Google Releases Jelly Bean Updates For the Nexus S 104
dell623 writes "Google has begun updating the Google Nexus S, which was released in December 2010 to Android 4.1 Jelly Bean. The update comes with all the new features of JB, including Google Now. The update makes the almost two year old phone smooth and in many ways superior to newer, more expensive Android devices that are unlikely to even be updated to Android 4.0. The update is impressive, but also exposes the problems of Android fragmentation and the failure of other Android device manufacturers to develop better software than Google, or issue timely updates."
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I can't run Google Now or Chrome on my G2, because it's stuck at Gingerbread (and I don't have the time or inclination to root it.).
Fragmentation is a problem. In the future, I'm going to stick to Nexus products, but the Android ecosystem (by which I mean "all the phones which use Google Play to buy and download apps") is bigger than, and not driven by, the Nexus line.
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Just buying a Nexus phone is unfortunately not enough.
I bought an unlocked GSM Galaxy Nexus phone online, from a Canadian retailer. Unfortunately the phone I got wasn't running the official google ROM, but Samsung's own ROM that was on a different (much slower) update channel. I had to flash my phone to google's firmware to move from 4.0.2 to 4.0.4. Within a few minutes my phone found the jelly bean update and prompted me to install. The flashing was pretty simple; the only issue was that my phone forgo
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And so does Dolphin HD and thousands of other apps. But my point stands.
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ICS is in the queue for T-Mobile G2. Provided they actually deliver, that's good enough for me. Do you have an issue?
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I actually want to use Chrome, and I'd like to use Google Now. I also understand that there are performance and stability issues that were addressed post ICS. That's my main issue. I haven't found anything more than hopeful thinking about ICS being in the queue for G2: do you have a link?
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For the last F*CKING time... (Score:4, Insightful)
It's NOT fragmentation, idiots.
Do you call the issues with not being able to run apps intended for an iPhone 3/4 on an iPhone "fragmentation"?
Do you call not being able to run Windows 7/8 on a PII machine because of lack of resources "fragmentation"?
If you answered "no" to either or both of those questions, it's NOT friggin "fragmentation".
Re:For the last F*CKING time... (Score:5, Insightful)
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But who? They're all assholes when it comes to updates, except Apple who are assholes in numerous other ways.
Re:For the last F*CKING time... (Score:5, Insightful)
How is offering a software update with backward compatible APIs to an 18 month old phone increasing fragmentation?
The issue is that not enough manufacturers offer the upgrades.
Re:For the last F*CKING time... (Score:5, Insightful)
Read for comprehension. The summary says "exposes the problems of Android fragmentation." That is, Google being able to update their two year old phone with no problems demonstrates what a crappy job many other manufacturers are doing, the variability of update support, and presumably the variability of installed hardware to allow those updates. In shorter form, Google being able to update their two year old phone and many other manufacturers not begin able to update their two month old phones exposes fragmentation in the Android installed base.
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Flame coat on.
What's missing is iTunes. Samsung Kies has no bluetooth support, the usb micro port is dodgey at best and HTC Sync is also just lacking. Having a Samsung Galaxy S2, Galaxy Tab and HTC Desire, the manufacturer fragmentation is not the only pain, you have carrier fragmentation on top of hardware fragmentation. Updating a Galaxy is impossible (bar rooting) without OTA updates which are Carrier Specific. Should your carrier not be bothered with a phone/tablet that they offered 9 months ago you w
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Updating a Galaxy is impossible (bar rooting) without OTA updates which are Carrier Specific. Should your carrier not be bothered with a phone/tablet that they offered 9 months ago you will never get updates regardless of whether every other carrier in the world has an update.
Actually, it's NOT impossible. Search for "Odin", and get the firmware files in .tar format from sources like SamMobile. You don't have to root at all to upgrade to the latest versions, even if they aren't offered for you as OTA, or through Kies.
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Just read the specs on that Google phone and compare it with still selling Galaxy models. Like my Galaxy Ace, which i bought recently (running Gingerbread 2.3.6). Do you think ICS will run in a usable way on that phone, when Google does not update their Nexus One to ICS, because the hardware is not up to it?
