[richardharris]

There has been an awful lot of hype about Ice Cream Sandwich on the web. And in the latest PCPro an article about how to upgrade your phone.

A few comments, based on my Galaxy S2 (unlocked). It took a long time to come through, but eventually the upgrade from 2.3.4 to ICS was available. And much to my surprise was an 'over the air' upgrade - no Kies or PC needed. It worked well first time, and all the apps seemed to work still. I had to spend sometime re-organising the apps into folders, but that was not a real hardship.

But was it worth it???

Benefits - to be honest, I have noticed almost no improvements. Maybe a slightly better battery life. Maybe slightly more stable.

BUT!!!!

Bluetooth connectivity completely wrecked! Connecting to the car audio system is very unreliable, often just being a distorted noise. Fortunately the phone does usually connect though half the time in coming calls cannot be heard.

Bluetooth keyboard worked perfectly under 2.3.4 but now is inoperative! It won't connect. Great improvement!

The built in contacts app has been ruined; the 'favourites' no longer allows swipe to call (or text). I have had to purchase a much better app - but should not have had to.

The phone app no longer gives access to contacts.

E-mail now has a much improved way of emptying the 'trash' folder (though still no simple 'empty trash' command) but a MUCH worse way of getting around the folders.

I hope a properly tested update will come out soon - until then, I would think very carefully before 'upgrading'!

Richard