We got quite a response when we noted that owners of the Samsung Nexus S were more than a little upset that the official Ice Cream Sandwich update was months overdue. Now Engadget claims an anonymous source saying that Google intends to sestart the long overdue OTA software process in “the next few weeks”. Take it for what it’s worth (and without a confirmed cource, it isn’t worth much) but it’s at lest a ray of hope that those who paid for Nexus hardware and timely software will finally get their money’s worth.

As noted above, owners of the Nexus S and Nexus S 4G have been frustrated with Google and Samsung’s glacier-paced response to their complaints. The official Ice Cream Sandwich update began in December for GSM models, but was halted almost immediately for more bug fixing. Three months later, the vast majority of Nexus S owners (and all Nexus S 4G owners) are without an official upgrade path to the latest version of Ice Cream Sandwich, a feature promised to them when they bought the phone, unlike other models that are already seeing updates.

There’s always the option of rooting the phone and installing a custom ROM, and indeed, many do just that to take advantage of the Nexus’ large developer community. But they shouldn’t have to: as a developer phone, any device with the Nexus label is supposed to get updates “as fast as humanly possible”. Between this slow response for the Nexus S and a seemingly lowered level of support for CDMA devices like Verizon’s Galaxy Nexus and XOOM, previously high levels of excitement for the Nexus program are steadily dwindling among Android enthusiasts.

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20 COMMENTS

      • The writer frogot some commas?! Oh my dear god.. This is a sin against nature! The writer should be put to death! Lets all laugh and and be huge assholes!!

        Oh wait, these guys seem to have it covered. ^^^

  2. grammar issues aside, very well said. the only thing I go against is:

     “but it’s at lest a ray of hope that those who paid for Nexus hardware and timely software will finally get their money’s worth.”

    TIMELY SOFTWARE IS SOMETHING WE HAVE BEEN DEPRIVED OF, AND THE MAIN REASON WE’RE RAGING ON THE INTERNET. 1 month after the first RELEASE (NOT ANNOUNCEMENT, mind you – as by the time the GNex was announced, surely it has been in production) of the Galaxy Nexus for the initial rollout, and such update suspended for almost 4 months already? Talk about timely.

    Timely, in a strict definition, should at most be within days after announcement, unless a release date is given – which is definitely not the case.

  4. Common, you guys are venting at the wrong individual/ medium, at least here we have a voice.
    Stay focused on the issue at hand, the lack of response/ service from Google & Samsung regarding the ICS OTA for all Nexus S variants.

  6. I got a Nexus last year because I was fed up with no word from Microsoft about Windows Phone updates. In December I got the ICS update, but it was literally KILLING my phone, over heating, it seemed as though it was dying, as the weeks went by more and more was breaking and going wrong. I sent it off to Samsung last week and today i got it back, no more ICS, I have 2.3.6 again… Funny how this downgrade is essentially an upgrade.

    I’m considering getting the Nokia Lumia next. I had to use my Windows Phone while my Nexus was off for repair and you know what, I had a much better time using that for the week and a half. PLUS. I kept getting all these small updates through, shows LG and Microsoft are actually trying to get their phones to work better.

    Unlike Google.

  7. Here we go, Samsung has now officially begun its back peddling by pushing the ics release date to Q2. Still no official word from Google what so ever, and so we, the owners of Nexus S (all variants) continue to wait, while other brands receive their not so timely ICS – OTA.

    I now find it difficult to put into words how/ what I feel regarding this whole Nexus S (i9020a) ICS/OTA fiasco. It is a rock solid phone, I’ll give it that, battery life is terrible, much like the iPhone 4S!

    I am extremely disappointed in both Google and Samsung for the lack of transparency, openess, honesty and most importantly customer service and support.

  9. Guys, you’re going to love this, the HTC Vivid is the first official Android phone to receive ICS – OTA. This happened on Thursday, not by Google, by HYTC according to the reports.

    This clearly indicates 2 very important facts 1) Google obviously provided the ICS code open source to the developer community quite some time ago & 2) Samsung is complicit in the delay of the ICS – OTA to Nexus S and its variants.

    Google’s silence is quite simply inexcusable, Samsung has failed to support its existing client base. Owners of the Nexus S have every right to be upset.

  10. Guys, you’re going to love this, the HTC Vivid is the first official Android phone to receive ICS – OTA. This happened on Thursday, not by Google, by HYTC according to the reports.

    This clearly indicates 2 very important facts 1) Google obviously provided the ICS code open source to the developer community quite some time ago & 2) Samsung is complicit in the delay of the ICS – OTA to Nexus S and its variants.

    Google’s silence is quite simply inexcusable, Samsung has failed to support its existing client base. Owners of the Nexus S have every right to be upset.

  14. Did a manual update to 4.03 yesterday and got the OTA 4.04 pushed to me this morning. This is on a contract free Carphone Warehouse Nexus S in the UK.

  15. My Nexus dont work after installing I just see the collorful ice cubs going around. I have test all resets. Suppose that I will lose all info  

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