Mobile News

James Kendrick

Google halts Nexus S Ice Cream Sandwich update

By James Kendrick | December 20, 2011, 1:48pm PST

Summary: Google has paused the Android 4.0 update in progress for the Nexus S due to reported problems.

Android gets a bum rap for the sketchy update process that has phone owners wondering when, or even if, their new phone will get a shiny new version of Android. The update process has too many fingers in the pie, making it take far too long to get updates for a given Android device. Those who doubt the update process is so bad should look at the Nexus S Ice Cream Sandwich update rolling out now. Well, it was rolling out, but Google has “paused” the update to figure out why it is messing up Nexus S phones.

According to TechCrunch some Nexus S owners are reporting various problems with their phones after applying the ICS update. These problems include loss of wireless signal and rapid battery drain. Google is “monitoring the feedback” to determine when to resume the update rollout to the Nexus S.

The problem with this update demonstrate how hard it is to get an update out for Android devices. The Nexus S is not new hardware, it is the Google flagship phone that preceded the Galaxy Nexus now shipping with ICS. Google has already updated the Nexus S from early Gingerbread to the current version of it, and is now tanking on the ICS update.

Face it, Google knows this hardware backwards and forwards, so if it can’t get the ICS update working on the first try what chance do OEMs have? Remember, the Nexus S update comes directly from Google, not Samsung or some carrier. It is Google’s phone, Google’s OS, and Google’s update process that is failing.

Those of us who own the Sprint version of this phone, the Nexus S 4G, are waiting in the wings for our own ICS update. Perhaps we are the lucky ones, letting the other guys sort out the bugs first. Although, even though Google is having trouble getting this ICS update to work, the homebrew community figured it out just fine. I am still enjoying ICS on my Nexus S 4G, and without problems.

More from “Mobile News”

5 tips to be a productive home worker

Verizon customers have nationwide data outage, again

Topics

Google Inc., Android, Rap, Google Nexus S, James Kendrick

James Kendrick has been using mobile devices since they weighed 30 pounds, and has been sharing his insights on mobile technology for almost that long.

Full Bio
Disclosure
Contact

Vendor HotSpot

The 360° Conversation around Cloud Computing

TECH VISUALIZER brings the social conversation to life... powered by Brocade

Learn More »

Comments

Add Your Opinion

Join the conversation!

Follow via:: RSS; Email Alert

Just In

RE: Google halts Nexus S Ice Cream Sandwich update

mitwa1990 27th Jan

Any idea about when ICS update going to start again on Google Nexus S???

View in thread

Please Select
Please Select

0 Votes

+ -

Not possible

William Farrel 20th Dec

itguy10 tells everyone tha tthings like this only happen with MS updates, never Apple or Android updates.

These people saying this are just paid MS shills. wink

Reply
Flag

0 Votes

+ -

RE: Google halts Nexus S Ice Cream Sandwich update

Rama.NET 20th Dec

@William Farrel
+1.

Reply
Flag

0 Votes

+ -

RE: Google halts Nexus S Ice Cream Sandwich update

Champ_Kind 21st Dec

@William Farrel Amen, because we all know that Microsoft is the only company that puts out failed software updates.

Reply
Flag

0 Votes

+ -

RE: Google halts Nexus S Ice Cream Sandwich update

gjafg 1st Jan

From what we know, Google has slowed down the update process to monitor its progress. There are no reports of damaged phones or lost data.

The difference with Microsoft is that its Windows Phone 'NoDo' update actually bricked phones, making them useless.

0 Votes

+ -

I own an iPhone, do I have to worry about this?

toddybottom 20th Dec

Rhetorical question, of course I don't. Owning an Android phone is so much more pain than it is worth.

Reply
Flag

0 Votes

+ -

RE: Google halts Nexus S Ice Cream Sandwich update

j28n 20th Dec

@toddybottom Then why bother even posting something? Oh right, you're just a troll. This is just a beta update - testing the waters before they do a mass-update. It's kinda like that marketing gimmick called siri - which is still in beta by the way. Siri constantly crashes and keeps giving users "server busy" errors.

