The announcement last week by Samsung that owners of the Samsung’s Galaxy S and Galaxy Tab will not get the latest and the greatest version of Android till late, Ice Cream Sandwich, caused quite a ripple in blogosphere. In a blog posting on a Korean site run by Samsung, the company noted that the two devices would not receive the update to Android 4.0, i.e. Ice Cream Sandwich.
Faced with strong customer backlash that it received over the weekend, now reports are coming in from Korea that Samsung is re-evaluating its position, and thinking of going back to drawing board to see if it can make the new android update work on its older hardware.
Earlier, as The Verge explained, Samsung had made the statement that the new version of android is just too resource intensive when paired with Samsung’s custom TouchWiz treatment, which includes new icons, wallpapers, custom apps, and more. However this argument runs on thin ice because Google Nexus S, which has the same hardware as Galaxy S, was being upgraded to Android 4.
Now with Samsung re-evaluating its position, I believe the reasons behind this had not much to do with hardware issues. The fact is, if OEMs keep upgrading old hardware with new software, people will hold onto their old hardware longer, and this will cut into the sales of new hardware. This is a situation that no OEM wants to be in.
Another problem for OEMs is the support costs. It is not cheap to get the new version of Android ready to put on an existing handset, nor to start supporting that version going forward.
Looking at these factors, I think Samsung made a rational decision to not upgrade Galaxy S and Tab, but after the customer backlash on the internet over the weekend, it seems they are now rethinking their strategy. Angry customers are the last thing any OEM wants in the hyper competitive mobile market. You might have ipad as other choice as well. Read more about ipad or galaxy tablet
For us, we will wait and see how the future unfolds. However my recommendation to the readers will be, to just get a new phone. The best way to experience Ice Cream Sandwich is on a sleek new state-of-the-art hardware.
Author: Abhinav Sarangi of PriceShred.com – An online marketplace to buy or sell used mobiles and second hand mobiles
There’s no excuse to make consumers pay for new devices every now and then just to accommodate new software. No one can afford to buy new phones every year! Although I’d love to buy a ICS device, before I can enjoy the benefits of the device there’d be another updated version and spoil all the fun!
i will upgrade my phone to sandwich soon
thanks