ICS Update for the Nexus S 4G Discussion Thread

**kuoirad** · 04-08-2012, 02:52 PM

Originally Posted by Ryuuie

You guys forget that not everyone wants or knows how to unlock the bootloader and not everyone wants or knows how to use Odin.

There are a lot more non-technical people with this phone than technical. Most of those people have the update already. :P

You're very right. However, I think it would be somewhat safe to say that most people here are technical enough to know about the other options. Whether they take advantage of them or not (for instance, I have not, by choice) is a different matter.

I *am* a little disappointed to hear that the updating-through-the-bootloader method won't be available anymore after the ICS update. I get impatient waiting for Sprint/Google to push an update when I know it's out there...

**gunderson** · 04-08-2012, 02:54 PM

Originally Posted by Ryuuie

You guys forget that not everyone wants or knows how to unlock the bootloader and not everyone wants or knows how to use Odin.

There are a lot more non-technical people with this phone than technical. Most of those people have the update already. :P

Very true, but I like to also safely assume that compared to other Android phones(i.e. non-Nexus), there is a much higher percentage of Nexus S owners who ARE tech-oriented(than say for example the percentage of EVO users who are techies).
Alles klar? Ja wohl.

Sent from my Nexus S 4G using Tapatalk

**Ryuuie** · 04-08-2012, 03:23 PM

Originally Posted by kuoirad

You're very right. However, I think it would be somewhat safe to say that most people here are technical enough to know about the other options. Whether they take advantage of them or not (for instance, I have not, by choice) is a different matter.

I *am* a little disappointed to hear that the updating-through-the-bootloader method won't be available anymore after the ICS update. I get impatient waiting for Sprint/Google to push an update when I know it's out there...

Originally Posted by gunderson

Very true, but I like to also safely assume that compared to other Android phones(i.e. non-Nexus), there is a much higher percentage of Nexus S owners who ARE tech-oriented(than say for example the percentage of EVO users who are techies).
Alles klar? Ja wohl.

Sent from my Nexus S 4G using Tapatalk

You both pretty much said the same thing. :V But I agree with you both though. I think, if the Nexus S wasn't free for a while, it'd have more techies than non-techs. When I first saw the Galaxy Nexus in the store here (a working demo in a Verizon part of the mall), NO ONE touched it. Absolutely no one. Everyone was too interested in the HTCs and Samsungs (non-Nexus), and Motorolas.

I'm not sure why the update.zip method no longer works. I wish it did but using the fastboot method/Odin isn't that bad. I just feel for those who don't want to do it as they'll be waiting a while (unless Google pushes the factory images...and they have to wipe their device).

**kuoirad** · 04-08-2012, 03:34 PM

Originally Posted by Ryuuie

You both pretty much said the same thing. :V But I agree with you both though. I think, if the Nexus S wasn't free for a while, it'd have more techies than non-techs. When I first saw the Galaxy Nexus in the store here (a working demo in a Verizon part of the mall), NO ONE touched it. Absolutely no one. Everyone was too interested in the HTCs and Samsungs (non-Nexus), and Motorolas.

I'm not sure why the update.zip method no longer works. I wish it did but using the fastboot method/Odin isn't that bad. I just feel for those who don't want to do it as they'll be waiting a while (unless Google pushes the factory images...and they have to wipe their device).

I *did* get my NS4G because it was free. OTOH, I *am* also more than technically inclined enough to mess with the fastboot/Odin methods - I just don't want to put up with backing up my device and all that stuff. I'm lazy - I do enough of that type of stuff in my job (sysadmin for a hard science department at a major university) that I don't want to mess with it on my phone. Kinda like how I gave up building my own computer and such...

Don't get me wrong - I'm getting a little tired of the "just root it!" people myself. Some of us just want our phones to work w/o messing around with it.

