UK Galaxy Tab 10.1, 7.0 Plus Owners Get ICS

Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 and Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus owners in the U.K. celebrate! The long-awaited ICS update to the second-generation Samsung tablet line is rolling out and you’re the lucky few who will be getting it first than the rest of the world.

It’s about time too, if you ask me.

On Thursday, TechRadar reported that users have tipped them that the ICS update for the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 and Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus has been arriving to their tablets.

U.S. owners, as well as everyone else worldwide, are out of luck though as there’s still no word when the update will be rolled out elsewhere. TechRadar writes: “Word is the update is only available for UK tablets at the moment, with folks in the US possibly having a little bit more of a wait on their hands.”

Samsung has also confirmed to the publication that it is indeed in the process of its ICS update rollout saying: “Samsung UK can confirm the roll out of the Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich update for the Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus WiFi and Galaxy Tab 10.1 WiFi devices is live. Any further updates for the Galaxy Tab range will be announced in due course.”

Many Galaxy Tab owners, including myself, have been waiting for the Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich update to be released by Samsung. I’ve had my Galaxy Tab 10.1 since October of last year, about the time Ice Cream Sandwich was debuted by Google and no less than Samsung with the Samsung Galaxy Nexus smartphone.

Samsung has continually said since then that ICS would “soon” come to their second-generation tablet line. What’s more, the next version of Android – Android 4.1 Jelly Bean – is also already out. The Galaxy Tab 10.1 2 is also already out and it’s running on ICS.

While I’ve been generally satisfied with my P7500, the lack of ICS – or rather the painfully slow update process to ICS – makes me feel that Samsung isn’t really all that serious when it comes to supporting the devices they’ve released. As a company, Samsung should be striving not to make customers feel this way.

It makes me think twice about purchasing another device from Samsung. By comparison, the Asus Transformer tablet – which, by the way, was released later than the Galaxy Tab 10.1 – already has an ICS update.

Here’s hoping ICS finds its way soon to all Galaxy Tab owners.

Image from owaief89 on Flickr (CC)

[cb]Samsung Electronics[/cb]