Ice Cream Sandwich For Samsung Galaxy S II: Not Coming On March 10, Despite Rumors

To date, over 20 million people worldwide have bought Samsung's smashing Galaxy S II smartphone since its May 2011 release.

That's a lot of owners waiting for their Ice Cream Sandwich.

Since the release of the first Android 4.0, or "Ice Cream Sandwich" device -- Samsung's Galaxy Nexus -- in December, many Android smartphone and tablet owners have similarly been waiting patiently for their upgrades. Though ICS updates have begun to roll-out to some devices, many of the most popular Android smartphones, including the Galaxy S II, have yet to receive their official Android 4.0 upgrades.

According to a post on the Samsung FAQ webpage, the Galaxy S II had been scheduled for a worldwide Ice Cream Sandwich update on March 10; that text has since been wiped from the site, and Samsung has officially backed off the claim (on Twitter, in Korean). The tweet doesn't say exactly when the GS2 will receive Ice Cream Sandwich, only that the March 10th report was premature.

Here's a screenshot of the page, and the promise, via Engadget:

Previously, a post on Samsung Israel's official Facebook page said that Israeli Galaxy S II owners would begin to get Android 4.0 on March 15; that date, of course, does not necessarily apply to American Galaxy S II owners. The American mobile carriers, for example, all have to test Samsung's update before they will approve it to be sent out to customers, and there's no word on whether we're even at that stage yet.

Samsung has promised that the Galaxy S II will indeed be one of the smartphones that receives its Ice Cream Sandwich update, but it has never given a precise date. In December 2011, the company promised that the GSII would get ICS by the end of March 2012, which is approaching quickly. Before releasing to the public, Samsung must first overlay its TouchWiz user interface, and it has previously confirmed that new Ice Cream Sandwich features Face-Unlock and Android Beam, which allows for the wireless transfer of content between two Android devices, will arrive on the Galaxy S II.

We've reached out to Samsung for comment on when exactly Galaxy S II owners in America will be tasting Ice Cream Sandwich and will update when they respond. With the self-imposed end of March deadline for the update approaching, a definite answer is likely coming soon.

UPDATE: A Samsung spokesperson sent HuffPost the following statement via email:

Samsung is in close communication with both Google and our carrier partners to upgrade eligible devices to Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich as quickly and as smoothly as possible. Specific models that are upgradable to ICS will vary by market. Other specifics for the ICS upgrade in the U.S. have not been announced.

From our partners

Comments

[Perky2Cents]

11:23 AM on 04/04/2012

i want to upgrade my Galaxy Note!!! HURRY

[Ashwath-Shetty]

09:17 AM on 03/14/2012

for more information on this news and how to install Android Ice Cream Sandwich in SAMSUNG GALAXY S II you can go through the below link and here you will get the all details:
http://forums.techarena.in/portable-devices/1457862.htm

[RGT333]

11:18 AM on 03/13/2012

Lessee - Samsung barely updated the Galaxy S to Gingerbread and, in December, says its proprietary program will not support Ice Cream Sandwich for the Galaxy S users. (Several who have jailbroken the phone claim ICS works fine.)

Soooo, based on those reports, the phone is capable of running ICS...which means...Samsung just doesnt want to update the older phones - which are still being sold (errrr....DUMPED) by Best Buy and AT&T on the public for a new two year contract. (I mean seriously, a "new" phone for the contract which Samsung is not going to update. They are selling something that literally has no future on a two year contract.)

Why, pray tell, would Samsung do that? Mayhaps to sell more phones at "market value"?
Just a note to those who would buy into Samsung's marketing scheme. (AND AT&T and Best Buy - be real careful and research when buying a phone - I didnt this time and am paying the price.)

[bring in swat]

11:43 PM on 03/11/2012

Attention, Attention please...yes you, up here. the version of Andriod that is on Your phone has nothing to do with Google/Android...it has to do with your Carrier and in some cases the hardware manufacture. ICS has been out for quite a while and been ported to many US phones. if people would understand and grab a hold of the idea that there exists an incredibly talented pool of developers that make some Amazing and beautiful ROMS for just about every android phone out there for free but donations are polite. stop believing the Fox News style fear mongering and just Read...it's what Open Source is all about...get away from relying on the big Corps, they could care less.

[JohnTheMac]

09:31 AM on 03/12/2012

I'm always told how tech savvy Android users are, and yet very few are doing what you are telling them to do.
They're mostly stuck in Gingerbread, with many stuck in Froyo.
There's a lot of denial too. Everyone is VERY happy with these older OS's, or so they say.
I didn't think having an Android device meant you were tech savvy.