**Ryuuie** · 04-08-2012, 03:42 PM

Originally Posted by kuoirad

I *did* get my NS4G because it was free. OTOH, I *am* also more than technically inclined enough to mess with the fastboot/Odin methods - I just don't want to put up with backing up my device and all that stuff. I'm lazy - I do enough of that type of stuff in my job (sysadmin for a hard science department at a major university) that I don't want to mess with it on my phone. Kinda like how I gave up building my own computer and such...

Don't get me wrong - I'm getting a little tired of the "just root it!" people myself. Some of us just want our phones to work w/o messing around with it.

I hear you there. I didn't want to flash the leak, but I got sick of waiting so long and just did it. I didn't have to back up much since Google Voice is in control of my texts anyway and I've never had a problem with it. I also barely get MMS messages anymore, mostly e-mails.

But. as you said, sometimes you just don't want to mess with your phone. It's great that Android has these customizations if you want to, but you shouldn't have to rely on it as a lot of people seem to do.

I'll ask JBQ on Twitter about it, maybe he can give some insight about why it no longer works.

**ccrs8** · 04-08-2012, 03:50 PM

Originally Posted by Ryuuie

But. as you said, sometimes you just don't want to mess with your phone. It's great that Android has these customizations if you want to, but you shouldn't have to rely on it as a lot of people seem to do.

Agreed. I had the Samsung Moment and later the Optimus S, and both required root->custom recovery->custom ROM in order to behave the way I want. Without doing all that messing around on those phones, I would have to put up with crazy bugs, silly carrier restrictions, carrier crapware, and so little internal storage that I'd regularly run out of space for my apps. That's one of the reasons I love this phone - I don't have to do any of that and my phone meets my needs. Yes, I know I could get more out of it if I messed around and used CM or some other ROM, but for my purposes it is unnecessary. But the tradeoff is that I'm at the mercy of the "official" distribution channel.

Anyway, I'll patiently wait for my OTA.

**kuoirad** · 04-08-2012, 04:55 PM

Originally Posted by ccrs8

Anyway, I'll barely patiently wait for my OTA.

That's more like me.

**d.awada22** · 04-08-2012, 04:56 PM

this website has an update.zip
I haven't tried it out though, anyone know if it's legit?

**kuoirad** · 04-08-2012, 04:58 PM

Originally Posted by d.awada22

this website has an update.zip
I haven't tried it out though, anyone know if it's legit?

That's already been dealt with on this thread - it's not the OTA, it's the leak.

**Ryuuie** · 04-08-2012, 05:09 PM

There's no way to stick this in my sig, but according to Sprint's representatives, the CHECKIN method (dialing *#*#checkin#*#* on the dialer) won't work. This update is coming from Google themselves, not Sprint so it's not possible for a customer to initiate it.

Google is making sure the update will release slowly so as to check for feedback make sure they don't get overloaded. My guess is they don't want a repeat of 4.0.3 where they rushed it out and a lot of people got hit with showstopping bugs.

**kuoirad** · 04-08-2012, 06:02 PM

Originally Posted by Ryuuie

There's no way to stick this in my sig, but according to Sprint's representatives, the CHECKIN method (dialing *#*#checkin#*#* on the dialer) won't work. This update is coming from Google themselves, not Sprint so it's not possible for a customer to initiate it.

Google is making sure the update will release slowly so as to check for feedback make sure they don't get overloaded. My guess is they don't want a repeat of 4.0.3 where they rushed it out and a lot of people got hit with showstopping bugs.

Boo.

Thanks for the info.

**PumaMania** · 04-08-2012, 06:21 PM

Originally Posted by Ryuuie

Everyone who is still on Gingerbread should have the update on or around April 15, 2012 at the earliest and April 26, 2012 at the latest.

I've updated my signature to reflect this.

Maybe I don't want to be as pessimistic as you with the dates (the waiting game is a little harder when the dates are close and coming soon), but I have already seen (on Sprint's forums) several people who have the official OTA, and there are likely even more. I'm sure by 26 April we will all have ICS 4.0.4 barring some unforeseen widespread issue with the update. But I think most of us (I hope most of us) will receive this update sooner, and since the update rolled out to a few people day 1, I think the 15 April date is an overestimate. Only time will tell but I prefer to be a little more optimistic for once.

