Samsung Galaxy SII SGH-I727 ICS Update

Finally, the update I’ve been waiting for comes! Although it’s quite unfortunate it has come right after I’e now got my sights set on Jelly Bean, and now that Ice Cream Sandwich is yesterday’s news. Hopefully Samsung and other manufacturers will pick up the pace in releasing Android updates.

I used Samsung Kies to do the upgrade. I do not think this was an over-the-air upgrade; I just decided to check Kies, and it had an update.

Previously, Kies would say the firmware upgrade was not supported on this device. I upgraded Kies, and it instantly said there was a firmware upgrade for my phone.

Unfortunately, my phone was only at 30% battery. The software will not let you upgrade unless the phone is 100% charged. Use your A/C charger; it takes FOREVER to charge via USB 2.0.

Here is a list of feature updates to ICS:

A few of them are actually already available via the Samsung device and software. I guess Google decided having some of these features (ie. quick responses for incoming calls, the home, back, and current apps buttons) always available was a great idea. It is still pretty cool that those buttons are on the phone at the bottom already, not wasting screen space – so no real upgrade there. For other model phones, I imagine this is a HUGE upgrade.

Here is a list of things I noticed right away:

1. The phone is CRAZY FASTER. I mean WOW, I thought it was quick and fluid before. This is insane. It is like I added ram and a faster processor. Maybe it will change overtime, but so far I’m impressed!

2. Several apps instantly downloaded updates.

3. The default widgets like Google Search, Facebook, and AccuWeather were all added back to my home screen.

4. The widget on the home page that lets you turn off Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, etc. is no longer a single row with the button letting you see the rest; it is two rows, now letting you see it all.

5. The display of available widgets you can add is much cleaner looking. A+ job on this – seems planned versus thrown together like before.

6. The layout of the settings section is completely different. Again, this is laid out like there was thought put behind it instead of just a list of everything. Excellent upgrade! Wi-Fi is right at the top, and you can change what you are connected to with one touch instead of two touches into the menu. Battery status is also another one right there instead of having to go to About Phone then Battery Usage. Instead of having to do three steps to change your background wallpaper, you simply touch Display, and then the options you really want are right there. No more digging into settings to change the simple stuff.

7. There is now a nice security section. You can use Face Lock to let facial recognition unlock your phone. Also you can encrypt the entire phone or just the SD card.

8. Big changes to the Camera interface. It has tons more settings. You can tap and hold and then pick from 16 settings from shooting mode, timer, GPS tag, to white balance. You can also modify what four you see right away without tapping and holding on the initial screen.

9. Last but not least, Samsung Voice Talk. It is basic voice functionality like text messaging, calling, navigation, searching, etc., and it seems to work really well. I’ve set up my search button hold event to load this and auto listen.

All in all, I’m much happier with this update than I expected. All the new tweaks to the interface and the performance increase are excellent. I cannot wait to get my hands on a Jelly Bean interface!

Source: Skynet Solutions

By: Jed Parmenter