[bring in swat]

12:09 PM on 03/12/2012

i believe nothing that states "Always" and "Never"...i would assume some smart phone users don't care about being on the "latest" "greatest" as long as it works, Froyo/Gingerbread work great for some people and not for others. i get on an iphone and feel like i have a toy designed for toddlers...not that i'm super smart or anything i just like the way android allows me to control my device the way I choose. personally i like being on the alpha/beta stages of development, i find it more exciting. to each his own.

[Rynchostylus]

01:57 PM on 03/12/2012

Cyanogen Mod is awesome. Really talented team over there.

[bring in swat]

04:19 PM on 03/12/2012

absolutely!...it's unofficially t-mobile recommended. i was on the phone with a level 2 tech asking some questions about some bs, he said out all the devs he's aware of Cyanogen would be the one he would recommend...another great group is Team Acid, i have a few of theirs...but Cyanogen is king of the crop to most.

[Highball]

12:24 AM on 03/11/2012

This is not a criticism of Samsung.

But is it weird to anyone else that they always use girls who look like 14 in their ads?

[bring in swat]

11:06 PM on 03/11/2012

and dressed like school girls on top of it! :) hahhahaha. well i do agree, but you know that the vast majority of the photo models in the USA are 12-15 and dressed like grown women...

[Killermolls44]

07:53 PM on 03/10/2012

It's okay, im perfectly content with my HTC EVO 3D by Sprint.

[mmclarke]

07:40 PM on 03/10/2012

The very best version of Android to date, and the least distributed. WTF?

[vieillec]

07:38 PM on 03/10/2012

"Disappointment for Samsung Galaxy SII Owners"

^There, fixed your front page headline for you.

I mean, *I'm* an owner of an Android phone, and *I'm* not disappointed by anything, which is probably because my Android phone is, in fact, made by HTC and isn't a Samsung Galaxy SII.

[ILoveGreatDanes]

08:31 PM on 03/10/2012

Exactly. I own an Android as well, an LG phone. Ice Cream hasn't come out yet. I don't know when/if it ever will. I don't care either. As long as my phone talks, texts, and web browses decently fast, I'm happy.

[JohnTheMac]

11:27 AM on 03/11/2012

" Ice Cream hasn't come out yet."

It's been out since mid October of last year.
But it's ok. Hardly anyone has ICS.
Most are still using Gingerbread, and a lot still use Froyo.
LG is one of the companies barely making money with Android.
I had an LG around 10 years ago. It was a feature phone, and I liked it a lot, so they can make good electronics, but when you 'join the Android Army', you are competing with the rest of the army, either in features, or in price, or both.
There's no money coming to LG from Android App sites, or any ecosystem, directly, so it isn't worth supporting those things.
Making yesterdays LG smartphones work with Ice Cream Sandwich? Sorry, you bought it, and it's as good as it ever was, so we don't want to hear complaints.
LG and others have to use their scant resources to make the NEXT phone they come out with fully ICS compliant.
Good thing you're happy, because the only alternative is to UPGRADE! (to a new phone)

[Sophie Halcyon]

07:14 PM on 03/10/2012

I stopped using Android due to an ex installing the "GingerBreak" Gingerbread upgrade without my permission as a way to view and control my phone through a remote computer with kernel injections/pulling info from my phone. Google has certainly forgotten their motto and I consider them the "root" of all evil when it comes to tech and privacy. They are not God, but they sure think they are- see all, know all, ARE all evil IMO.
I've been logging all activity due to what he's done, though now I use another phone completely, downgraded and even without wifi. With every new & innovative product that develops, there will always be someone who takes a good thing and makes it bad.
I have been wondering how do I prove it is him, if I needed to, and what could I do about it legally?

[eric14]

07:50 PM on 03/10/2012

Top priority is your future. Lowest is the past. In that context your safety and well-being come first. Total break with past is safest in all respects.

[bring in swat]

11:18 PM on 03/11/2012

how is this google or androids fault that your ex rooted your phone and then did what ever it is your saying they did??? that's like blaming the company that makes the gunpowder in bullets for a shooting. and fyi android is not the only phone OS that can be rooted or hacked.

[Satur9]

07:10 PM on 03/10/2012

So glad I don't have a smartphone so I don't have to deal with this, because I am not getting why this is a big deal at all.

[ILoveGreatDanes]

08:35 PM on 03/10/2012

Huff is making it a big deal when it really isn't to try to convince Android owners to buy Apple products using rather trivial reasons like delays in software updates.

[JohnTheMac]

11:38 AM on 03/11/2012

it's a big deal because the Android game plan fails at long term support for many devices.
As a result, Android 4, ICS has been out almost 6 months.
A majority of Android users, however, are stuck with older versions.
Whose job is it to tailor ICS for the older phones? Google? no. Too much work.
Hardware manufacturers? I guess so, but this costs money, for something they figured was 'free' on paper, and by competing with each other so fiercely, there's not a lot of money to blow on supporting equipment you sold a year or two ago. Gee, a cynical person would think they almost want you to just renew your contract and pony up for the latest phone.

