It might be revealed as Android 2.4 or maybe Android 4.0, but whatever the case, Ice Cream Sandwich looks like they took Honeycomb and shrunk it down to smartphone proportions. You get the same kind of launcher for seeing your most recent apps, for example, as well as a similar interface for going through the settings and thumbing through your list of apps.

While these are just still screenshots, you can tell that there are going to be some animations in place for page swipes and similar transitions. You’ll also notice that, like Honeycomb, Ice Cream Sandwich has “soft” on-screen buttons for back, home, and recent apps, which will likely lend itself to smartphones that start abandoning the physical buttons (or touch-sensitive buttons) for those functions. This could lead ot bigger slates and thinner bezels.

I think it looks great and hopefully it’ll help with some of that Android fragmentation that’s going on.

The post Leaked: Sneak peek at Android Ice Cream Sandwich appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

Before you get all worried about bugs and other issues related to either the handset or Ice Cream Sandwich, it’s worth noting that the delay doesn’t really have to do with the products themselves. Instead, a Samsung spokesperson says that it’s out of respect for Steve Jobs: “We believe this is not the right time to announce a new product as the world expresses tribute to Steve Jobs’s passing.”

It’s still quite possible that Samsung and Google are just taking advantage of the situation to put in some final tweaks and alterations, but we can’t say for sure. In any case, we won’t have to wait that much longer, because Google did promise that Ice Cream Sandwich (and the next Nexus phone) would launch before November. Eric Schmidt wouldn’t renege on that commitment, right?

The post Google Nexus Prime and Ice Cream Sandwich delayed appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

We’re pretty sure it’s coming. We’ve known about it for months and it looks like its announcement is just around the corner. And attempting to steal some thunder away from the somewhat disappointing iPhone 4S unveiling is Samsung, which just released a teaser for its Nexus Prime superphone. Yes, something big is coming.

The relationship between Apple and Samsung is getting more and more sour by the day and the timing of this teaser furthers that sourness. The Samsung Unpacked event is set to take place next week in San Diego and it is there that we assume the Nexus Prime will be revealed. The teaser video really tells us nothing other than some things go well together and, based on the final image, the Nexus Prime will have a similarly curvaceous screen as the Nexus S it follows.

Tech Crunch is reporting that the Galaxy Nexus may be a Verizon exclusive, at least for the time being when it launches October 11. Luckily it will run on Ice Cream Sandwich which will be able to reportedly able to track data use on an app-by-app basis.

Following the rumors, we can expect the Samsung Google Nexus Prime (which might be called the Galaxy Prime or Galaxy Nexus) to be the first smartphone with Android 2.4 Ice Cream Sandwich, an OS that marries the smartphone-centric Gingerbread with the tablet-friendly Honeycomb. We’re also hearing about a dual core 1.5GHz processor and plenty of other heavy-hitting horsepower, but just like the iPhone rumors leading up to yesterday’s event, they’re just rumors for the Nexus Prime too.

The post Samsung video teases at upcoming Nexus Prime superphone appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

Back in June, we reported on the Google Nexus Prime and how this third iteration in the Nexus line would bring several quantum leaps to the Android ecosystem. Now, many of those rumors are getting substantiated and backed up by way of a new report from Electronic Times of Korea.

The report echoes what we had heard before. The Google Nexus Prime will be the first Android smartphone to run Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich (sometimes referred to as 2.4), a blended OS that’s supposed to bridge the gap between smartphone (currently up to 2.3 Gingerbread) and tablet (currently up to 3.2 Honeycomb). The report also confirms the presence of a super speedy 1.5GHz processor, possibly by way of Qualcomm.

And this is going to be superphone-sized with its 4.5-inch 720p Super AMOLED HD display with a PenTile layout. With such a large screen, high resolution, and high-speed processor, you’ve got to have a concern or two about battery. Given the Super AMOLED, it’s safe to assume that this is going to be Samsung-produced device, much like the current Nexus S. I guess it won’t be until the fourth Nexus that we’ll see a Motorola-sourced smartphone bearing the “official Google phone” moniker.

Look for the Nexus Prime this October, alongside that other phone from that other guy.

The post Google Nexus Prime with Ice Cream Sandwich to come in October appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

So, in the wake of the Google acquisition of Motorola, it looks like they have quite the monster of a smartphone coming down the pipeline. An anonymous tipster sent Engadget what we think are a few pictures of the jumbo-sized Motorola Droid HD. As its name implies, it goes big with its touchscreen, stretching out into “superphone” territory with a presumably hi-res 4.5-inch display.

