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Samsung Galaxy Note ICS Update Now Available

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The much-anticipated Samsung Galaxy Note ICS update that we told you about yesterday, finally showed up today for many AT&T users.

I tried to update via the built-in over the air mechanism in Android, but that didn’t show an update. Users can test this on their Note by tapping the menu button from the home screen and then choose Settings and then Software Update.

If that doesn’t bring the Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich update to the Galaxy Note, users can manually update to the Ice Cream Sandwich OS and the latest Samsung Galaxy Note apps.

I downloaded the update by installing the Samsung Kies program, that interfaces with Samsung Android phones, and got the update from that application. It installs the update on the Samsung Galaxy Note.

Update Samsung Galaxy Note to ICS via Kies

The Samsung Kies program also lets users sync information to and from the phone, like contacts, pictures, videos and other files. Download the versions for both Mac and Windows at the above link.

After connecting the Note to the computer the Kies program will poll the phone to see if it needs the Samsung Galaxy Note ICS update. It will offer to download the update and when it finishes it will install it on the phone. The phone will restart once the download finishes. Do not disconnect it from the computer or turn either the computer or the phone off during the update process. After it applies the download the phone will restart again and install the new software.

samsung galaxy note ics update

Before Note owners run the update, I recommend they back up files and any apps they don’t want to download again, if things go badly and users have to restore their phones to factory default specs. That’s unlikely, but it does happen.

The whole update process only took about 30 minutes and installs Android ICS 4.0 as well as a collection of new apps optimized for the Samsung Galaxy Note. See the demo video below to learn more about these new apps.

https://youtu.be/FvH6vbhOs6Y

If you have the update on your Note, what do you think? Post some comments below. I’ll share my impressions later.

my samsung galaxy note has ICS

 

52 Comments

52 Comments

  1. Vernon

    07/10/2012 at 9:47 am

    I downloaded Kies and connected just like you did and I still can’t get it to give me a firmware update? Any suggestions??

  2. Jim Adams

    07/10/2012 at 11:15 am

    I’ve downloaded and updated Kies and it won’t execute/open.

  3. Esk

    07/10/2012 at 12:29 pm

    updated to newest kies version, starts ics update and crashes, WTF!!!!!!

    • ginavaya

      07/12/2012 at 12:16 am

      same here. firmware upgrade progress window wont go beyond 3%…

  4. Tom Bott

    07/10/2012 at 1:25 pm

    Updated the phone 07/09/2012 5:15 pm CST
    Through KIES / Win 7
    No Problems
    Note Running ICS 4.04
    Its fast. No more lag. Its like a new phone.
    Nice AT&T & Samsung
    Thank you!

    • Jim Adams

      07/10/2012 at 1:31 pm

      according to.Samsung my problem is caused by using Windows 8 release preview.

  5. Ahmed

    07/10/2012 at 2:13 pm

    Yep, I tried to download ICS via kies and I downloaded an older version of Kies that worked on my win 8 but it won’t let me update the firmware unless I updated kies to the latest version and when I did it wouldn’t even start and I figured it was because win 8 compatability issues so I really don’t know what to do now, it just sucks.

  6. Robert

    07/10/2012 at 2:32 pm

    wow. i followed all the directions. it’s been over an hour now and my phone is still not backing up and at 0%
    I called ATT and they only transferred me to Samsung.

    Should I even back up all the pictures or whatever I have on my phone before I update?

  7. Argent009

    07/10/2012 at 7:18 pm

    Hell, I can’t even download Kies, the download says it’s going to take several hours and I’m on a 4Gb internet connection, that’s absurd. I tried downloading Kies from a different source (C|Net) but the darned thing wouldn’t install, it just froze. This has me concerned that if they can’t figure out how to let their users get the darned upgrade properly that the upgrade itself is likely to brick my darned phone.

    Ya know, Gingerbread isn’t so bad after all. yeesh!

  8. EvilKayak

    07/10/2012 at 7:48 pm

    Download Kies from a mirror. I got it from here https://www.softepic.com/windows/network-internet/sms-gsm/download/samsung-kies/ going to install Kies and see if my Note will update.

    • Papadeux

      07/10/2012 at 10:25 pm

      Thank you for this, Samsung has really disappointed me today with this whole update issue, its taking about 5 hours to download Kies from their site, the mirror site took 1 minute.

