[Galaxy S I9000 General] greeced:
The SGS1 (i9000m) was and still is my first experience with Android.

While I am very happy with Android and its capabilities, the same cannot be said about Samsungs after purchase support/update frequency.

The problem here is, every phone outside of nexus has a carrier locked version.

I mean our SGS1's are sold worldwide on hundreds of carriers. Each one having their own bloatware and their own settings etc.

Beyond this, samsung has released hundreds of incarnations of our phones and continues to do so. From the i9000, you have the i897 (fascinate) and whatever other things are out there. All the same phone, with different cosmetics and maybe slightly different architecture.

While this is great for Samsung in terms of sales, it makes it incredibly difficult for them to support them all in a timely fashion. Some countries are left behind while continents like Europe get updates quicker.

For example.. with Froyo, everyone, albeit at different times got a froyo update. However most parts of the world got a 2.2.1 security fix/update. Here in Canada we never witnessed a 2.2.1. We were only on 2.2. Which kind of pissed me off.

Along came Gingerbread. The world got it much faster than Canada, yet Canada still got it eventually.... problem here is, the stock firmware here is still at 2.3.3, while the rest of the world has gone to 2.3.4 and now even 2.3.5. Samsung released 2.3.3 to us, and it isn't even a finished product... reproduceable bugs, features that don't work yet buttons are there (speech to text button on Swype)... Its an embarassment.

Someone mentioning the iphone in the same breath is ridiculous. While you can compare the iphone to nexus in terms of updates, you cannot compare Apple to Samsung. Apple only has to update 3 phones worldwide. Samsung has to update hundreds if not thousands.

Now if you were to compare Apple to Nexus, then thats easier... Google has to update 3 phones.. just like apple does... thats why you see quick updates and a push for all three phones to ICS.

Will we ever see an ICS software update? I can almost guarantee Europe will see it. Canada? unlikely.

Moral of the story... if you want a "future proof" type phone with stock updates that should work as they should, and you want to remain with Android, buy a Nexus.

I was naive when I first came to this scene. I bought the latest and greatest when it came out and my contract was up. Hence the SGS1. I didn't realize we wouldn't be getting updates as fast or on par with our Nexus friends.

Make no mistake though... while I'll still be sticking with Android, my next phone will not be anything outside of the Nexus nameplate. I want Google supporting me on a stock unlocked phone. I shouldn't have to rely on developers to create something for me.... of which some features might work, others causing lag, even further still, some features might not work as intended.

At anyrate. sorry for my long winded speech. But if you're saying you'll never buy Android again because of the SGS1 and its update frequency... you're blaming the wrong horse. Go nexus like I will, and never worry about speaking to your carrier or Samsung/HTC/LG/Motorola or whomever again