We’re guessing that it could go as high as 1280×720 pixels, but that’s just rumor for now. It’d put it into Retina Display territory at 326 dpi. The rest of the specs will likely be in line with current top-tier Android smartphones, including a dual core processor, HDMI out, an 8-megapixel camera, Android 2.3 Gingerbread, and a front-facing cam, as well as 1080p HD video capture with the rear cam. It’s possible that this will ship with Android 2.4 Ice Cream Sandwich.

Considering that the Motorola Droid Bionic, first announced at CES at the beginning of this year, still hasn’t hit shelves yet, could Motorola be shooting itself in its own cybernetic foot with this device? Or is it just in line with the “superphone” trend pushed by devices like the HTC Desire HD and its various incarnations? Will they simply sell this as the Droid X3?

The post Jumbo-sized Motorola Droid HD smartphone stays slim appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

Seeing how just about everyone else is coming out with an Android tablet these days, it should really come as little surprise that HTC wanted a big slice of this pie too. And now it’s here: behold the HTC Flyer.

Rather than go with the same NVIDIA Tegra2 processor and Android 3.0 Honeycomb OS like everyone else, HTC opted for a (single core) 1.5GHz processor and Android 2.4 Gingerbread. This is a bit of an odd choice for launch, but it will make the HTC Flyer a little different from the rest.

Android Central reports this will be changed: “I can confirm we are working to bring a flyer to Honeycomb update in short order – however, I do not have any specific information on what the timing may be.”

The seven-inch 1024×600 display will be comparable to the Galaxy Tab. Other specs include the 5MP rear cam, 1.3MP front cam, microSD slot, and a super-sized version of HTC Sense UI. HTC will be customized according to each device. One interesting addition is support for the OnLive gaming platform. You’ll need an OnLive controller, but it means you can play some real games on this thing.

Running through the rest of the specs on the HTC Flyer, you can expect quad-band connectivity, 1GB RAM, 32GB storage, G-sensor, digital compass, Bluetooth 3.0, GPS, WiFi-N. The 4000mAh battery might leave something to be desired, but a supersized HTC Sense could be just as good as Honeycomb… or not.

No word on pricing, availability, or carrier support.

Update: The Pen-based HTC Flyer tablet was spotted on Amazon.de for 669 Euro ($730).

The post HTC Flyer Android Tablet appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

We’re confused at the version sequencing given that December’s Gingerbread was 2.3 and followed-up by Honeycomb (3.0) in January. It hardly makes any sense that Ice Cream (Sandwich) would roll back to 2.4 unless Google intends to divide smartphone Android and tablet Android into two different products.  This notion was however put to rest in an Engadget interview with Honeycomb lead designer Matias Duarate where he specifically notes that Honeycomb is scalable to phones.

The post Android 2.4 in May? Don’t hold your breath. appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

If you listen to some people, they’ll tell you that the tablet is a relatively new phenomenon. That tablets really only became relevant when Apple came forward with the iPad. Well, Motorola begs to differ, and it has come forward with qutie a clever little video of its own to show off the evolution of the tablet.

Yes, the video definitely has a “tongue” in cheek factor going on. The computer animation takes us on a virtual tour of a virtual museum, starting out with ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics. We’re told that this offered “good graphics, but weight makes for difficult portability.” Through the rest of the video, we visit other stone tablets, like the Rosetta Stone (with “multi-lingual support”). The clever caption on the Mayan engraved tablet gave me a chuckle.

Then, we show up at the iPad (which is “like a giant iPhone) and the Samsung Galaxy Tab (but “Android OS… for a phone), which leads us to the whole reason why Motorola put together this video in the first place. We see a new display at the virtual museum and it’s being set up for a new Motorola device to be unveiled at CES 2011.

Naturally, Motorola isn’t coming forward with too many details at this point, but they’re painfully hinting at Android Honeycomb (which could be Android 3.0 or Android 2.4). Towards the end of the video, we see a CGI bee and the video description on YouTube says that Motorola is “buzzing with excitement.”

I thought the video was fun and clever, but really tells us nothing. Taking a cheap shot of the iPad for being a big iPhone. If this is indeed representative of the tablet evolution, I certainly hope that Motorola brings more to the tablet than just Google’s new OS. How else is it going to separate itself from the endless supply of other Honeycomb tablets to follow?

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