So why didn't i buy a Galaxy Nexus or Nexus S? Compare the price. My Ace came completely unbranded for 170 EUR, no strings attached. A Galaxy Nexus or Nexus S comes for about twice that price. And I alre
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RTFA :)
The issue is that fragmentation affects you even if your phones runs the latest version of Android. For example, it is very likely that for a few months the Nexus devices will be the only ones running 4.1, which means if an application is broken on 4.1, the developers will be in no hurry to fix them. And no one would write an app exclusively for Jelly Bean.
Re:For the last F*CKING time... (Score:5, Informative)
Except what's being described in the article IS fragmentation. But keep telling yourself it's normal to get updates randomly, if at all.
Yes there is fragmentation, but it's not an Android problem, it's a douchebag carrier and phone manufacturer business plan.
The reason for the fragmentation is that the phone manufacturers and carriers don't want old phones updated. That would cut into sales of newer shinier phones.
Google is doing the right thing for the consumer by supporting older hardware that has the horsepower to run new versions of Android and the competition from Google will cause some of the phone manufacturers and carriers to offer better upgrade support.
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Yes there is fragmentation, but it's not an Android problem, it's a douchebag carrier and phone manufacturer business plan.
"Android" understood as a whole includes the carriers and manufacturers - when you choose which phone to buy, you're also choosing the ecosystem. It's not a problem of the operating system's technology itself, but no one is seriously claiming it is.
Google needs to be more aggressive in finding ways to own the experience better. It's already heading in the right direction: Nexus started off more as a developer's phone and reference model, and is turning into a kind of cattle-prod to other manufacturers. Goog
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Great anecdote, but you could have just written "Motorola do not know how to do software". Never did, never will, well, unless Google changes things around there.
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The reason for the fragmentation is that the phone manufacturers and carriers don't want old phones updated. That would cut into sales of newer shinier phones.
Is it really about making money on newer, shinier new phones? It's not like you can go and buy a cheap data & voice plan from Verizon or AT&T if you already have a phone and don't need a subsidized one. I think it's probably more a problem with the U.S. having a pretty saturated mobile market, and carriers spending most of their marketing dollars to lure customers away from other carriers with a new shiny phone. That's an easier business model for the suits to implement than, oh, I don't know, havin
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What phones get updates are random and have little to do with hardware specs. One phone might be stuck with 1.6 while another phone with the same (or lesser) hardware specs might be upgradeable to Android 2.1. Even worse the exact same phone might have different OSes based on the network or country.
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My phone (LG Optimus G2X) has Gingerbread ROM available had I bought it from a US carrier. However, since I bought it from a Canadian carrier, there was no Gingerbread update available for it. This is the sad state that Android is in. I still like Android, and would probably buy an Android phone again, but most likely not from LG. I would be very careful who I buy from. Next time around I'll probably get the cheapest phone I can find that supports tethering, and buy a 10 inch tablet.
Re:For the last F*CKING time... (Score:5, Insightful)
Yes, the fact that iPhone developers have to worry about whether their app is running on an older or a "retina display" iPhone is fragmentation.
Windows developers needing to test applications in Windows XP, Vista, and 7 is fragmentation. Ditto for worrying about 32 vs 64. bit variations.
Thanks for the examples of other fragmentation issues in computing. Wait, were those supposed to disprove this is the right word to use here? That's a pretty terrible fail then. Fragmentation is a word we're using now for when application developers have extensive QA issues around multiple, not quite compatible software platforms on a single hardware platform. It's appropriate here, and for the other examples you give too.
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Fragmentation is a word we're using now for when application developers have extensive QA issues around multiple, not quite compatible software platforms on a single hardware platform. It's appropriate here, and for the other examples you give too.
So, it would be nice if Apple killed iOS and switched to Android. One less OS to support, less fragmentation.
Who cares about choice anyway?
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But if all those herds of boring iPhone users switched to Android, Android wouldn't be oh, so hip anymore!
They already are, and it never was.
Utilitarian maybe, but not hip.
Re:For the last F*CKING time... (Score:5, Insightful)
Most development platforms suffer from some degree of fragmentation. Even Apple's desktop platform, which is happier than most to just leave behind older versions of the software, took a while to shake off cruft leftover from the PowerPC days (which was itself shaking off cruft from the 68K days).
That doesn't mean you can't rate platforms on the degree of fragmention though. And here Android loses, badly, to just about everything else. There are 4 major versions of the Android software still in heavy use [android.com], with Jelly Bean adding a fifth one. Each of those major releases has multiple vendor customizations and some disparity in major application design issues like screen sizes and input methods. It's a QA nightmare.