      • Ryan

        07/12/2012 at 9:08 am

        I don’t know why, every single person who has a Galaxy Note through ATT is probably trying to download Kies from them right now so the speeds are naturally going to be slow.

    • xtine

      07/12/2012 at 1:48 pm

      Thank you! Samsung’s site can’t even *find* the Kies download page today.

  9. eddy

    07/11/2012 at 7:07 am

    Round 1:
    Well I tried on my work computer (XP OS) and installed Kies, did the Kies upgrade, STILL SAYS no update found…

    Round 2:
    Went home whole process again (Win 7), Kies won’t even upgrade itself and of course, no Update found.

    What a complete disappointment by Samsung/ATT… Makes me want to reconsider the next phone to just be straight from Google.

    • mookie

      07/13/2012 at 9:47 pm

      eddy u have to put ur phone in download mode

  10. Lisa

    07/11/2012 at 2:24 pm

    I have successfully updated my Note to the ICS 4.0 through Kies. Actually it was a breeze! However, my phone is soooooo slow!! It is driving me nuts having to wait this long (3-4 seconds) for it to respond for any little thing I wanna do (going home from messages, opening email, etc.) I didn’t have any issues installing but again, my phone is severely lagging now. I tried chatting with samsung about the issue, but of course I had to call at the end and after 23 minutes of holding, I hung up. Sooo is anyone else having this issue? Or had this issue and fixed it somehow? Please let me know! Thanks a bunch!!
    -Lisa

    • Brett

      07/12/2012 at 6:31 pm

      I had severe problems with the upgrade…lagging..error with Facebook..could only receive calls..could get emails but could not read them..could not text message…battery drained in about an hour..nightmare. Took it to the AT&T store, they did a factory reboot. It rebooted to ICS and now it works. But I need to restore the back up to get everything back.

  11. Johnnie kohiba

    07/11/2012 at 4:32 pm

    Mine worked perfectly….. Ha haaaaaaaaa

  12. Paul Rizzo

    07/12/2012 at 12:46 am

    Samsung Kies says that my device (AT&T SGH-1717)”does not support software upgrading via Kies.”

    WTF? Anyone else get this message under “Basic Information > Firmware Information”??? Using the latest Kies software and Windows 7. I am very disappointed….

    • mookie

      07/13/2012 at 9:44 pm

      u have to put phone in download mode

      • Miketilly2

        07/14/2012 at 8:55 am

        how do you put phone in download mode? I am.having the same problem with kies even though my phone is running correct firmware version. .

        • mookie

          07/15/2012 at 8:42 am

          Galaxy Note in Download Mode — press and hold these keys together: Volume Down + Power. You’ll get a ‘Warning!’ screen..
          or email me at [email protected]

          • Victor M.

            09/23/2012 at 9:19 pm

            Hello, I’ve been trying to update my s note, via kies, all of the sudden stopped the download and said “error encountered” please use firmware emergency recovery from kies. really? now my screen is on alert/emergency mode.it shows a cell phone connected to an exclamation mark inside a yellow triangle and then connected to a monitor. I’m screwed! any solutions please. I just got this phone two hours ago…..

  13. Christian Kaczmarczyk

    07/12/2012 at 1:36 am

    Is anyone’s note not being able to boot after downloading update? When i did mine the screen went to android is upgrading…. starting applications. From there it would try to start but would not do anything. I decided to shut off phone and now it won’t reboot. Any solutions?

  14. neal

    07/12/2012 at 11:35 am

    kies air doesn’t even say there is an update when i boot up with it

  15. neal

    07/12/2012 at 2:52 pm

    You must first download Kies 2.0, let it update itself then connect your device, after which it should update to ICS.

  16. tia143104

    07/12/2012 at 3:41 pm

    I have downloaded Kies and it advises me that an upgrade is available after I attempt to do the upgrade it comes back up and says the exact same thing. I uninstalled it and still having the exact same issue… I need help

    • mookie

      07/13/2012 at 9:50 pm

      tia u ever figure it out?

      • tia143104

        07/14/2012 at 5:04 am

        No I haven’t, I gave up on it. I was told that out could be that everyone is trying to download at the same time.

