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Topic: Android

Google halts Nexus S Ice Cream Sandwich update

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

James Kendrick

By for Mobile News |

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.

See also: The flawed Android update process; too many cooks

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.

See also:

Topics: Android, Google, Mobility

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50 comments
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  • Not possible

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

    These people saying this are just paid MS shills. ;)
    William Farrel
    Reply Vote

    • RE: Google halts Nexus S Ice Cream Sandwich update

      @William Farrel
      +1.
      Ram U
      Reply Vote

    • RE: Google halts Nexus S Ice Cream Sandwich update

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

      • RE: Google halts Nexus S Ice Cream Sandwich update

        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.
        Vbitrate
        Reply Vote

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

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

    • RE: Google halts Nexus S Ice Cream Sandwich update

      @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.
      j28n
      Reply Vote

      • I agree with you on Siri

        @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.
        toddybottom
        Reply Vote

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

        @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.....
        linux for me
        Reply Vote

      • RE: Google halts Nexus S Ice Cream Sandwich update

        @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
        wueth001
        Reply Vote

      • RE: Google halts Nexus S Ice Cream Sandwich update

        @linux for me

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

    • Then why is my stock iphone 4 dtw

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

      Get real.
      rhonin
      Reply Vote

    • RE: Google halts Nexus S Ice Cream Sandwich update

      @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?
      athynz
      Reply Vote

  • ugh

    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!!
    Hasam1991
    Reply Vote

    • RE: Google halts Nexus S Ice Cream Sandwich update

      @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).
      wright_is
      Reply Vote

      • RE: Google halts Nexus S Ice Cream Sandwich update

        @wright_is
        That's what's nice about smarthphones! you can go with blackberry, wp7, crappy Android or Apple!! competition rocks!
        Hasam1991
        Reply Vote

      • RE: Google halts Nexus S Ice Cream Sandwich update

        @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...)
        Champ_Kind
        Reply Vote

      • RE: Google halts Nexus S Ice Cream Sandwich update

        @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.
        tkejlboom
        Reply Vote

  • RE: Google halts Nexus S Ice Cream Sandwich update

    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)
    panoslondon1
    Reply Vote

    • "Rapid Battery Drain"

      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?
      gribittmep
      Reply Vote

      • RE: Google halts Nexus S Ice Cream Sandwich update

        @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?
        tkejlboom
        Reply Vote
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