In the meantime, go enjoy your dumbed-down uber-slow phone while the smart people enjoy a phone that customizes to the user while at 4G speed.

Reply
Flag

0 Votes

+ -

I agree with you on Siri

toddybottom 20th Dec

@j28n
Apple deserves to be flogged often and flogged hard for Siri.

"while the smart people enjoy a phone that customizes to the user while at 4G speed"

Until the battery runs out around noon. Unless you frantically enable and then quickly disable 4G every time you use it. Sounds smart. Really smart.

0 Votes

+ -

Wait...How versions of Windows did it take to be workable????

linux for me 21st Dec

@j28n

Any complex software will have bugs. The fact that when an issue arrived, Google took the correct step to stop, find out what went wrong to fix it. then test it again. We all know that other companies would slam the thing out cold to everybody, then send an update to fix the update, then another to fix that update.....

0 Votes

+ -

RE: Google halts Nexus S Ice Cream Sandwich update

wueth001 21st Dec

@j28n @toddybottom besides ur name having disturbing implications... the beauty of android is the nice little thing called a widget.

the button to enable my 4g is right next to the browser button. but i've found even if i forget to turn it off my phone still makes it through the day so its a moot point. the radio has been told to go to sleep automatically

0 Votes

+ -

RE: Google halts Nexus S Ice Cream Sandwich update

tkejlboom 22nd Dec

@linux for me

You forgot, "it works just fine, you're just holding it wrong."

0 Votes

+ -

Then why is my stock iphone 4 dtw

rhonin 20th Dec

@toddybottom
Battery issue after iOS5 update...
Sound familiar?

Get real.

Reply
Flag

0 Votes

+ -

RE: Google halts Nexus S Ice Cream Sandwich update

Pete "athynz" Athens 20th Dec

@toddybottom In Soviet Russia iPhone owns YOU. Oh, wait I was supposed to mock you by using your "it's a sick market" line... oops.

Dude why even bother to post?

Reply
Flag

0 Votes

+ -

ugh

Hasam1991 20th Dec

That's why I left the platform, could never get my old Samsung Galaxy updated to 2.2!! With Apple everyone had ios 5 on the same day!!!! Now I'm hoping they add SIRI soon, it is really cool!!

Reply
Flag

0 Votes

+ -

RE: Google halts Nexus S Ice Cream Sandwich update

wright_is 21st Dec

@Hasam1991 The Apple updates are what drove me away... The phone became more unstable and slower with each update.

After 4.3, it started to corrupt my Audible collection on a regular basis (after redownloading the books for a 3rd time in one week, I jumped ship!).

And the problems described here sound like those suffered after the iOS 5 update.

I had a WP7 phone brick on the first update as well.

And no, I'm not saying Android is any better, just that each platform seems to suffer from the same update problems.

There is no perfect update system, and probably never will be. Data corruption at any point in the chain of the update process can cause problems, bugs in the code can cause problems, faulty hardware, which was working "ok" before (that was the problem with the WP7 device, it had never worked 100% reliably and the update process killed it, the replacement phone was a dream in comparison).

Reply
Flag

0 Votes

+ -

RE: Google halts Nexus S Ice Cream Sandwich update

Hasam1991 21st Dec

@wright_is
That's what's nice about smarthphones! you can go with blackberry, wp7, crappy Android or Apple!! competition rocks!

0 Votes

+ -

RE: Google halts Nexus S Ice Cream Sandwich update

Champ_Kind 21st Dec

@Hasam1991 How much longer are we going to have more than 2 choices in the US market? Windows Phone isn't doing as well as Microsoft hoped it would (even though I do think it's pretty slick) and Blackberry probably won't exist except as an IP house after 2014 (think of all of those old, dead Blackberry phones...)