**Ryuuie** · 04-08-2012, 08:46 PM

Originally Posted by PumaMania

Maybe I don't want to be as pessimistic as you with the dates (the waiting game is a little harder when the dates are close and coming soon), but I have already seen (on Sprint's forums) several people who have the official OTA, and there are likely even more. I'm sure by 26 April we will all have ICS 4.0.4 barring some unforeseen widespread issue with the update. But I think most of us (I hope most of us) will receive this update sooner, and since the update rolled out to a few people day 1, I think the 15 April date is an overestimate. Only time will tell but I prefer to be a little more optimistic for once.

That's not pessimism, that information is direct from Sprint's representatives on their forums along with a bit of math. Google themselves gave them the information stating that it will take 10 to 21 days from the date of release for everyone to have the update.

April 5th + 10 days = April 15th.

April 5th + 21 days = April 26th.

It has also been confirmed multiple times, on sites outside of Sprint, that it will take 10 to 21 days. The reason is because Google is handling the updates this time, NOT Sprint. They don't want another 4.0.3 to happen (as I said before) so they're pushing the updates slowly to check for feedback each time. Not to mention they could overload their servers if they update EVERY phone all at once.

Phones are also chosen at random so there's no "it'll be in the Midwest/West coast/East coast soon" as it is with Sprint updates.

If you want optimism, just say that we'll have updates by August 15th. To say we'll ALL have it before the 15th is just wishful thinking. It'd be nice, but I doubt Google wants to do what 4.0.3 did and break a lot of phones by giving it to everyone at once without feedback.

**PumaMania** · 04-08-2012, 10:26 PM

@Ryuuie You are likely right that it is a smaller crowd of people to start with. Also, I'm sure Google is watching the Android community through forums such as XDA (which they have done before), and since a nearly-identical ROM has been leaked. Since there aren't any significant problems I believe the rollout will be right on schedule and we will have the update far before the 26 April date. It's already going out and there are no major issues so far so while you did get your numbers from Sprint, I think they were just being safe with the numbers and we'll see it beforehand.

**Ryuuie** · 04-08-2012, 10:57 PM

Originally Posted by PumaMania

@Ryuuie You are likely right that it is a smaller crowd of people to start with. Also, I'm sure Google is watching the Android community through forums such as XDA (which they have done before), and since a nearly-identical ROM has been leaked. Since there aren't any significant problems I believe the rollout will be right on schedule and we will have the update far before the 26 April date. It's already going out and there are no major issues so far so while you did get your numbers from Sprint, I think they were just being safe with the numbers and we'll see it beforehand.

Sprint got their numbers directly from Google.

However, we'll most likely see the update before the 26th. I agree with that. If it takes any longer, that's just weird. Hopefully the 15th, that's only 1 week away.

**MacGuyInNC** · 04-08-2012, 11:19 PM

Originally Posted by Ryuuie

There's no way to stick this in my sig, but according to Sprint's representatives, the CHECKIN method (dialing *#*#checkin#*#* on the dialer) won't work. This update is coming from Google themselves, not Sprint so it's not possible for a customer to initiate it.

Google is making sure the update will release slowly so as to check for feedback make sure they don't get overloaded. My guess is they don't want a repeat of 4.0.3 where they rushed it out and a lot of people got hit with showstopping bugs.

Is Google worried they'll run out of bandwidth?

**Ryuuie** · 04-08-2012, 11:27 PM

Originally Posted by MacGuyInNC

Is Google worried they'll run out of bandwidth?

It's a lot of phones to upgrade. :P Even Microsoft and Apple's sites have gotten overloaded at one point in time.

However, it's mostly to make sure there's no showstoppers this time around. That was probably a big embarrassment for Google.

**scottyman108** · 04-09-2012, 02:42 AM

I would like to be Optimistic but I haven't found anyone who has received the update as of yet.

