Samsung Galaxy S2 to get Ice Cream Sandwich on 15 March
Ice Cream Sandwich is coming to the Samsung Galaxy S2 next week, the company promises.
Ice Cream Sandwich is coming to the Samsung Galaxy S2 this month. It may be later than hoped, but it seems the S2 will update to the latest version of Android on 15 March.
That's according to a post on Samsung's official Facebook page in Israel -- which has since been deleted. Fingers crossed, folks...
Ice Cream Sandwich coming to the S2 is kind of a big deal. It's the most popular Android phone, selling over 20 million phones -- second only to the iPhone.
For all those Android fans desperately hoping for a lick of Ice Cream Sandwich, the new update is proving unbearably slow to arrive. Delays to the update for the Asus Transformer have given fans an Ice Cream headache. The HTC Sensation and XE are about to get an update.
Android updates are typically delayed by the prevalence of front-end interfaces added to Android phones by the manufacturer. Google provides the code for Android as a foundation, but manufacturers and phone networks add their own skin on the front -- such as Samsung's TouchWiz, or HTC Sense -- as well as their own apps.
So when an update appears, it's not just a question of updating the phone. The skin and the apps have to be tested and adjusted too -- spare a thought for owners of an LG Optimus phone, which only just updated to Gingerbread, the last version of Android, at the end of last year. The process is delayed further if you've bought your phone through a network, because they add their own gubbins too, taking weeks longer.
It sounds like the S2 will get ICS just before its hotly anticpated sequel, the Samsung Galaxy S3, is announced. Although we don't have concrete dates yet, signs point to an announcement in April -- to be confirmed on Twitter.
If you're wondering what all the fuss is about, here's ten reasons why Ice Cream Sandwich beats Gingerbread. And if you really can't wait, here's how to get Ice Cream Sandwich on your S2 now.
Is it about time you got Ice Cream Sandwich, or is your phone managing just fine without it? Scoop out your thoughts in the comments or on our Facebook page.