The situation is no better for Windows, but variation in desktop capabilities doesn't seem to hamstring application developers too badly anymore. How long has it been since you found a desktop app that couldn't deal with the screen being resized or with the type of mouse changing? Those things used to be serious fragmentation issues too; nowadays that's faded into something application designers can safely ignore most of the time when developing on Windows. It looks like Windows 8 might alter things badly enough to bring the display issues back into the limelight again, at which point I expect class of "Windows fragmentation" to increase.
The iPhone has kept the variations along these two major axes (screen/inputs) low enough to keep fragmentation from being a drag on the platform. Apple has also done a decent job of keeping the software platform moving forward for older devices. Android has done neither of those things, which is why it deservedly gets beat with the "fragmentation" hammer so often. 80% of the Android market is running 2.2 or 2.3 stil by Google's own figures, so software from 2010. Any iPhone user will tell you the idea of still running the software version from 1.5 years ago would be crazy. Platform statistics easily show how fast iPhone users update [stackoverflow.com]; the update times on that platform is weeks for most users, not months or years.
Re:For the last F*CKING time... (Score:4, Interesting)
That doesn't mean you can't rate platforms on the degree of fragmention though.
Absolutely. The problem is that people like John Gruber talk about Android fragmentation like iOS isn't fragmented. It is. As you correctly point out, Android has a fragmentation problem that iOS doesn't have.
How long has it been since you found a desktop app that couldn't deal with the screen being resized or with the type of mouse changing?
I still run into applications which assume a minimum screen size, and which are outright unusable when run on something smaller. And applications which don't work well if the resolution changes (somewhat analogous to rotating a phone.) I think that mostly, though, that's a solved problem. Unfortunately, it's solved by adding on frameworks and other abstractions which tend to use up more CPU and RAM. This has the obvious side effects of running hotter, needing more resources, and using more battery (in the case of laptops.) Time will tell whether or not the mobile analogues will be solved in the same way.
The iPhone has kept the variations along these two major axes (screen/inputs)
What input differences exist between iOS implementations?
Apple has also done a decent job of keeping the software platform moving forward for older devices.
I'd say they do better than decent. Their third phone, released over three years ago, will be getting their latest OS shortly. Some of the Apple features will be missing, but the developer features (the APIs) are all there, which reduces the magnitude of iOS fragmentation significantly.
The problem with Android is in the marketing and the carriers. Marketing, in that "Android Phone" is a meaningless term--you know nothing about the phone from those two words, but a staggering number of people (online, offline, reviewers, marketers) want to equate the term to "iPhone." Carriers, in that they want to act as gatekeepers for updates, and the manufacturers making Android phones don't have enough individual influence to override them quite like Apple does.
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What input differences exist between iOS implementations?
That was my point; there aren't many. I think Apple has even wrapped the difference between the ones that handle multitouch gestures to where apps don't have to care. That's what a good platform should do, where the context for "good" is "makes apps easier to write".
Linux in general isn't doing very well on the "let's have one consistent UI that all applications use" front either. It's a hard problem to solve in an open-source way, where everybody wants their own thing and no one person is the voice for
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I think you vastly overestimate the complexity of writing software for Android. As someone who has written a number of commercial Android applications, I can assure you that varying OS versions, screen sizes, etc are quite easy to handle and the Android API actually has rather nice interfaces for that sort of thing. It is true that in the "gold rush" mentality some devs seem to have, they take short cuts and end up creating software that doesn't work well. However, this is their mistake, not an attribute
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the fact that iPhone developers have to worry about whether their app is running on an older or a "retina display" iPhone is fragmentation.
Except they don't. iOS takes care of that for you. Bottom line is if you don't supply retina PNGs for your buttons, backgrounds and other visuals, your apps look like Minecraft. If you actually draw your graphics using Quartz 2D, then iOS does the right thing behind the scenes.
Screwed over (Score:5, Insightful)
also exposes the problems of Android fragmentation and the failure of other Android device manufacturers to develop better software than Google, or issue timely updates
What a bunch of crap. The problem is that "other Android device manufactures" don't roll out the same software as Google to their customers. Why? Because of what some GM head honcho started in the 1920: planned obsolence. They want you to buy a new handset instead of updating the old one. Simple as that: consumer being screwed over once the money has left the wallet.
