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Comment by thought_alarm | Hacker News Reader

Samsung made $10 billion over the last two quarters selling devices with outdated 2.x Android software. And last time I checked my carriers, none of their myriad of Samsung devices came with ICS.

Clearly ICS and smooth scrolling is not important to the carriers or their typical customers. Consequently, ICS is not important to Samsung.

It's not ignorant to say that Andriod scrolls poorly. It's just that scrolling performance isn't a priority when you're already pulling in $5 billion a quarter.

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> And last time I checked my carriers, none of their myriad of Samsung devices came with ICS

I don't know which carriers you checked, but the Samsung Galaxy Nexus (which runs stock ICS) has been on the market for several months now. In the US, it's available from Verizon, AT&T, and Sprint.

No it's not. In the US it's available from Verizon and Sprint as the LTE version (not completely compatible with the HSPA version) and there is no device available from AT&T or T-Mobile. You can buy an unlocked device directly from Google, but there is no subsidized version available for AT&T or T-Mobile customers.

I bought my HSPA version unlocked in the Netherlands.

Also available directly from Google.

I don't think you can consider the Galaxy Nexus a Samsung phone. Yes, it's built by Samsung, but they're more a contractor for Google in this case.

The Galaxy S II and its differing variants in the US all still run Android 2.3, with only promises that they might eventually get an update.

Android scrolling wasn't bad enough for normal, non-picky users to notice. It's only techies who are used to iOS scrolling who complain about it.

Anecdote: You don't need to be a techy to notice the scrolling smoothness. This is the reason my mother now owns a 4S instead of a Droid 2.

> Android scrolling wasn't bad enough for normal, non-picky users to notice.

To _notice_? Maybe not, but perhaps the price difference vs the iPhone was more important than the smooth scrolling?

Doesn't the iPhone 3GS sell for free and iPhone 4 for $99?

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