0 Votes

+ -

RE: Google halts Nexus S Ice Cream Sandwich update

tkejlboom 22nd Dec

@wright_is

Except with iPhone, you're stuck with iOS. With Android, if vanilla isn't working, jump to Cyanogen or a dozen other roms.

0 Votes

+ -

RE: Google halts Nexus S Ice Cream Sandwich update

panoslondon1 20th Dec

Wow and it was actually being delivered and got stopped, that's better than last time when no updates went out.

Sent from my Windows phone (with all updates as standard)

Reply
Flag

0 Votes

+ -

"Rapid Battery Drain"

gribittmep 20th Dec

So one of the problems is "rapid battery drain". All you Antroid Fanboys could not let go of the same issue with the iPhone 4s. What do you have to say now?

Reply
Flag

0 Votes

+ -

RE: Google halts Nexus S Ice Cream Sandwich update

tkejlboom 22nd Dec

@gribittmep

No, the contention wasn't that Apple made a mistake, it's that Apple insisted that they're better than everybody and don't make mistakes, and then made a mistake.

Then, Apple said it wasn't happening. They continued to push it, while they proceeded to ignore the feedback from their users. Contrast Google. Rapt attention to user feedback. Instantly pause the roll out. Acknowledge the problem. Do you REALLY not understand the difference?

0 Votes

+ -

RE: Google halts Nexus S Ice Cream Sandwich update

danbi 23rd Dec

@tkejlboom

Oh, I own a phone. The vendor has promised to keep my device up to date. One day, they ship a new phone with all shiny new OS. They tell me that, of course, they will have the same new shiny OS on my phone too. I wait.
One day they say "here it is" -- lost of people complain, eventually the vendor says "oops, we goofed, we not longer offer the update".

Question is: Is Google such a poor company, that cannot purchase few phones for their developers? So that those developers can run their new software on the real hardware it is supposed to run (more so, because it was Google who designed and specified that hardware) -- not on some emulator.

Anyway, more and more people will soon realize, that Android is a DIY project. Those who already understood this, did the right thing and already have ICS on their Nexus S.

0 Votes

+ -

RE: Google halts Nexus S Ice Cream Sandwich update

tkejlboom 22nd Dec

@panoslondon1

Nexus updates always went out. What are you smoking?

Reply
Flag

0 Votes

+ -

Lame excuse for an article

rhonin 20th Dec

Report it.
You sound like an iFan running through the playground yelling "na na na na na, na"

You've written much better factual stuff.

Reply
Flag

0 Votes

+ -

RE: Google halts Nexus S Ice Cream Sandwich update

gribittmep Updated - 20th Dec

@rhonin

Sorry, I was having a fanboy moment sad

Reply
Flag

0 Votes

+ -

RE: Google halts Nexus S Ice Cream Sandwich update

americansheldon 20th Dec

you all crack me up...i don't even bother reading most articles about Android or iPhone...I just scroll to the comments section to do my reading!

Reply
Flag

0 Votes

+ -

RE: Google halts Nexus S Ice Cream Sandwich update

Pete "athynz" Athens 20th Dec

I could stir the pot and get a bunch of Fandroids frothing by saying something like karma is a heartless b1tch (due to the repeated digs at the iOS 5 battery issues) but honestly this sucks out loud. I hope Google get's ICS straight.

Reply
Flag

0 Votes

+ -

Here is what really sucks ....

wackoae 20th Dec

@Pete "athynz" Athens The fact that even with the "battery problem", the iPhone still has BETTER battery life than any Android phone.

With the "update", that fact (almost) became more than obvious even to the fandroids with slow brains (the ones that constantly deny Android's sluggishness and shortcomings)

Reply
Flag

0 Votes

+ -

RE: Google halts Nexus S Ice Cream Sandwich update

tkejlboom 22nd Dec

@wackoae

Factually untrue and unsupported on every point. Brilliant.