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But how can that possibly work out? The customers who get screwed are learning: if you want updates, buy a Nexus. The other brands are going to lose out with this policy.
I jumped ship from my iPhone after I got sick of Apple's BS, but honestly this was one of the BEST things they had going: my phone regularly got updates the very day they were released; my only delays were waiting for someone to jailbreak the new version before I could upgrade (which was the BS I got sick of; every damn update was a hassl
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Customers are learning that if you want updates, by an iPhone. They see on the news that there's a new version of iOS and all their friends are playing with it the next day. Meanwhile a new version of Android comes out and most of their friends aren't playing with it because their phones don't support it.
If Google seriously pushed the Nexus and got it in a significant number of hands then maybe they'd benefit from the incompetence of other Android manufacturer's. As it is, there are so few Nexuses that "
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While I support the premise that Android suffers from greater fragmentation than iOS, the purchase numbers don't support an argument that Apple is being favored over Android.
Apple's position is most dominant in the U.S., but the second quarter numbers indicate that even in their largest market, Android accounted for nearly 55% of U.S. sales in the second quarter, compared to just over 36% for iOS. The numbers worldwide are even more in Android's favor. This gap is continuing to widen.
If your premise is co
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It's not the top priority of most people. That would be price. Android sells more phones, but many of those are low end models where you kind of expect to get the second rate. If you look at revenue or profit, rather than count, Android doesn't do as well.
Most Android manufacturers seem not to have learned that if you screw over your customers, particularly your best customers, they won't be your customers next time. Unfortunately, Google takes a bit of that flak because their name is prominently associ
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Customers are learning that if you want updates, by an iPhone.
Really? I got several updates on my G2, and apparently T-Mobile has ICS in the queue. I'm not panicking because I've been able to update all my apps without issue. All my apps still work on Gingerbread, you see. My previous Slashdot comment was posted from the G2, using the latest Firefox Beta.
Say, why don't you try posting to Slashdot using your iPhone, I'd love to see how that works out for you.
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Wow, that's timely?
ICS was released 9 months ago! If it's still "in the queue", that could very well mean by the time you get ICS, it's been a whole year and a release behind. I guess 2013 when the next release comes out you'll get jelly bean.
You'd also think that by now, there would be more phones coming out with ICS on by default, but it's still few and far behind (Galaxy SIII being one of note). Maybe 2013 will be the y
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The customers who get screwed are learning: if you want updates, buy a Nexus.
If the Nexus had an SD slot, I would have. But it doesn't. (or at least, the Nexus S, which was the current version of the Nexus when I bought my phone, didn't).
It still comes down to features. Getting software updates is a feature, yes, but if the phone you're using does everything you want it to do, then why buy a new one just to get updated software? Most of the features for Jelly Bean can be had from apps on the market anyway.
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The other devices have better hardware
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Well, I'm actually surprised they rolled out JB for the Nexus S. They dropped support for the Nexus One after only 18 months, and the Nexus S is older than that. I didn't get a Nexus S at the time because:
1. It was unsubsidized, and I wouldn't have gotten a break on my rates to buy it. I could get a G2 for free at the same time. Free G2 vs $350 Nexus S - hard choice.
2. It lacked a keyboard, which made it less useful than the G2.
However, at the time I was a bit spoiled by the fact that the modding comm
Wasn't that the whole idea? (Score:5, Insightful)
Isn't that the way its supposed to work? Google maintains android and device manufacturers manufacture devices. All the problems seem to happen when this is ignored.
Re:Wasn't that the whole idea? (Score:4, Interesting)
And the pre-loaded crap? Get rid of it.
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Not that I have used them but if I had a Galaxy Note or the Galaxy S III I guess I would like to have the stuff which came with the phone. (Though of course it would be ok if the differences was regular apps which I could install on stock Android.)
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If that's true, then smartphones have become the new PCs. Only smart people can (con)figure them (out). But really what's so hard about a smartphone once you know that the World icon obviously means World Wide Web, while the thing that looks like a window means, rather less obviously, Applications?
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How many manufacturers will offer the upgrades? (Score:1)
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Google is in the process of releasing Jelly bean but cyanogenmod haven't even finished their ice cream sandwich release. I'm not sure I'd consider cyanogenmod an equivalent option...