[bring in swat]

11:24 PM on 03/11/2012

third party developers make all the roms on my phone, in general i have three different ones i like and will jump between them as my daily driver depending on my mood...i have no need for samsung or google to make a version for my phone...just need the code pushed out to the devs and it's done. and for any of the scary fear mongering of "hackers" planting bugs in the custom roms for root users BS, it's like listening to dick cheney and donald rumsfeld with the rainbow color coded threat detector...Yawn! been rooting for about four years...not One problem with any of my phones or my wife's phones either.

[HekmagaJuximaxx]

05:52 PM on 03/10/2012

Does that mean Commander Data doesn't exist?

[vonPinto]

05:50 PM on 03/10/2012

American customers ALWAYS get a raw deal when it comes to these 'Upgrades". First, Samsung refuses to upgrade Samsung Kies application for American Samsung Phone users.

Now, between Google, Samsung and Major Carriers (T-moble, Verizon, Sprint, etc) everyone keeps shifting the blame whose responsibility it is to ensure that American customers get upgrades as and when due.

T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy Vibrant users have been stuck with the Froyo "upgrade" while some European and Asian customers have since transited from Gingerbread upgrade to even Ice Cream Sandwich.....well, I guess this is our example of CAPITALISM (the more you pay the less you expect)

Please, I will like you Geeks out there to correct and educate me more if I missed any thing in my description.

[LSULinebacker64]

07:49 PM on 03/10/2012

I'm totally confused myself... Verizon has those Droid Chager at $9.99 til 3/12/12... I have a LG Cosmos... I'm due for an Upgrade... I'm wanting to fix a Web Site for an Invention I've made to show it better... With this Cosmos I have, would it be a good move to buy this Driod Charger with the 2yr ------- for just $9.99....

[bring in swat]

11:30 PM on 03/11/2012

XDA Developers will straighten you out. i've had a vibrant since they came out in the us on tmobile, rooted it as soon as i got home and have never looked back, they're twice the phone once you put the right OS on them. the main problem is the carriers and their crap they demand. forget them. read, follow instructions that a 12 year old could deal with and root your vibrant install a custom gingerbread/ICS...you'll never look back. ICS has been available for the vibrant for a while....you just need Root!

[Deaninphilly]

05:31 PM on 03/10/2012

Not disappointed at all, it isn't ready.

Why is it that people have to have something "new" and "improved" every couple months. It's usually never new nor improved.. so take a chill and relax.

[zorro869]

06:15 PM on 03/10/2012

Lol, spoken from someone who's never got an iOS update, obviously.

[Daniel Maestas]

07:07 PM on 03/10/2012

Siri, are you posting for me again?

[Deaninphilly]

09:52 AM on 03/11/2012

Spoken like someone who thinks they're a know at all, but in reality knows nothing.

Sorry, pal I've already had ICS as I have a developers phone... NEXT

[Killermolls44]

07:55 PM on 03/10/2012

Exactly, I've had the same phone since July and its perfect for me.

[ZetaReticuli]

05:09 PM on 03/10/2012

According to many tech writers, carriers consider the delivery of an update to your Android phone a loss to their bottom line; It costs them, so they are disinsentivized to deliver it. You see, they already made a profit off of you when they sold you the contract. So it matters little if Google has already released the next version of its OS if the carrier resents delivering it to you.

Apple, on the other hand, delivers the iOS update directly to you without going through the carrier. Nice.

[vonPinto]

05:52 PM on 03/10/2012

Your post is an interesting read. You sound very logical in your argument.

[mmclarke]

07:43 PM on 03/10/2012

Yea, I'll trade the limitations of only getting the iOS on one brand of phone, from one company, for waiting a little to get an update to Android which comes on hundreds of phones from dozens of companies.

[theveggiedude]

12:23 AM on 03/11/2012

Except it has a history of doing this...

"Android Orphans: Visualizing a Sad History of Support"
http://tinyurl.com/43xanrs

[Mark Langston]

05:08 PM on 03/10/2012

The Android fragmentation bugs strikes again.

Say what you will about Apple but when you buy one of their products you pretty much know what the update calendar will look like.

[vonPinto]

05:53 PM on 03/10/2012

I wish T-Mobile will carry the I-phone so that Google will be forced to behave with their Android OS.

[bring in swat]

11:33 PM on 03/11/2012

christ...it has nothing to do with google people..ICS has be available for Months...IT"S THE CARRIERS!!! please! and if T-Mobile carries the iPhone the data usage will go through the roof along with the plan rates like every other carrier that has them...careful for what you wish for.

[eljefefx]

06:34 PM on 03/10/2012

Yeah, drones work that way.