0 Votes

+ -

RE: Google halts Nexus S Ice Cream Sandwich update

owlnet 21st Dec

With all the patent lawsuits going against android( better to call it as "stolen goods assembly"), probably google could stop developing it.

Reply
Flag

0 Votes

+ -

RE: Google halts Nexus S Ice Cream Sandwich update

Brich 21st Dec

I don't think the IOS5 battery issues (which don't affect everyone) are comparable to the Android 4G LTE battery drain challenge (probably impacts most users).

Reply
Flag

0 Votes

+ -

RE: Google halts Nexus S Ice Cream Sandwich update

tkejlboom 22nd Dec

@Brich

4G LTE isn't a defect, it's an engineering challenge. Hence, iPhone doesn't get it at all. Android, you may choose to enable it. With iPhone, daddy says no candy for you.

Reply
Flag

0 Votes

+ -

RE: Google halts Nexus S Ice Cream Sandwich update

non-biased 2nd Jan

@tkejlboom I have no issue with the manufacture of my electronics not including a feature or tech that isn't up to their standards yet, I actually appreciate it. If 4G is a must there are options but for most it really isn't. The real issue is then manufacturers toss the standards out the window so they can pack ever buzz word tech into the device to try and sell more no matter what it does to the overall quality.

0 Votes

+ -

Galaxy Nexus S updated around 12:00 PST to Android 4.0.3

B.O.F.H. 21st Dec

Amusing article, not quite accurate but good for getting comments.

Reply
Flag

0 Votes

+ -

RE: Google halts Nexus S Ice Cream Sandwich update

zdnet@... 21st Dec

Writing as a Nexus S owner who manually downloaded the ICS ZIP file, placed it in my phone's flash, and then performed the upgrade according to established procedures:

Battery life is as good as it was, if not slightly better -- I used to get two full days of typical usage before the phone got down to the 'critical' 25% level and it still seems about the same.

WIFI works just fine although there is no longer an indication in the status bar (an oversight I hope they correct) but it does connect and it still moves data at the same speed.

My only quibble is that there have been many human interface changes , some of which are a bit baffling when working at random, so it sure wouldn't hurt for Google to give us a nice ICS manual in PDF format so we could learn the system anew.

Reply
Flag

0 Votes

+ -

RE: Google halts Nexus S Ice Cream Sandwich update

ralphjb@... 21st Dec

I got the update yesterday afternoon. So far, no obvious issues. Actually, my Nexus S seems to be running better - faster and smoother. I really like the changes to Android with ICS. I have a Honeycomb tablet, so the transition to ICS is probably a little easier than if I didn't have experience with Honeycomb. But really, it is pretty intuitive. If I have any issues, I will report.

Reply
Flag

0 Votes

+ -

When did they halt it?

S60_alan 21st Dec

Half way through my update maybe. I got the OTA notification and ran the download, got ready for the restart and then my Nexus S proudly told me all my software was up to date and I'm still running Gingerbread. There was some change though - the phone rebooted every 2 or 3 minutes for the rest of that evening. WTF.

Reply
Flag

0 Votes

+ -

RE: Google halts Nexus S Ice Cream Sandwich update

CPMyers 21st Dec

Just another example of why the term "smart phone" is an oxymoron. I guess it is just a question of the relative nature of the term smart and if you compare such a phone to the person carrying it...

Reply
Flag

0 Votes

+ -

RE: Google halts Nexus S Ice Cream Sandwich update

pcosway 21st Dec

They have browser problems as well. It regularly crashes when I visit a New York Times article. There seems to be a correlation with the article including a particular type of advertisement served by google -- ones that have a tie-in with google+. Browser crashes every time I see one of those.

Reply
Flag

0 Votes

+ -

A very happy ICS user...

thesuperstitions@... 21st Dec

Don't know how many phones are having problems but my Nexus S (T-Mobile) was updated and ROCKS! No problems at all with battery drain. Also, no problems with carrier crap-ware or walled-garden. Just a very useful tool that reduced my everyday device-count from 3 to 1.