OK, where's the love... (Score:2)
meanwhile... (Score:1)
Too much work (Score:2)
I will not be upgrading any time soon. As far as I can tell, I need to back up everything, un-root, upgrade, then reinstall all the applications and settings, e-mail accounts, etc. It's not Google's fault, they have a fair system where they sync everything to their server and then put it back. I just installed Debian to get an IPv6 tunnel application, but that will probably be just as painful the second time. It's great to have the freedom to choose though, and the Nexus S is a pretty good phone
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Verizon is missing from the roll out list (Score:2)
And their approach to getting users off the unlimited data plans is to not subsidize upgrades.
With a Nexus handset upgraded this way who needs their feature phone bloat?
eBay here I come.
Re:Verizon is missing from the roll out list (Score:4)
Yep. Bought an unsubsidized Nexus S. Never locked. Gets updates. Relatively inexpensive. Why would anyone buy one of these other crappy phones that don't run even Android 4.0. And I can actually see my root filesystem, unlike an iPhone.
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Where do your updates come from?
Have Jellybean yet?
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I don't use Verizon, but it wouldn't matter anyways, since (a) my phone is not locked to any provider (all Nexus S phones are unlocked as far as I know) and (b) I get my updates directly from google (or at least I'm 90% sure I do...they just show up). I have Jellybean and its pretty good so far. The update became available just the other day. The phone downloaded it automatically and then asked me if I wanted to install it. Waited a little while and voila...Jellybean.
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Why is it important to see the root file system on your phone? I've never looked at my iPhone and thought, "if only I could see the root file system."
Transferring files is easier and more intuitive to me if I can use folders. Having software such as audiobook players able to view folders on the phone gives me the ability to manage my own book library, instead of Apple's way of hiding the real structures from me, and having me use clunky irritating and unintuitive file transfer via iTunes instead. Having multiple applications on the phone be able to view common files is also useful to me. My iPad makes me pull my hair out sometimes when I transfer say
I think this is good for google and bad for OEMS (Score:3, Interesting)
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I think this is the case, and the best-case scenario for Google: that Nexus branding become something OEMs clamor for, and fall over themselves to get.
This will backfire if Google gets lax about control of the user experience and update cycle in order to keep OEMs happy. Google needs to crack the whip a bit here. Unsubsidized phones, by their very nature, will keep the carriers in line, when they're going to be struggling to keep customers happy month after month, instead of coasting on contracts.
how does google decide who gets it first? (Score:1)
I've got a nexus s running ics and I've checked for updates, but it just says that the system is up to date. Does anyone know how Google decides the order in which to send out the ota updates?
The 'fragmentation problem' solves itself (Score:5, Insightful)
If it is not a problem for most customers then there is no problem at all.
Fragmentation is a problem ? (Score:3)
Is fragmentation a problem or is it freedom for each company to do whatever they want to support at a price they can make money ?
Or do people want the competition to be just like apple ...a controlled garden of 1 device ....1 appstore ...1 updates for 1 thing.
Fragmentation is the difference...it allows you to have amazon fire, the nook tablet, all kind of cheap and crappy tablets or phones to expensive and better supported ones etc etc... ...i have a choice on my means even if its not what i want because sometimes i can't afford what i want.
who cares at least i can buy something from $79 to $500
If it is apple v/s pseudo apple ...then i would not have a tablet or a smart phone
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Or do people want the competition to be just like apple ...a controlled garden of 1 device ....1 appstore ...1 updates for 1 thing.
... And In Darkness Bind Them....
No, wait - that's the wrong reference. Er... ein volk, ein Fuhrer...?
[aside]: Dangit, Irene, come and help me with this. That goshdarn meme thingie you told me about - how do I work it?!?
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When it comes down to regular people I would say that something like the iPad has given people more freedom than any Linux distribution.
When it comes to regular people, they would say they can't afford an iPad.
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You're right about that. We'll see if the rumors are true that Apple will introduce a cheaper iPad in the near future.
It'll also be interesting to see if it's competitive with the Nexus 7. Google has set a high bar for a low-cost tablet.
Not *all* JB features are there... (Score:2)
I got the OTA update for my Nexus S. While I have Google Now, etc, there is no facial recognition to unlock the phone. Were I to hazard a guess, I would say this might be due to the front-facing camera drawing taking too much of a toll on the battery to make the feature practical.
Production of iPad Mini to start in September in B (Score:1)