sandwich

The U.S. launch of the Samsung Galaxy Nexus may have smacked face-first into a wall of delays, but that hasn't stopped me from spending the last three weeks smearing my thumbprints all over the unlocked version of the first phone to get Google's red-hot Android Ice Cream Sandwich operating system.

Now, between the phone and the Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS) operating system, there's a lot of minutiae, more than most people will really want to read regarding the scads of cosmetic and substantive changes to each function or app. As a result, I'm aiming for the broad view. In the three weeks since I got the phone, I've answered many of your ICS and Galaxy Nexus questions, tested the camera, stumbled onto a lot of hidden features, and explored Android Beam using another Galaxy Nexus phone (more on this below).

Using ICS on the Galaxy Nexus has been a positive experience, and as with many phones, the Galaxy Nexus grew on me even more. It has an open design and appealing shape, a comfortable "hyperskin" soft-touch back cover, and a great screen. ICS adds snappy graphics and a laundry list of new features.… Read more

Verizon Wireless customers looking to snap up the Samsung Galaxy Nexus this Friday will have to be a little more patient.

The carrier has been cagey about the launch date for the smartphone, which is the first to run on the new Ice Cream Sandwich version of Android, but an informal survey of Verizon stores found that many had expected to start selling the phone on Friday. Now they are hearing that the release of the Galaxy Nexus will be delayed.

Verizon declined to comment on the potential launch time.

"We haven't officially announced a launch date for … Read more

PARIS--In the fight between the two smartphone heavyweights, Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt was blunt today about who he thinks is winning.

"Android is ahead of the iPhone now," Schmidt declared to an audience of techies and aspiring entrepreneurs at the LeWeb conference here.

He made his statement to a room bursting at the seams with iPhones, iPads, and Macs, and the audience met his words with a moment of silence that implied some skepticism. So Schmidt elaborated on how he was measuring: "unit volume, Ice Cream Sandwich, the price is lower, there are more vendors." … Read more

Move over, Kindle Fire. Google's Ice Cream Sandwich operating system has landed on a $100 tablet now shipping in China. The 7-inch tablet is also bound for the U.S. market.

U.S.-based MIPS Technologies and Ingenic Semiconductor, a China-based mobile chip provider, announced worldwide availability of the "world's first tablet" based on Android 4.0, aka Ice Cream Sandwich.

"I'm thrilled to see the entrance of MIPS-Based Android 4.0 tablets into the market. Low cost, high performance tablets are a big win for mobile consumers and a strong illustration of how … Read more

Just as CNET reported last week, Verizon Wireless has officially announced a pair of new 4G LTE Android tablets for release in December.

Carrying the name of Droid Xyboard, the two devices are successors to the Motorola Xoom released earlier in the year. Specifications include dual-core 1.2Ghz processors, 1GM RAM, a 5-megapixel main camera, and a 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera. Powered by Android 3.2 Honeycomb, Verizon promises Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich for the pair at some point in the future.

The smaller, 8.2-inch media-centric model comes with two capacity options, 16GB for $429.99 and 32GB for $529.99. The 10.1-inch edition is available in three storage sizes, 16GB ($529.99), 32GB ($629.99), and 64GB ($729.99). … Read more

Verizon Wireless will begin selling its version of Samsung's Galaxy Nexus smartphone on Friday, according to documents purportedly from an authorized Verizon retailer.

An e-mail and PDF posted by RootzWiki say UPS will ship the phones to Verizon stores on December 6 and gives an "official launch date" of Friday, December 9.

"Do not receive the product in via your scanner (this is a change in procedure)," the e-mail warned those collecting the shipments to stores--perhaps in response to the frequency with which sales plans have been revealed through screenshots of retail inventory systems.

Verizon didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. … Read more

Xamarin, a company seeking to extend Microsoft's .Net programming technology beyond Microsoft's operating systems, has released a version of its developer tools that can work with the latest iteration of Google's Android operating system.

The company builds Mono, an open-source version of Microsoft's .Net technology for programming in Microsoft's C# language. With the newest version of Mono for Android, C# programmers can produce software that will run natively on both Android 4.0, aka Ice Cream Sandwich, and on Android tablets including Amazon's Kindle Fire and Samsung's Galaxy Tab, Xamarin said yesterday.

The … Read more

Google has begun testing an update for its Android mobile operating system on some Google employees' phones before releasing it to the public.

An over-the-air update for Android 4.0, aka Ice Cream Sandwich, recently arrived on some employees' Nexus S phones, according to an Android Police report.

"Just got Ice-cream Sandwich update on my Nexus S & it's looking great :)," Google engineer Adel Saoud said in a Google+ post.

Testing of Android 4.0 is expected to take at least a few weeks, with the over-the-air release to follow--good news for Nexus S owners.

Ice Cream … Read more

It may seem that the Samsung Galaxy Nexus has been slow to arrive on American shores, but there's reason to believe it will hit the ground running.

The Android faithful are placing their 4G hopes and dreams in a video circulating today that shows the new Google Ice Cream Sandwich phone on Verizon's LTE Network clocking in at download speeds between 8-10Mbps. The silent videographer notes on the screen that the test is being conducted over a less-than-ideal connection--indoors and with only two bars.… Read more