To upgrade or not to upgrade this is the question...

[vrocko]

So okay I've downloaded the instructions from SoTel and the program, image. So now my question is should I upgrade to ICS? Do you guys/gals like it? Does the battery last longer? What works and what doesn't? How much time will it take to upgrade? What do I do if I brick my tablet? I guess the top question in my mind on upgrading is, is it worth the time to do it? I like Gingerbread and my tablet now but I'd like to try out ICS and see if I like it better and if it would improve response and battery time. I've got a lot on it now and upgrading would take some time but it could be done. I've got the 701c. Let me know what everybody thinks.

Rich

[SingleDad]

I like the menu settings etc. of ICS. Things are a little to much easier to find and use.

I like the look of ICS better as well. If I had to make the decision based on initial look and feel I like ICS from an aesthetic point of view.

As for performance, I think the 701C runs slightly faster on the stock Gingerbread rom. For me I didn't notice a significant change in performance either way. (I'm talking stock S.T. 4.0/ICS rom and stock Polaroid Gingerbread Roms)

One thing to consider is some of your favorite apps may not work when you upgrade to ICS. I had a few favorite games that I discovered didn't run on ICS after I upgraded.

My tablet has suffered random reboots which I can't figure out. It did it every so often with Gingerbread...but they seem to be worse with ICS 4.0. May be a hardware issue more than an issue with the OS though.

If Netflix is important to you I've been unable to get Netflix to play nicely and cooperate with the official Polaroid 701C ICS ROM on my 701C.

As far as battery life goes I didn't see a significant difference between the stock Gingerbread firmware and the Official Polaroid/S.T. ICS upgrade. With Shawn's ICS ROM and/or Polaroid's ICS updgrade rom in combination with the Marketfix scripts here I did notice the battery seemed to last longer in standy mode than it did stock. I really didn't notice any significant difference in battery life when using the tablet.

In the end I'd just recommend backing up your apps via a reputable backup app and trying ICS out. I like the look of it and the settings..but I'm STILL trying to decide which OS I want to run with "permanently".
For me there are tradeoffs that pretty much equal them out. It makes the decision a little more difficult for me.

I wouldn't worry about bricking your tablet. A couple people have had scares here..but with help from the forum they were rescued. It seems to be a small risk. I've been playing around with mine quite a bit. I've reflashed firmware, switched roms, and flashed scripts etc. numerous times without issue. Just take your time and make sure you read and understand fully what you are attempting. Follow step by step and you should be golden!

All of this is just my two pennies. I hope it helps a little!

[SingleDad]

How much time will it take to upgrade?

Not counting the time you'll spend backing up any apps and data you need to preserve and protect, the actual flash procedure takes less than 5 minutes as long as you've got drivers properly installed. It's very easy.

I guess the top question in my mind on upgrading is, is it worth the time to do it?

In all honesty, if your main reasons for upgrading are because you seek noticable and significant increases in performance and battery life I'd say it isn't worth your time.

That being said, I still really like ICS. The ease of use and layout of things is much better than Gingerbread IMHO. It looks a little more slick and modern as well. Whether or not those are enough of a reason to try it out is definitely a decision only you can make.

I say backup your data and apps, and try it out. You can always flash back to Gingerbread if you don't like it.

[vrocko]

Thanks SingleDad! Your comments have really helped. I am concerned about the rebooting issue. I've not had mine do any random reboots since I bought it so that worries me. Also I've downloaded a LOT of apps and if some of them don't work I may have issue with that too but I won't know what works and what doesn't unless I upgrade.

I don't mind the look of Gingerbread and it runs ok, I was hoping for a vast improvement moving to ICS but it doesn't seem to be a major change just more aesthetically pleasing.

I don't use Netflix but TV.com works which I like. I'd like to get Crackle to work too but it seems to just lock up when I run it. I've also noticed with some digital movies I play on it that the sound gets out of sync, but others run just fine, weird.

A friend of mine has a two screen tablet, I can't remember the brand name, one screen for ebooks one for apps and it's nice. Kinda slow though but that may be due to the CPU. I think it's 800MHZ instead of our 1GHZ on the Polaroid. Her battery lasts about the same amount of time as the Polaroid so I've kind of got the impression that they are almost all the same.

I've also noticed another friend with his Velocity Cruz can seem to run for hours, he says Velocity told him it will go up to 10 hrs without recharging. I'd like to have that kind of battery life but he can't use a lot of apps that I can. He also can't seem to run 3D games that I can.

I may leave mine as it is and continue with Gingerbread. Thanks for the advice.

Rich

[SingleDad]

Thanks SingleDad! Your comments have really helped. I am concerned about the rebooting issue. I've not had mine do any random reboots since I bought it so that worries me. Also I've downloaded a LOT of apps and if some of them don't work I may have issue with that too but I won't know what works and what doesn't unless I upgrade.

Well I definitely wouldn't make the reboot issue the main factor. As I've stated, my tablet has been a little wonky with random reboots from day one. Even with Gingerbread before I tried upgrading. I don't think it's very common because I haven't seen anyone else complain of it here. ICS did seem to make my pre-existing random reboots a little more frequent. I'm thinking it may be something more of a hardware issue for me.

In doing a little research I have seen people with OTHER devices complain of random reboots..but no other Polaroid owners.

As you've stated if you are looking for DRAMATIC performance improvements upgrading to ICS probably isn't going to be very satisfying for you. The interface is a lot nicer and the design is slicker...but if anything it runs a very smidgen slower than Gingerbread for me.

Don't take my word for it though. Hopefully others will chime in.

[vrocko]

Upgrade

Well don't have to upgrade to ICS, I found the 701i at a Big Lots in my area. I also had the 20% off so got it for $85! Sweet deal and it is a nice tablet too. I've transferred all of my data and most apps to the new one. It's a really nice tablet and I do like the interface. I haven't noticed any slow down yet and games seem to run pretty good on it too. A couple of games I couldn't get the 701C to run, now run on the 701i. A lot more options when it comes to settings on the 701i. ICS is better than I thought and it seems to boot faster than Gingerbread. Battery life seems a little longer too. May sell the 701C or give it as a gift to Mom for book reading. She's not much for tech though and I'll definitely have to teach her how to use it. Thanks for the help!

Rich