ROMs of the latest Android 4.0.3 Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS) have been leaking for the Samsung Galaxy S II (SGS2) for some time. The leaks started coming back in December. I’ve been tempted to try the ROMs, but some usability problems were reported, so I held back. I wanted a ROM that was mostly workable for daily use. The leaks continued to come, and right now, the latest available is LP6, released 17th January. Going by reports on XDA, it seems like this ROM works pretty good.
So it’s time for me to dip my feet into an ICS ROM. There’s already a ChainFire root for LP6, so rooting this ROM would be pretty trivial. In fact, flashing and rooting this ROM will be pretty familiar to anyone who has been flashing and rooting Gingerbread ROMs on the SGS2.
ICS is beautiful. The UI has been polished up quite a bit. The interface is fluid and smooth. Overall, using the ICS ROM is a fun experience. Part of the fun, though, is probably just because there’s some refreshing change to an interface that I’ve been using for so long.
There are a few quirks.
First up, Market would not work. When I launch it, it keeps throwing a “Server error”. Retrying doesn’t seem to get anywhere. Rebooting doesn’t help either. The trick, it seems, is to configure Wifi, leave Wifi on and reboot the phone. Then, fire up Market, and accept the Agreement. Thereafter, Market will work on Wifi or 3G just fine.
The next issue is about the Software Update notification. It’s trying to tell you to configure Software Update. But no matter how you try, the registration will not work. The solution? Disable the application. Go to Settings, Applications, All, hunt down Software Update, and disable it.
The last issue I have is with GPS. There’s a GPS fix available to put back a system library that Samsung had apparently forgotten to include in the LP6 ROM. I’ve done that, and verified the library is in place. However, GPS still doesn’t work for me though. When I launch an application like Google Maps or GPS Status, I can see in the GPS icon in the Status Bar. But the GPS never fixes. GPS Status barely shows one or two satellites visible, in exactly the same location where previously my Gingerbread SGS2 ROM has no trouble finding and fixing with 6 or so satellites.
There are a few other minor little issues. For example, when in the Dialer, there doesn’t seem to be a more direct way to get to your full Contact list. I don’t suppose this misfeature was intended. It’s not a big deal anyway, and while not perfect, it’s probably something I could live with.
GPS isn’t something I need on daily basis. But I’ve decided that it’s important enough for me at this time that I’ll go back to the Gingerbread ROM. I think, from reading the responses on the XDA forum, most people managed to get their GPS working. For me, I’ll have to wait to the next leaked ROM to try again, or figure out how else I can get this fixed. The ICS ROM is, otherwise, really very nice.
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