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Samsung Galaxy S2, Note getting ICS in 2012, S and Ace won't

Samsung has confirmed two of its flagship products will upgrade to Ice Cream Sandwich early next year, but some relatively new phones are missing out.

Joe Svetlik Reporter
Joe has been writing about consumer tech for nearly seven years now, but his liking for all things shiny goes back to the Gameboy he received aged eight (and that he still plays on at family gatherings, much to the annoyance of his parents). His pride and joy is an Infocus projector, whose 80-inch picture elevates movie nights to a whole new level.
Joe Svetlik
2 min read

Samsung has the perfect new year pick-me-up -- it'll push out the Android Ice Cream Sandwich update for the powerful Galaxy S2 and Galaxy Note early next year. But users of the Galaxy Ace and original Galaxy S may get a serious headache to learn their phone will miss out on the upgrade altogether.

"The platform update for Galaxy S2 and Galaxy Note will start in the first quarter 2012, and other Galaxy devices will soon follow," reads an entry on Samsung's official blog. We knew the S2 was getting ICS already, but it's useful to have a timeframe to work from. Let's hope it's the beginning of the quarter rather than the end.

That full list of other devices to get the upgrade is: the Galaxy R, the Galaxy Tab 10.1, the Galaxy Tab 8.9, the Galaxy Tab 7.7, the Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus (the dual-core variant of the 7.0) and the Galaxy S2 LTE, which isn't available in the UK.

We asked Samsung for an explanation as to why certain devices are being upgraded and others not, and we'll update this story when it responds. Also uninvited to the ICS party are the Galaxy Fit, and the super-budget Galaxy W and Y. It may be that these older or cheaper phones don't have the grunt to mix it Ice Cream Sandwich-style, or Samsung just doesn't think it's worth the effort.

Ice Cream Sandwich brings a host of new features, including the ability to unlock the device using facial recognition and resize widgets on screen. Yesterday we reported the Nexus S is being updated to Ice Cream Sandwich over the next month, but if you don't want to wait you can get it right now by following our handy guide.

The Samsung Galaxy Nexus was the first handset to come with Ice Cream Sandwich, and once its pesky volume bug had been fixed, we absolutely loved it.

Are you looking forward to Ice Cream Sandwich? Or have you already got it? Is your phone missing out? Let us know your opinions in the comments below, or over on our Facebook page.