I highly recommend that folks in the market for a smart phone insist on one that isn't tied to a carrier. Don't get sucked into their lock-in mechanisms. It's YOUR PHONE! Use it the way you want to!

Reply
Flag

0 Votes

+ -

Useless fanboi posts

radleym 21st Dec

Maybe one intelligent post for every 10 famboi rants.
With the lovely William Farrel, rama.NET (oooh, cool caps- he must be real smart) and of course the oh-so-clever toddybottom.
Yoi guys should get your very own blog, so you can flame each other all you want, without bothering the adults. In fact, maybe I'll start posting a list of useless posters so any new readers won"t be fooled into thinking any of you know what you're talking about.

Reply
Flag

0 Votes

+ -

RE: Google halts Nexus S Ice Cream Sandwich update

leyshon@... 21st Dec

Have an old phone that is just a phone. Always works, never a problem. Battery last for days, even after 5 years. I keep wondering about updating to a smart phone but every time I look I am submerged by all the problems they have. Also, I wonder "why". Do I really need all the smartphone features? Am I sufficiently anal that I need instant access to email, twitter, blogs, and internet? I have a desktop in the office and several at home that I check on a regular basis - but at my convenience, not because my phone dominates me.
Remember the days when we communicated by phone - a real human voice. Remember letters that took several days to arrive. Communication may now be instant, but are we any better off. How many with smartphones put off replying to emails, twitters, etc until later. Or do you fire off a quick reply without thinking too much about what you say.
Oh well, call me an old fogy. Perhaps some things from the stone age are still relevant today.

Reply
Flag

0 Votes

+ -

complexity

pupkin_z 21st Dec

For those who appeal to iPhone updates cosider
Apple - single hardware platform
Android - much more than one hardware platform, hence complexity in updating

Reply
Flag

0 Votes

+ -

RE: Google halts Nexus S Ice Cream Sandwich update

taglorn 21st Dec

I installed this yesterday, ran 3g as normal and could not see any difference in battery life. 18 hours and still had 60% left. (fyi. Two email account push plus reading and a couple calls).

I don't think the wireless signal loss is unique to ICS. I was having that issue with the previous version.

Overall this has been a great update for me. Only thing that really mars it is how the phone address book is layed out. its much less efficient that the previous one. Otherwise i like it all happy

Reply
Flag

0 Votes

+ -

RE: Google halts Nexus S Ice Cream Sandwich update

anj747 21st Dec

There are also some users reporting issues with Bluetooth, see http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=23172

Reply
Flag

0 Votes

+ -

RE: Google halts Nexus S Ice Cream Sandwich update

pfurrie@... 21st Dec

Ok... now I'm holding my breath. Did the update a couple of days ago, and thought that, if the update was being announced by my phone's update process, then it must be all good.

So far, nothing really bad to report. Only anomaly is that, when the screen auto-shuts off, there is a blip of light re-appearing immediately after the screen has gone dark. The whole screen re-illuminates for about a 20th of a second.

I do wish the article would provide a bit more insight into just what problems people are experiencing.

Reply
Flag

0 Votes

+ -

It should be simple.

johnafish 26th Dec

This should be the simplest of updates, no carrier, network or 3rd party software/skin issues, an opportunity for Google to show everyone how it's done. Its the reason I buy Nexus devices but I'm still waiting.

Reply
Flag

0 Votes

+ -

RE: Google halts Nexus S Ice Cream Sandwich update

Carpark62 26th Jan

@ most of you
As usual, the complainers are the ones posting in forums.
Well, my Nexus S got the ICS update right on schedule, I've had no issues with it whatsoever; in fact, I love it. The effect on my battery life has been minimal.
I suspect this has been the experience for the majority of Nexus S phones, but of course that doesn't make for interesting news.