I know it will take time but they started pushing the OTA update on thursday and its monday morning now and still no sign of an update.

Can anyone reference a forum post in which someone confirmed this update is actually getting pushed?

Or Better yet, has anyone received the update?

**rob25** · 04-09-2012, 03:04 AM

I have the ns4g sprint taking long to release the ics :thumbdown:

**Ryuuie** · 04-09-2012, 03:39 AM

Originally Posted by scottyman108

I would like to be Optimistic but I haven't found anyone who has received the update as of yet.

I know it will take time but they started pushing the OTA update on thursday and its monday morning now and still no sign of an update.

Can anyone reference a forum post in which someone confirmed this update is actually getting pushed?

Or Better yet, has anyone received the update?

As my signature states, the updates are at random and is coming direct from Google, not Sprint. This is why dialing *#*#checkin#*#* will not work as it's not on Sprint's servers. The only thing Sprint is doing is letting people know and updating their website accordingly. They have no control over this update.

If you want proof of things however:

All of these sources are direct from Sprint (their own forums), Jean-Baptiste Queru who works on Android Open Source Project (AOSP) at Google and who will be the one to put the factory image for Android 4.0.4 on the Nexus S 4G up on code.google.com, and Google's Android Google+ page.

You can also check the main page of AndroidCentral.com and many other Android-based websites.

The reason why no one you know has it is because Google has decided to push it randomly and not in waves as usual. When 4.0.3 released, they released it in waves to the T-Mobile Nexus S and it screwed up a lot of devices to the point some were practically unusable.

They obviously don't want this to happen this time around and are being cautious, updating at random so if it does screw up a device, they'll know via feedback and can stop the rollout like they did with 4.0.3 but with less problems.

Originally Posted by rob25

I have the ns4g sprint taking long to release the ics :thumbdown:

This isn't Sprint giving us this update, Google is (as stated above).

**scottyman108** · 04-09-2012, 05:31 AM

I absolutely believe google is releasing it, but with the community base that this device has, I would have thought that 4 days after the update started to get pushed, we would have heard from more people who received it.

If they're releasing it over 21 days and this is now day 4, that should mean 20% of all devices should have been updated, yet we have no word from users who receieved it

**Ryuuie** · 04-09-2012, 07:08 AM

Originally Posted by scottyman108

I absolutely believe google is releasing it, but with the community base that this device has, I would have thought that 4 days after the update started to get pushed, we would have heard from more people who received it.

If they're releasing it over 21 days and this is now day 4, that should mean 20% of all devices should have been updated, yet we have no word from users who receieved it

They're releasing it slowly, no word on HOW slowly but slowly and also at random. it's out there, just not as widespread as people think.

**plee82** · 04-09-2012, 09:05 AM

I don't know, at this point I have a feeling nobody got it yet. I've just flashed the 2.3.7 images from Google so I can wait for the OTA and pull the URL as soon as I get it though.

**kbboykin** · 04-09-2012, 10:09 AM

Do you have to be on stock, unrooted, unlocked GB 2.3.7 or will you still get the OTA notice if you are on GB 2.3.7, but rooted?

Thanks

**j_grouchy** · 04-09-2012, 10:18 AM

Originally Posted by scottyman108

I absolutely believe google is releasing it, but with the community base that this device has, I would have thought that 4 days after the update started to get pushed, we would have heard from more people who received it.

If they're releasing it over 21 days and this is now day 4, that should mean 20% of all devices should have been updated, yet we have no word from users who receieved it

Wait...according to Ryuuie's info: "Everyone who is still on Gingerbread (2.3.7) on the Nexus S 4G should have the OTA update to Android 4.0.4 by April 15, 2012 at the earliest and April 26, 2012 at the latest."

So basically, nobody has it, it hasn't gone out to anyone yet and we should all take a chill-pill until Sunday. This isn't day 4 or day 5 or even day 1 yet...this is more like "T-minus 6 days and counting..."

EDIT: My bad. Guess the wording is awkward. Meh....