ICS available on Nexus S. Woohoo

[aviphysics]

http://www.engadget.com/2011/12/16/a...s-nexus-s-sta/

download here (at your own risk of course.)
http://android.clients.google.com/pa...o/VQ8PQk_V.zip

Installing it myself right now.

Edit: the loading screen when you turn it on is pretty cool. It also does something with applications that takes a while.

[Elysian]

The images for the Xoom WiFi are out too. Hopefully the 4G isn't far behind.

Edit: 3g/4g is live as of this morning... The rom calls for a newer baseband though so 3g/4g doesn't work nor the camera or hdmi but it's a step in the right direction.

[aviphysics]

I have been playing around with it this morning and haven't found any problems on my Nexus S. The change to the app drawer scrolling I have mixed feelings about. I like that it remembers the last page you were on and I think horizontal scrolling is better than up down but I wish it still allowed continuous scrolling with momentum.

On the home screen stacking icons is nice and so is pushing the google search up and displaying it on all screens without getting in the way of icons.

Moving widgets to the app drawer was a good move to.

[eNforcer]

Got mine running (manual install) with root too!

[kakarot]

I hope motorola/verizon are quick getting this out; ics is sexy as hell.
enjoy the upgrades guys

[Thr0tt]

Originally Posted by kakarot

I hope motorola/verizon are quick getting this out; ics is sexy as hell.
enjoy the upgrades guys

Hahahaha for EU guys Motorola are non existent, we have only just got 3.2 ! ICS I see as a maybe for 2012 but don't hold any high hopes ever seeing it on my eXoom(b).

[CurrentlyPissed]

Wonder if the HTC Evo 3D will get it.

[Elysian]

Originally Posted by Thr0tt

Hahahaha for EU guys Motorola are non existent, we have only just got 3.2 ! ICS I see as a maybe for 2012 but don't hold any high hopes ever seeing it on my eXoom(b).

xda.

[minaelromany]

Anybody knows when will it be available for T-Mobile Galaxy S II ?

My brother wants Arabic support so badly and I've read it will be available natively with ICS

[Mahjik]

ICS is rolling out for Xoom (I think WiFi only) today. Mine was updated, but I haven't been able to mess with it as my wife has been hogging it all night...

[Galmok]

I have played just a tiny bit with the Nexus and I have to say, the browser sucks. I load my usual test site and it is loading slowly and when done, displays parts of the page in white and scrolls slowly. Galaxy S2 on the other hand loads the page perfectly and scrolling is very smooth. The iPhone 4S also loads the page perfectly and scrolls smothly.

I was considering the Nexus, but not with such a sluggish experience it gives in the browser. And no, flash wasn't loaded.

[Elysian]

Originally Posted by Galmok

I have played just a tiny bit with the Nexus and I have to say, the browser sucks. I load my usual test site and it is loading slowly and when done, displays parts of the page in white and scrolls slowly. Galaxy S2 on the other hand loads the page perfectly and scrolling is very smooth. The iPhone 4S also loads the page perfectly and scrolls smothly.

I was considering the Nexus, but not with such a sluggish experience it gives in the browser. And no, flash wasn't loaded.

You were using a Nexus with ICS?

[Mahjik]

With the few minutes I used my Xoom last night, I had a similar experience however it was the stock browser working fine and Dolphin displaying a white browser screen (noticed this on Autoblog). The stock browser seems much faster now with ICS. I'll probably stop using Dolphin now (especially with the issues I had last night with it).

[Galmok]

Originally Posted by Elysian

You were using a Nexus with ICS?

No. Sorry. Just testing the browser the Nexus. It is bad.

[Elysian]

Originally Posted by Galmok

No. Sorry. Just testing the browser the Nexus. It is bad.

The Nexus is now on ICS, your comments are pretty much useless if you haven't tried it since.

[Galmok]

Originally Posted by Elysian

The Nexus is now on ICS, your comments are pretty much useless if you haven't tried it since.

It was the Nexus S., i.e. ICS.

I read ICS as Internet Connection Service. :-P Forgot what ICS meant in Android view.

[Elysian]

Originally Posted by Galmok

It was the Nexus S., i.e. ICS.

I read ICS as Internet Connection Service. :-P Forgot what ICS meant in Android view.

Might just be a limitation of the Nexus S then, as my Xoom with ICS never displayed any white while browsing. You're comparing a single core phone to dual-cores anyways.

[aviphysics]

Originally Posted by Galmok

I have played just a tiny bit with the Nexus and I have to say, the browser sucks. I load my usual test site and it is loading slowly and when done, displays parts of the page in white and scrolls slowly. Galaxy S2 on the other hand loads the page perfectly and scrolling is very smooth. The iPhone 4S also loads the page perfectly and scrolls smothly.

I was considering the Nexus, but not with such a sluggish experience it gives in the browser. And no, flash wasn't loaded.

