14 DAY TRIAL // It took Samsung a long time to realize that its Galaxy S could not be upgraded to Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich operating system.
However, due to overwhelming negative feedback, the South Korean company decided to make a compromise and offer Galaxy S owners a glimpse of what Ice Cream Sandwich has to offer.
Based on the Gingerbread platform, the update is dubbed Android 2.3.6 “Value Pack” and contains some of the new features and improvements included in the Ice Cream Sandwich operating system.
Initially introduced in South Korea, the update has been slowly rolled out in other regions, though it has yet to be launched in all countries where the Galaxy S is currently available.
Today, the hotly anticipated update has finally landed in Australia. Major carrier Vodafone has just announced that Samsung will begin rolling out the Android 2.3.6 “Value Pack” update for Galaxy S starting today.
However, keep in mind that this update will only be available for Samsung Galaxy S devices sold by 3 Mobile, regardless of the SIM card being used. It is also worth mentioning that Android 2.3.6 “Value Pack” can only be downloaded via Samsung Kies desktop software.
According to Vodafone, the update is approximately 410MB in size when completed via Kies and is available free of charge. Samsung Galaxy S owners should make sure their devices are fully charged before attempting the upgrade.
It is also recommended to back up all sensitive information before performing the upgrade. The following changes are included in the update:
- Face Unlock; - Snapshot during video recording; - Ability to change text size in Contacts, Messaging and Memo; - Photo editor is now included by default; - The user interface has been updated, using the same interface as the GALAXY S II; - The following pre-installed Samsung apps have been removed: DailyBriefing, Unified SNS, Angry GPS, Ebook, PressReader.