android 4.0

Several updates from Sony Japan yesterday revealed Android 4.0 plans for the company's dual tablet strategy and a new version of the Tablet P with a colorful swatch of attractive accessory casings.

The Sony Tablet P and Tablet S will get Android 4.0.3 in late April, according to a Sony Japan press release. Sony did not immediately respond to CNET's request for comment regarding plans for the Android update stateside.

Those who own a Sony tablet undoubtedly hope the company follows suit with the same timeframe for the update elsewhere.

As usual, the software engineers at Sony baked several goodies into the Android update. … Read more

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

When working on Ice Cream Sandwich, Google aimed to create a font made specifically for high-resolution screens. The end result was Roboto. Up until now, Roboto was limited to Android devices running ICS. Late last week, Google posted it for all to download and use on their personal computer.

You can download a ZIP file containing all 16 variations of the font by visiting the Android Design site.

After downloading the font files, you can either open each design's file and install it to your system or by adding the files to your system's Font folder. … Read more

Loaded's Bridget Carey sits down with us for a roundup of breaking news from the Mobile World Congress, a smartphone expo based out of Barcelona that started this weekend.

The announcements range from Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) handsets with simpler nomenclature and integrated quad-core processors with new features like built-in projectors and a Nokia PureView smartphone with an insane 41-megapixel camera.… 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

Both Motorola and Lenovo are expected to announce Android devices powered by Intel Medfield chips at next week's Mobile World Congress.

First disclosed all the way back in December 2008, the Intel processor has been making some noise lately with terrific benchmark scores. … Read more

Qualcomm's Snapdragon S4 chip is racking up benchmark numbers that make the Samsung Galaxy S II's performance seem so last-year while turning Ice Cream Sandwich into a dreamy experience, said a chip review site.

"Occasionally we'll see performance numbers that just make us laugh at their absurdity," said Anandtech. "[Snapdragon S4's] Linpack performance is no exception. The performance advantage here is insane. The MSM8960 is able to deliver more than twice the performance of any currently shipping SoC (system-on-a-chip)."

And what about that Adreno graphics processing unit? "From a compute standpoint … Read more

Comparing Apple's iPad 2 with Motorola's XyBoard and Amazon's Kindle Fire is fraught with peril. But here goes anyway.

Let me preface my review by saying that a few overzealous readers (I'm being charitable with that description) almost invariably call the writer (me) an idiot for not being as savvy and/or perceptive as they claim to be. That's par for the course. But let's get a few things straight here.

First, this isn't an official review. Like the kind you would find at CNET Reviews. Second, I don't favor one manufacturer … 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.