The Nexus S has been downgraded to a freephone with contract and I doubt it is going to be available much longer so I don't really get the point of your comparison. You might as well be telling me about how slow an Athlon 64 is compared to an i7.

Now IMO as someone who actually uses the device, the Nexus S is a perfectly functional phone. I haven't had any problems with web pages not loading correctly and the hotspot functionality works great. It is certainly not the fastest phone and wasn't even the fastest at release, but the consistent update support and not having to hack in hotspot support has been worth the tradeoff. I also really like the shape.

[kakarot]

A better comparison would have been the galaxy nexus and the S2. Similar horsepower wise but would allow you to appreciate ics even more. The ics browser is a massive improvement and the best I have used on a mobile device.

Also all you xoom users should check out the team eos ics roms at xda. Combined with a nice oc -and they do oc quite nicely- it makes for an amazing little tablet

[Galmok]

Originally Posted by aviphysics

The Nexus S has been downgraded to a freephone with contract and I doubt it is going to be available much longer so I don't really get the point of your comparison. You might as well be telling me about how slow an Athlon 64 is compared to an i7.

Hmm I obviously have something mixed up. I was looking at a new phone just the other day and was told it used Android/ICS. I believe the name Nexus was mentioned, but I can be wrong here. But the phone's browser was really crap and I'll stand by that experience.

After some searching, the phone I tried was the Samsung Galaxy Nexus. Therein lies my mixup. Sorry. But the browser experience on the galaxy nexus was very poor.

[Galmok]

Originally Posted by kakarot

A better comparison would have been the galaxy nexus and the S2. Similar horsepower wise but would allow you to appreciate ics even more. The ics browser is a massive improvement and the best I have used on a mobile device.

I have exactly the opposite experience. The galaxy s2 provides a much smoother (and complete) browser experience compared to the galaxy nexus.

[aviphysics]

Originally Posted by Galmok

Hmm I obviously have something mixed up. I was looking at a new phone just the other day and was told it used Android/ICS. I believe the name Nexus was mentioned, but I can be wrong here. But the phone's browser was really crap and I'll stand by that experience.

After some searching, the phone I tried was the Samsung Galaxy Nexus. Therein lies my mixup. Sorry. But the browser experience on the galaxy nexus was very poor.

Was your friend using the stock ICS browser or another one? I haven't had any problems with stock browser before or after upgrading from gingerbread to ICS and the Galaxy Nexus should be even faster. Also, desktop browsing might have been enabled on one phone but not the other or he might have installed some crudware on the phone that was slowing it down.

[Galmok]

Originally Posted by aviphysics

Was your friend using the stock ICS browser or another one? I haven't had any problems with stock browser before or after upgrading from gingerbread to ICS and the Galaxy Nexus should be even faster. Also, desktop browsing might have been enabled on one phone but not the other or he might have installed some crudware on the phone that was slowing it down.

The phone was in a phone shop, i.e. probably factory settings.

[aviphysics]

Originally Posted by Galmok

The phone was in a phone shop, i.e. probably factory settings.

Sometimes people playing with them install a bunch of stupid stuff on the display phones.

[Galmok]

Originally Posted by aviphysics

Sometimes people playing with them install a bunch of stupid stuff on the display phones.

True. Flash (or something else) could have been installed, but I didn't see any flash active on the page I tested with. I do realized that the Nexus has far greater resolution than the S2 but from what I experienced, the cpu power available made a better fit for the S2. Much smoother experience there.

[kakarot]

If that was true they would not be making an S2 HD edition Also display models are abused to no end you shouldn't use them to judge. There is a good read here on the new browser.

[Galmok]

Originally Posted by kakarot

If that was true they would not be making an S2 HD edition Also display models are abused to no end you shouldn't use them to judge. There is a good read here on the new browser.

That may be true, but I have yet to try out a Samsung Galaxy S2 that was slow...

[aviphysics]

Maybe more people want to play with the Galaxy Nexus

[DivotMaker]

Originally Posted by Galmok

That may be true, but I have yet to try out a Samsung Galaxy S2 that was slow...

I had the exact OPPOSITE experience the short time I had one....

[Galmok]

Well, I just tried the Nexus again and this time made sure no other apps were running and that plugins were disabled. No change. The browser is noticably slower (scrolling, zooming) than what the Galaxy S2 delivers although it loads the pages faster. But the "feature" about large areas being white remains. It occurs when I scroll down fast. It seems it simply forgets to redraw the areas because when I switch away from the browser and back, the missing content is rendered.

Also, at the main screen, the Nexus is _slow_. It lags about 0.5 seconds. This means I can do a left/right swipe and stop my hand from moving before the screen reacts. And when it reacts, the motion is not as fluid as what the S2 delivers. The S2 on the other hand follows my fingers with only little latency, hardly noticable.

I really wanted the Nexus due to its many features, but there is no question it will keep annoying me with the sluggish appearance. And the S2 hasn't got enough features (noticably lacking NFC).

I guess I'll keep using my trusty (11+ year old with original battery) Nokia 6210i. :-P