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SIM-free Galaxy S II handsets finally get Android ICS

Owners of SIM-free Samsung Galaxy S II handsets can now download an update to the Ice Cream Sandwich version of the Google Android operating system, following a delay to the rollout.Android 4.
Written by Ben Woods, Contributor

Owners of SIM-free Samsung Galaxy S II handsets can now download an update to the Ice Cream Sandwich version of the Google Android operating system, following a delay to the rollout.

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Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich is rolling out to SIM-free Samsung Galaxy S II handsets. Image credit: CNET UK

The company had previously said that SIM-free owners would likely be among the last to receive the update, but confirmed in a statement seen by ZDNet UK on Tuesday that it was now ready for download and that Orange and T-Mobile would be the last operators to deliver the upgrade.

"Samsung UK has been working as hard as possible over the last few weeks to get Android 4.0 — Ice Cream Sandwich — rolled out to all our Galaxy S II customers. We can confirm that 'Open Market' and all network upgrades are now complete except for Orange and T-Mobile which will follow as soon as possible, pending software testing and approvals," a Samsung spokeswoman told ZDNet UK sister site CNET UK, in a statement.

Open market handsets refer to unlocked devices which can be sold as SIM-free or provided by retailers on specific networks.

Both Three and O2 have been offering the download to customers since the end of March but other operators have been slower to get the software through internal testing.

On Friday, Vodafone finally confirmed that Ice Cream Sandwich was available to manually download to Galaxy S II devices via the Samsung Kies software. The company confirmed that it is also available as an over-the-air download from Tuesday.

Orange and T-Mobile had not responded to a ZDNet UK request for information on the ICS rollout at the time of writing.

Update 16:32 BST: An Orange spokeswoman told ZDNet UK on Tuesday that the ICS update would be avaiilable to customers "in the next few days".

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