Alas, the Nexus One, we knew it well…back when Samsung was still updating the thing with the latest in Android finery. No longer: The Nexus One will apparently not enjoy an Ice Cream Sandwich along with last year’s Nexus S when Google’s Android OS upgrade arrives for the latter in the next few weeks. Mark your calendars: January 5, 2010, the day the Nexus One emerged into the sunlight, now ancient history, by Google’s reckoning.
Google’s Hugo Barra said as much while chatting with Telegraph, confirming Ice Cream Sandwich would arrive, gratis, for Nexus S users “within weeks,” but adding that the Nexus One—the first honest-to-goodness Google phone—won’t get the update because it’s not powerful enough.
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But wait, hold on a second…Tom’s Guide says there may be hope. The tech site notes that the Android developer community already managed to port an early version of Ice Cream Sandwich to the Nexus One. I’m less optimistic than Tom’s that this means Google might renege—Hugo Barra is the product management director at Google, after all, so he’s probably not guesstimating—there may be life after death for the Nexus One via its development community.
Like in this video, where a Nexus One enthusiast demoes the phone running the Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich SDK.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dyPeT-ZUbBw]
Assuming Google’s position is firm, keep your eyes peeled for Ice Cream Sandwich source code, due out shortly after the launch of the Galaxy Nexus in early November, and the inevitable succession of community-led Nexus One ports.
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Matt Peckham is a reporter at TIME. Find him on Twitter at @mattpeckham or on Facebook. You can also continue the discussion on TIME’s Facebook page and on Twitter at @TIME.