did it would freeze on installation with an ‘exclamation point’ and the android character. So I started searching for a manual installation. All seems to go well but then the same error or freeze occurs. What do I do to finish the installation???

  14. I hate the new update. I can handle consmetic changes, but it changed how you do things like edit contacts, how contacts are displayed, notifications (on top), and I am going through the battery like crazy!! What used to last more than a day now only 1/2 a day and the charging seems very slow, next to not existant.

    • I love the new contacts look it has taken me a little to adjust to some of the changes. It does seem a little more power hungry but not much for me.

    • ICS does suck, but regarding the battery life, ICS allows you to disable certain apps/processes that you previous could not disable with 2.3.7. Google+ is one of those apps that sucks all the battery but is lumped into the Android OS bucket of what is using the battery. Disabling this helped the most. I ended up disabling most everything I do not use.

  15. I don’t know if I am crazy or it is a work server thing, but since the update I cannot get Outlook on it without a security update that disconnects camera, will erase data without warning, and other annoying things…

  16. Not sure if I like the change don’t understand what the circles are! I would like to have a manual to know what’s what! Since the upgrade I need to charge my battery way more often!!!

  17. i updated and after install my nexus s keeps rebooting and crashing every 10 min. i had to take it to the sprint store they did a complete re install and it still crashed. sprint is mailing me a new phone. phone was fine until i downloaded ICS i will wait till bugs are fixed before re downloading it.

    • I’m having the same problem. My phone keeps crashing every 10 min. Sometimes it will ask me to reinstall, but it just happens again and again. I’m so mad I wasn’t asked to install it. I havn’t had my phone for about a week and a half. 

  18. I called my Sprint store and they asked if I had insurance on my phone! It was their update!! I did not ask for it or go online and update.

    Does anyone help with answers to these comments anyway?

  19. After the update my “Speak Caller ID” (Sanity) Ap doesn’t work anymore.  I’ve tried 5 other ones and not a single one is working?  Any suggestions?

  20. I can’t connect to wifi at home after the upgrade. Some apps don’t display properly and keeps returning to the home menu. Can someone point me towards a solution?

  21. The upgrade is really a downgrade. Texting is so annoying, it doesn’t pull up contacts, spotify won’t stay open everything sucks. My phone is SO slow now. Even the camera app takes forever to load.  

  22. how do you turn off the vibrate keyboard it is driving me nuts. i don’t see an option for it in the settings anymore

  24. This sucks ! My phone vibrates as type this eventhough the feature is set to OFF . No indication when my blue tooth is active. Whoever design this
    should be fired. And whomever okayed it should be run out of the: industry. What a moron!

  26. my phone has officially broken and i have to pay to get a new one.. BECAUSE of this update. samsung needs to fix it. samsung either needs to make a new update to fix the problem or send everyone a new phone.

  27. I just got an update of ICS yesterday on my Nexus S. I’m located in Karachi, Pakistan. Its a wonderful experience using Android Ice Cream Sandwich 4.x

  28. this update sucks..half my nexus s4g does not work no more…how do i remove this worthless google update?

    • Jjust update the applications which will automatically be done, and will poppup indication on top of the screen. Then you can enjoy full features with no problem….

      • This makes no sense. Can you elaborate on how to roll back to 2.3.7 after upgrading from an OTA upgrade?

  30. OK i got my update a couple of months ago and it was great at first but then apps like messaging, camera basically a fucking shit load of apps keep crashing!!!! and in the new internet browser thing i cant delete other tabs if anyone knows where to go to do that it would mean a lot. and i was wondering why the battery life in the new update is very low??? i’m starting to get annoyed with this fucking new upgrade!! HELP :'(

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