Vodafone has advised via their weekly software update blog that they have approved the 4.0.4 update for the Galaxy Nexus which will see their software version going from 4.0.1 to 4.0.4 whilst owners of the original Galaxy S will receive an update from 2.3.3 to a 2.3.6 “Value Pack”, I asked Kieran from Vodafone to clarify what was in the “Value Pack” and was advised ‘it brings a number of ICS-like features to Gingerbread such as Face Unlock, homescreen folders and more’. The update page has not given a specific date for the rollout, both have been listed as ‘Approved by Vodafone. Pending roll-out by manufacturer; keep an eye on our blog for further information.’ so we will have to wait a little longer before seeing the update.
The Value Pack for the Galaxy S was first rumoured back in December last year and there was some on again, off again rumours in regards to wether the original Galaxy S would get Ice Cream Sandwich or not, so it seems the compromise is a “Value Pack” which will contain a lot of the ‘goodies’ from Ice Cream Sandwich but not the whole user interface overhaul, possibly due to the shock that some users would get when going from Gingerbread to Ice Cream Sandwich similar to what HTC decided in upgrading their existing handsets to Sense 3.6 rather than the full Sense 4.0 of brand new handsets.
The upgrade to 4.0.4 has been long awaited by Nexus owners considering their international GSM Nexus equivalents started seeing the update around the end of March, meaning the update has spend the better part of 2 months in carrier ‘Testing’, Vodafone does strive to get updates out to users as quickly as possible and the testing does ensure quality, but 2 months of testing is surely pushing the friendship a little, especially as users who purchase the Nexus mostly do so to be at the cutting edge of updates, perhaps a little more haste on the next updates Vodafone?
Rest assured that we`ll keep an eye out for exactly when these updates will rollout but really Vodafone has been pretty good at getting the updates out once they have approved them. It`ll also be interesting to see wether the updates rollout via FOTA update or if users are forced to use Kies to update. Vodafone also get props for being ahead of both Optus and Telstra in releasing updates for their Galaxy Nexus and the “Value Pack” for the Galaxy S, although Galaxy S owners who purchased the phone when it first came out should just about be looking at an upgrade in the coming months.
