Note owners should be rightfully incensed. Also want to note that the Photon 4G is almost the exact same phone as the Verizon Droid X (pretty sure that's the model, too lazy to look) which DID get updates because V's model update schedule was behind Sprint's. They specifically only didn't update the Photon because they had a newer phone coming out on Sprint sooner. ICS works fine, I installed Cyanogen and can promise that it does. (with the exception that since no one owns a Photon, no one made a working ROM)
The bottom line is this, I've had one Android phone that was the best phone I've ever owned (better than the iPhone 3G even), which was the Nexus One. I sold my N1 to a friend and it's STILL IN SERVICE and works perfectly.
I've had two Androids that were two of the worst three phones I've ever used and those were the Samsung Moment and the Motorola Photon. I'm seeing a pattern here.
What I was not prepared for is Samsung is full of it when it comes to release dates for their software updates. Apple was bad in other ways, but the ability to get direct updates from the manufacturer is something I expect now because of the few years of iPhone I had.
To those who think it's simple enough to flash another rom on and get what I want -- my phone is not a toy, and my time is more valuable than constantly spending it in this way. I need the data in my phone, available and running at all times.
The fact that I'm first at Samsung's mercy, and then the carrier to get an official update while Google quietly pushes it's updates directly to it's devices has lead me to get a Nexus 4. I love my Galaxy note, but it's handicapped by not having the latest. Jellybean 4.2.1+ is for the first time an equivalent experience to iOS, and the Android 4.0.4 still has issues.
I hope that Samsung understands I appreciate and support their audacity in leading the charge into phablets, or flexible displays, but it really comes down to usability in software and it needs to be just as usable. I avoided the first two iPhones for this same reason.
Sadly, my Treo 650 still is more productive than these novelty purusing devices that provide more distractions than value. I am excited for the time our software skills move beyond creating novelty.
I hope Ubuntu's offerings become interesting enough moving forward.