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Samsung Nexus S due for Android ICS upgrade, Nexus One left out

Categories: Android, HTC, Samsung
By: , IntoMobile
Wednesday, October 26th, 2011 at 8:35 AM
Android-Icecream

Bad news for you Nexus One owners out there, it turns out the first official Google phone will not be getting the upgrade to Ice Cream Sandwich after all, according to Google’s Product Management Director for Android, Hugo Barra. Barra said what many tech insiders already expected: the hardware was simply too old to run the new operating system.

The Nexus One will not get the bump to ICS, but the Samsung Nexus S will receive the update “within weeks” after the Galaxy Nexus releases. The Nexus One may be cut from ICS due to the phone’s tiny internal memory of 512MB RAM and 512MB ROM, and its outdated 1 GHz Scorpion processor, Adreno 200 GPU, Qualcomm QSD8250 Snapdragon chipset. The truth is, Ice Cream Sandwich requires a bit more power than Eclair, Froyo or Gingerbread.

It’s unfortunate that the Nexus One will not receive the official Ice Cream Sandwich update, but don’t cry for the N1 – I’m sure there will be plenty of developers out there baking up a slew of unofficial ROMs. The Nexus One without a doubt is still a comparable smartphone, and there are people who still think this is Android’s best phone to date. Who out there is still using the Nexus One as your daily driver?

[via The Telegraph]

About The Author

Charles West

Charles West is a self-described music snob and sports fanatic who loves occasional benders with friends and family. He has written about the mobile industry for TMCnet and Androinica. He also writes at his own blog The Trendaholic. You can follow him on Twitter @TheTrendaholic and Google+

  • http://twitter.com/StuMobile Stuart Hodges

    I do not own the nexus one, but as someone who is gearing up for a galaxy nexus purchase it does grind my gears that a device which has the USP of continued operating system support is getting cut off after 18 months. I’m sure that with a 16gb internal memory  the galaxy nexus will hopefully ensure longer support, but it does dent my confidence, especially as owners of the iPhone 3gs are enjoying their 3rd year of OS support.

    The Galaxy Nexus is not a cheap device, and I would like to see two solid years of OS support, and not have my hand forced when considering an upgrade after that 

  • Charles West

    Everything you said is absolutely true, but shouldn’t a good part of the blame lie at the feet of HTC for making a phone with so little memory?

  • http://twitter.com/hachu hachu

    Except the Nexus One has the same amount of memory as the iPhone 4S (512MB). Shouldn’t the blame lie at the feet of Google for making a memory hog of an OS?

  • http://twitter.com/StuMobile Stuart Hodges

    Whoever’s decision is was, it was a highly short sighted one. But seeing as Google was HTC’s customer, the blame possibly lies with them. Although very similar to the desire, the nexus one has a number of differences that Google probably stipulated. Can an extra 512mb of ROM be that expensive or difficult to engineer into the device?

    The mobile industry moves fast, this is what makes it exciting, it’s why sites like yours are so successful. But it is frankly scandalous that perfectly capable hardware (that unless it was produced by Nokia it has a frankly disgusting environmental impact) is being obsoleted through software.

    It should actually be remembered that smartphones will make the world smarter if their is greater uptake. The prospect of this level of device hitting £150 or below (or free on a £20 contract) is frankly a lot more exciting,than the economic and cultural impact of an iPhone (making up 2% of the whole mobile market). It is crazy that google has joined every else in the open handset alliance, and put a device out to pasture. Bare in mind that these devices are probably starting to be inherited by Parents, Girlfriend and siblings, and if the whole point of android is to encourage the continued uptake and use of Google services in the post PC age, then surely long tale support of devices should be at the top of it’s agenda.

    sigh, Sorry for the rant Charles :(