OS updates

After launching the Galaxy Nexus with Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich), Samsung has decided to bring the software to its other devices.

The company will kick off the Ice Cream Sandwich rollout with its Galaxy S II, it announced on its Facebook page last night. The device's owners in Poland, Hungary, and Sweden, as well as Korea, already have access to the update. In a follow-up statement to gadget news and reviews site Pocket-lint today, Samsung said that it plans to make Ice Cream Sandwich available to U.K. customers starting next week.

Samsung announced plans to start … Read more

If the last few releases of Android are any indication, chances are good that we'll see Jelly Bean unveiled at Google I/O in June.

But even if Google makes that deadline, we'll likely end up waiting a few more months before Jelly Bean is actually released, perhaps with a Nexus device. So with that in mind, I thought it would be fun to put together a few ideas as to what I'd like to see in Jelly Bean. While some of this list is based on real-world expectation, others would make for a great mobile experience. … Read more

Both iOS and Android support HTML5 in the browser, but according to a new study, Apple's platform is doing a much better job of handling it.

Spaceport, a company that provides tools for developers to create multiplatform mobile games, revealed in a study published yesterday that Apple's iPad is about four times better at handling HTML5 in the browser than competing Android-based tablets. On the smartphone side, the average iPhone performance about triples Android-based handsets.

In order to arrive at those figures, Spaceport examined the maximum number of images that could be smoothly pushed through HTML5 in mobile … Read more

AT&T announced today that it soon will offer an exclusive Monster Beats by Dr. Dre Beatbox to its customers.

The $399 device, which will arrive in the carrier's stores and online on March 11, is a wireless audio system with a built-in dock connector for smartphones. Featuring a pair of easy-carry handles, the speaker system comes with a remote control and Bluetooth connectivity and gets its power from six D-cell batteries. So in other words, AT&T has essentially become a retail partner for a rebranded Beatbox Portable.

As part of today's announcement, AT&… Read more

Over the last month, CNET has written a lot about an upcoming trade show called Mobile World Congress. And over the next week, we'll be writing even more about it.

If you've never heard of the event before, I don't blame you. Indeed, Mobile World Congress doesn't have the same name recognition that CES commands in the United States, but for the wireless world, it's almost as big and just as significant. Each February, folks from all corners of the industry and around the world meet in Barcelona, Spain, to make deals, demonstrate the latest technologies, and show off the latest and greatest phones and tablets.

This will be my fifth year at the show, which begins Monday in Catalonia's Gaudi-obsessed capital city. Though a possible transit strike threatens to make getting around a little difficult, there's guaranteed to be a (metric) ton of new devices, from the very fancy to the strictly functional. It will be a massive amount to cover, but CNET will have a large team on the ground, including editors Jessica Dolcourt, Roger Cheng, Maggie Reardon, and Stephen Shankland. And thanks to CNET TV producers Jamie Yee and Mark Licea, the new handsets will get their star turns on video.

Android avalanche So what exactly will we see?… Read more

The Asus Transformer Prime is currently the highest-quality Android tablet on the market. It rivals and sometimes surpasses the the iPad 2 in games performance, has a fantastically bright screen, memory expansion, various CPU performance modes, HDMI, and a thin, sleek, and sexy design.

All that said (and I bet you saw this coming), it's not perfect. Since its release, the Prime has been saddled with reports of performance issues, bugs, and stuff just outright not working.

How severe are these issues, and maybe more importantly, just how widespread are they? As a new or potentially new Prime owner, just what are the chances they'll crop up for you?… Read more

HTC today confirmed that five more of its Android-powered smartphone from North American carriers will see a 4.0 update.

Without providing insight as to when each hanset will get the the update, the company has confimed that the HTC Rhyme, HTC Thunderbolt, HTC Rezound, and Droid Incredible 2 will get their just desserts at some point.

While we already expected the recently announced Rezound to pick up Ice Cream Sandwich we werem't so certain about the Thunderbolt. Still, I'll take what I can get.

Taiwan's Digitimes is at it again, and this time, the publication says it knows when Android 5.0 (Jelly Bean) will launch.

The online publication says it has talked to Taiwan-based supply chain vendors who claim Google is planning to launch Android 5.0 at some point in the second quarter. The operating system will be optimized for tablets, Digitimes' sources say.

However, it is Digitimes' claim that vendors will be able to add Android 5.0 to a Windows 8-based tablet or notebook, allowing users to switch between the operating systems without a reboot, that's getting the … Read more

HTC has once again taken to Facebook to shed light on Android 4.0 updates for its line of smartphones.

The company has added three handsets, the HTC Incredible S, HTC Desire S, and HTC Desire HD, to the list of devices expected to see Ice Cream Sandwich in 2012. These will join other notable smartphones such as the HTC Amaze 4G, HTC Evo 3D, and HTC Rezound in getting 4.0 "later this year."

In addition to adding the new models, HTC has further clarified the time frame as to when other handsets will see the update … Read more