  17. W1ReDuP

    07/14/2012 at 12:14 pm

    OK So I have the latest greatest Kies, put in the phone, it recognizes and begins, but once it gets to the “downloading to phone” phase, after the phone reboots into download mode and Kies is done unpacking the image, it says “my computer doesn’t recognize the device” in Kies and I have to retry. Remove battery from phone and USB cable, reboot phone, try again.

    I’ve tried:
    -All 5 USB Ports
    -Turning on Debugging (for fun)
    -Uninstalling Kies and Reinstalling (I had Kies Mini before, uninstalled that)
    -Utilizing the built-in “connection tool” which basically just reinstalled my drivers yet another time

    I’m running Win 7 32-bit (I even tried running Kies in compatibility mode as Win XP SP3 because I heard that it works in XP).

    Any help is much appreciated!

    W1ReDuP

  18. mookie

    07/15/2012 at 8:57 am

    im free today and willing to help u im running windows 7 with kies 2.3.. version with att samsung galaxy note i can get faster response with email [email protected] comes directly to my phone i feel the fustraction cause it took me forever the directions they give me online was right but not in right order

  19. maideen

    08/04/2012 at 4:23 pm

    plz send thom to download ics 4.04

  20. shahreen AlHaj

    08/05/2012 at 5:50 pm

    Brunei no update yet. Tried OTA n Kies. Stil no update. Pls help. Increasing not users here in Brunei.

  21. mis

    08/10/2012 at 2:08 am

    android a languge farsi (persian)

  22. Tom

    08/10/2012 at 4:55 pm

    In Kies 2.3.2 I get all the way up to “New firmware is available”. Whe I click to begin the update, it says “To continue with the upgrade, disconnect all devices except the target device (SGH I717) from the computer, then press OK button.” The only device I have connected is the Galaxy Note, but it just keeps coming back with the same message over and over. There seems to be a lot of very different problems using Kies, but has anyone else seen this exact one?

  23. Ronald

    08/11/2012 at 1:06 am

    I got the update notification….the problem is here- i use Wi-Fi thetring to browse internet in my laptop.Can i upgrade my phone this way or do i have to us a internet modem? pls reply soon…

  24. Mahdi

    08/13/2012 at 3:05 am

    mine is running ICS now, few issues with it tough everyone should know.
    1. phone is much warmer than before.
    2. navigation screen jumps up and down like very old tv.
    3. navigation keeps changing the voice to male and female for no reason.

  25. aleksandar

    08/13/2012 at 3:21 pm

    its working so nice
    im manualy updke update
    not official ver. for serbia.

    all work

  26. charlowery

    08/13/2012 at 5:52 pm

    i am downloading the firm ware now. did any one elses’ take an hour just for that part???

  27. Segun

    08/14/2012 at 6:42 pm

    I got the notification but the thing gets to 27% sometimes 30% and says it has an error rolls back. Still stuck on Gingerbread.

  28. Naive

    08/18/2012 at 6:57 pm

    Hi, I use the galaxy note shv-e160k Korean version, when connect to kie . Sometome It complained that cannot connect eventhough undr the downlad mode and some time it say this model do not have update. Please help. What should I do?

    Rgds ,

    • J Kim

      01/11/2013 at 7:46 pm

      did you ever get a response to this inquiry?

  29. Paula S. Intaramunee

    08/23/2012 at 7:28 pm

    I can’t upload to Facebook from my Galaxy Note lately. It was able to do so, but for the part 1 month it seem to be unable and I have updated my phone all the time, upgraded firmware and w/e its prompt and required. anyone know why?

  30. jgmachen

    08/31/2012 at 6:50 am

    I updated my Note phone to ICS, overall-great!! It ran slow at first until i uninstalled old apps that were meant to run under gingerbread. once i uninstalled older apps such as facebook, etc… and reinstalled the apps for ICS, it runs like a champ!!!

  31. charlesarthur87

    09/13/2012 at 7:17 pm

    I just got my note this month how do i do this upgrade. I use my phone for work so i can’t have it go all crazy on me.

  32. Martin Chibanda

    09/30/2012 at 6:31 am

    This is absurd, been on the download of my note since 9 am, now 3pm. Took 3 hours to get to 50% download, then timed out. Restarted, another 2 hours to 25%, same thing happens! Guess am stuck on this”stale” bread. Anyone with suggestions? Please help.

  33. Min21

    10/01/2012 at 3:14 am

    how do i turn it to download mode?

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