At long last, Google has finally made downloadable Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0.4 factory images available for the Nexus S (pretty much every variant, it appears.) I had been running a custom ROM while waiting for an OTA upgrade, but decided this was good enough and went for it.

A couple of days later, everything seems pretty solid and the couple of bugs I was experiencing with the custom ROM haven't resurfaced. So far, the upgrade has been issue-free. Since I've been running ICS for nearly two months, there isn't really anything new from a UI or feature standpoint though it is good to finally be running an installation that I think I'll be sticking with for more than a month or two.

More importantly, I'm taking the release of these images as a positive sign that the Android team has worked through the various issues that have been hanging over ICS since its initial debut. This would be a very good thing because overall, ICS is a significant step forward for the platform which was being overshadowed by the issues and delays in rolling it out. Hopefully, all of the Nexus S variants will be receiving OTA updates soon to get more regular folks on it.