Early last month it was announced by Samsung that some regions had begun receiving the Android 4.0 update for the Galaxy S II, and at the time UK users were given a date of when they could expect to see the new software. Unfortunately it hasn’t quite worked out that way with a lot of confusion, and now it has been confirmed that SIM free owners of the Galaxy S2 will be the last to get Android ICS.
Samsung has confirmed the news to Cnet and the company said the reason behind the decision was that they were waiting for some of the carriers to finish testing the update. This was so Samsung could be sure that the new operating system would work with any network a SIM free owner uses their handset on.
Simon Stanford of Samsung said SIM free Galaxy S2 owners would get the update “once we’ve got all of the operator pieces on board“. The process that Samsung has used for rolling out Android 4.0 to the Galaxy S II means SIM free handsets can’t be updated until all the mobile carriers in the country have finished testing and approved the new software, and some networks are still testing it so these owners are left waiting and frustrated.
Owners that have paid out extra to own a SIM free Galaxy S2 would have hoped to be at the head of the upgrade queue once its released, but in the case of Android ICS these owners have been left behind customers of Three and O2 who have already released the upgrade.
Stanford did mention that Vodafone should be releasing ICS shortly and that the update will be pushed out “hard over the next coming weeks”, and added in future the company is looking to get software updates out to all users faster.
Are you disappointed in the way Samsung has rolled out Android ICS to the Galaxy S2?