android Samsung: no ICS upgrade for Galaxy S and Galaxy Tab because of TouchWiz

[+Frank B. Subscriber²]

Samsung: no ICS upgrade for Galaxy S and Galaxy Tab because of TouchWiz

Samsung has just distributed the worst news of this Ice Cream Sandwich upgrade cycle: the popular Galaxy S smartphone that sold 10 million units last year and the 7-inch Galaxy Tab tablet won't be upgraded to Android 4.0. The company's argument is that they lack sufficient RAM and ROM to run the new OS alongside TouchWiz and other "experience-enhancing" software. This will come as a massive blow to the great many users of the Galaxy S, who would have rightly expected the 1GHz Hummingbird processor and accompanying memory to be able to handle ICS ? it's the same hardware as you'll find inside the Nexus S, and that phone is receiving Android 4.0 over the air right now.

Samsung addresses that inconsistency by again pointing to the differing software provision; the Nexus S only has to run the basic Android OS, whereas the Galaxy S has to deliver TouchWiz, carrier services, video calling software, and, in some markets, mobile TV.

HTC had this exact same issue when upgrading the Desire to Gingerbread a few months back, and after some equivocation, it was forced to disable some functions of its own Android skin, Sense, in order to make the upgrade fit. So Samsung isn't alone in making its users suffer for buying a skinned Android device.

Source: The Verge

[Roger H. Veteran]

chanting

Kill Android skins, kill Android skins.... What do we want, ICS, how do we want it, NO SKINS!

/chanting

Hey Samsung, how about this. Make the update available for the device with ONLY stock Android but in a custom ZIP format. The normal user wont know how to find it or what to do with it if they do find it. For those users that know what it is know they'll also be missing that "Enhanced Experience" but they'll continue to buy your latest and greatest expensive devices without second guessing the purchase. The HTC G1 wasn't a "great" device by any stretch of the word, it's all the geeks that bought it up because of all the cool stuff that it could be forced to do. This is why you are in the position of power now, if that G1 failed, Android wouldn't be where it is now and it only flurished because of all the geeks out there that just had to have one to hack to death!

[tsupersonic]

Touchwiz is pretty lame anyways - too bland. I'd rather use stock Android. Besides CM8 and other ROM's will get ICS on your Galaxy S devices :)

[Ently]

I prefer stock android as well. As a side note some of the "enhanced experiences" such as Vlingo that comes with the SGS2 (maybe the SGS1 as well I don't know) is absolutely horribly! It's a reminder that voice recognition has a long way to go!

[Vice]

Oh come on. Galaxy S only came out 18 months ago and is still on sale today! This is ridiculous.

[Teebor]

This is complete ********, dump the touchwiz interface then if it is so overbloated that it can't fit on the phone. ICS itself goes on the phone nicely and you can already get custom roms for it

[Yusuf M. Veteran]

What's preventing them from releasing an official upgrade that lacks TouchWiz?

[Vice]

What's preventing them from releasing an official upgrade that lacks TouchWiz?

Their ego I imagine, that people would *gasp* rather have ICS than their custom ****ty interface.

[techbeck]

With ICS being the standard for Tabs and phones...more phones will probably be getting the latest from here on out. I am sure the GS won't be the only phones missing out.

[Wombatt]

For god sake. Its not even two years old! :crazy:

[Kerm]

Does this apply to the S II as well as the S?

[techbeck]

Does this apply to the S II as well as the S?

no

[+Frank B. Subscriber²]

Does this apply to the S II as well as the S?

The Galaxy SII will get the ICS upgrade in Q1 2012: http://www.theverge.com/2011/12/20/2648440/samsung-android-4-upgrade-galaxy-s-ii-note-q1-2012/in/2274490

[Muhammad Farrukh]

For god sake. Its not even two years old! :crazy:

Samsung: Who cares?

[Chester0]

Touchwiz is so ugly, that sucks

[techbeck]

The original GS was announces in March 2010 and released the following June. By the time Samsung would of gotten around to even putting ICS on the GS, it would be 2 years.

But again, I am betting that more phones from here on out will be able to support the new OS. Google says that is one of the reasons they are working with manufacturers to be able to provide updates faster and more phones will get the latest. They just have to get everyone on the new version from here on out.

Just MO

[Ci7]

Touchwiz is pretty lame anyways - too bland. I'd rather use stock Android. Besides CM8 and other ROM's will get ICS on your Galaxy S devices :)

CM9 btw

CM8 => Android 3.0

[techbeck]

CM9 btw

CM8 => Android 3.0

CM is getting sloppy lately. They are to big and dont handle issues as well IMO. They were great when I had my original MyTouch 3g. I find myself using other's ROMs over CM and they are smoother.

Kinda off topic, I know. :)

[Adrian0E]

That's great. I expect hTC will come and say the same thing about the ICS on the Desire HD (although it has 256MB RAM more than the galaxy S).

Well, nevermind, long-live CyanogenMOd! I hate Sense/Touchwiz/Motoblur/etc, and any of those will ruin the ICS experience anyway.

Besides CM8 and other ROM's will get ICS on your Galaxy S devices :)

CM9. CM8 will be skipped. :laugh:

[Ci7]

CM is getting sloppy lately. They are to big and dont handle issues as well IMO. They were great when I had my original MyTouch 3g. I find myself using other's ROMs over CM and they are smoother.

Kinda off topic, I know. :)

while i settled with CM , barely had SGS2 for month and half ,killed Touchwiz with fire!!

UI much better now , while hay it work for me :)

[alphaomegainfinity]

I already knew the SGS will not be supported. Its an elitist behavior coming from Samsung. CM9 is one of the alternatives SGS owners can look upto when it is released in January.