Google's Nexus One Not Getting Android 4.0 Update
by Andrew Cunningham on October 26, 2011 3:00 PM EST- Posted in
- Android
- Ice Cream Sandwich
- Laptops
Google's Nexus One phone, manufactured by HTC and originally released in January of 2010, will not be receiving the Ice Cream Sandwich update along with other phones, says Google's Android product management director Hugo Barra, because the device is "too old."
The Nexus lineup has traditionally been used to showcase new, "stock" versions of Android without added manufacturer customizations, and as a result they typically receive access to new Android updates before other handsets. Google's decision not to support less-than-two-year-old Nexus One with its newest mobile OS stands in contrast to Apple's strategy for the oldest phone in its lineup, 2009's iPhone 3GS, which received most of iOS 5's new features when the update was released earlier this month.
Barra said that the Nexus S, the immediate successor of the Nexus One, would be getting the update over the air a few weeks after the launch of the new Galaxy Nexus next month. Nexus One owners hoping for an update will need to rely on the open source community to hook them up after Ice Cream Sandwich's source code is released to the public.
Source: PCMag
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tayb - Wednesday, October 26, 2011 - link
It's a major fail because Google should be supporting its flagship products for FAR longer than 15 months. It's pathetic. These phones do not suddenly become obsolete after 2 years and the idea that Google does not care to support phones older than 2 years is just embarrassing.I guess that is what you get with a 90% baked free operating system.
sprockkets - Wednesday, October 26, 2011 - link
Seeing as how the N1 did what iOS5 took 2 years to get...your point?mavere - Thursday, October 27, 2011 - link
Point is that while we cannot see future, we can sure as hell understand the past, and the past indicates that the 3GS was a better buy and that Google is willing to relegate the N1 and its ilk to the hordes of geeks chanting "CyanogenMod!!" as if that has any significance to the market at large.sprockkets - Thursday, October 27, 2011 - link
Why is the 3Gs a better buy when it was inferior to the N1 in most ever way, except for the apple reasons?Let's not forget either the reason why the 3GS is even sold - since when has anyone forced apple to sell 2 gen old hardware before? Normally once the new comes in the old disappears from existence off their store.
doobydoo - Thursday, October 27, 2011 - link
Quote:'Seeing as how the N1 did what iOS5 took 2 years to get...your point?'
Oh please, the N1 was a failed device, and doesn't even support the latest release to Android which finally tries to catch up with iOS 5, despite being released later.
This lack of long term support is laughable, and certainly would put any logical customer off when considering buying a phone.
The iPhone 3GS is still supported and that sets a compelling precedent such that buyers of iPhones can be confident their phone wont just be cut off from future updates within 2 years.
sprockkets - Thursday, October 27, 2011 - link
Really? Who had cloud support since day one? Who had notifications since day one?Oh wait, an apple fanboi. Perhaps apple disagrees with you on the phone being a failure - apple sued HTC over it.
And what was the 3G? 2 years old and cut off from ios4 (or should have been?)
doobydoo - Friday, October 28, 2011 - link
What are you talking about re: cloud support. Cloud support is STILL not fully integrated into Android, you still can't seamlessly sync your contacts, IM conversations, apps, documents without installing multiple 3rd party apps.Dropbox etc have been available on iPhone just as long as Android, but doesn't sync contacts or IM conversations (and is also more expensive). As for notifications, that's one tiny feature in thousands of others, are you so blind to reality that you're going to hang your hat on one tiny feature?
As for the 3G, no it wasn't cut off from iOS 4.
Wheras the Nexus One, is. Oops.
Dug - Thursday, October 27, 2011 - link
What feature is sooo important that you can't live without that's in ice cream.I don't know anyone supporting updates for 2 years with any phone except Apple, and even then you don't get every feature because the hardware doesn't support it.
I also don't know anyone that has kept their Nexus because of better phones out there. Google probably sees a very small amount of people actually using these.
doobydoo - Friday, October 28, 2011 - link
If you say ICS isn't any good, and that nobody cares about the upgrade, I'd say that's even worse.You can't have it both ways.
If ICS is an improvement, people are justified to want it, some of whom may have only bought their phone 7 months ago on a 24 month contract.
If ICS isn't an improvement, then why would people want a phone which has an operating system which never improves?
V-Money - Wednesday, October 26, 2011 - link
I don't know, my Nexus one that I bought in Jan 2010 is still running strong with MIUI on it, I wouldn't call it obsolete. I can get over 2 days worth of battery with normal usage (still original battery) and its customized exactly how I like it. I'm not saying that I wouldn't want ICS, but to call it obsolete is just incorrect, and cyanogen and MIUI (among others) will definitely have a variety of ICS flavors out shortly enough.