Samsung may offer a taste of Ice Cream Sandwich to the Galaxy
Galaxy S and Galaxy Tab owners may still get some features of Android 4.0, even if Samsung doesn't push the full update to those devices.
Will they or won't they? That's the question Samsung Galaxy S and Galaxy Tab customers are asking with respect to whether Samsung will offer them the Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich update.
Samsung will likely not update those devices to ICS, but older Galaxy owners may not be entirely out of luck. There is apparently still a chance that Samsung is preparing a "Value Pack" with ICS features and functionality, just scaled for less robust hardware. TheNextWeb.com had the news, citing a Korean site as a source.
Ever since Ice Cream Sandwich was announced for the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, customers have been waiting to hear which other phones and tablets would get the upgrade. But Samsung remained tight-lipped on the subject.
Last week, though, the company said on a Korean promotional blog that it would not offer the ICS update to current Galaxy S and Galaxy Tab devices. The company explained in its post, which was written in Korean and reported in English by TheNextWeb.com, that the Galaxy products didn't have enough memory due to their bundled applications, which include the TouchWiz interface and Samsung Widgets.
Yesterday, another report cited sources stating that Samsung may be reconsidering its plans. And that it would offer ICS on the Galaxy S and original Galaxy Tab tablets.
So far, Samsung representatives in the U.S. aren't commenting one way or the other. CNET contacted a Samsung public relations representative who said via text message that Samsung has not issued an official statement on ICS.
Creating a "Value Pack" that includes ICS features could be a good middle ground for Samsung. Some of the features from Ice Cream Sandwich that may be added as part of this "value pack" include multitasking, increased web-surfing speeds, new widget sets and camera tweaks.
Samsung has offered a similar upgrade plan for phones that use its Bada platform, according to the site SammyHub. Samsung plans to offer a "Value Pack" upgrade of software to its Wave 525 and Wave 533 devices. The idea is that this "Value Pack" of software can offer the same experience to users as the Bada 2.0 upgrade, even though the actual hardware of older devices is not able to handle the new software upgrade.
For Galaxy S and Galaxy Tab owners, a "Value Pack" of software that delivers the Ice Cream Sandwich experience may be as close as they can get to the real thing.