Google Reader update brings ICS user inte

We saw a few leaked screenshots of what was claimed to be an updated Google Reader application last night that turned out to be either fake, or a bit old. Today Google has officially pushed the brand new Google Reader v1.1.1 to the Android Market complete with a new user interface and widgets that resemble 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, and plenty of other navigation and usage improvements. While the actual interface hasn’t changed a lot, they have added swipe navigation and it works extremely well.

Along with Google Reader, Google Docs also received a very similar update that has a slightly more noticeable change to the user interface — one that closely resembles Google +. Both Google apps have received a slight makeover giving them a closer appearance to that of Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich and we have the slide to navigate through stories or documents both, as well as enhanced share options that are closer to the web versions. Then the widgets, the new widgets look great and I’m loving my Google Reader unread ticker although I still feel it moves a bit fast. We've got a few screenshots below for you guys to see what your missing if you’re not yet a Google Reader user.

Like mentioned above, the slide to navigate feature is now present in Reader v1.1.1 and it works great. It marks the stories as read and the entire swipe gesture is simple, smooth, and very fast. You get an annoying notification below (shown in the picture) but you can quickly hide that as the feature is one you wont be forgetting any time soon. A few comments on the market said stories aren’t getting checked as “read” when swiping, but everything works great for me here and so far I’m loving the new improvements.
You’ll quickly notice all of the sharing and following type options that were present before have been removed, as those features are now offered by Google+. Instead we have the familiar share icon in the top right just like recently updated Android apps and the market have featured for some time.
The widget improvements are also quite nice and work great. I’ve thrown a few on my homescreen and took a screenshot for everyone to see them in action. Like mentioned above, the new unread ticker works great but still is a bit fast and I wouldn’t mind being able to manually set the refresh time myself.
You can see all of the screenshots in the gallery below for a better idea of what to expect with the new Google Reader v1.1.1 that was just updated today. Feel free to head to the market and try both of these new apps (links below). Interesting enough, Google Docs received plenty of changes yet the change-log remains untouched in the market, but I’m sure you can see the differences yourself if you’re a daily user.
Google Reader
Google Docs

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LG Optimus U1 to be first LG phone tasting Ice Cream Sandwich

This sure looks interesting. What appears to be either an excellent render or some actual images of the new LG Optimus U1 have appeared. The device sure looks thin and apparently may end up being the very first LG phone to run off the new Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. While the name U1 is most likely just a code name, we don’t have much else to go on so that is what we’re calling this sleek and thin device.

I don’t know about you guys but it looks quite similar to the Galaxy S II with a hint of LG around the edges. According to sources this will be the first device by LG offered with Ice Cream Sandwich, but then seeing that dedicated home button smack dab in the middle has me seriously doubting this already. Why put the big chrome button in the middle then launch with ICS, unless this is a phone coming soon that will get updated to ICS, then it would make more sense.
We don’t have any hardware specs to go off of, but looking at the leaked image I’d say we have a 4.3″ device here. We can clearly see the 8MP camera around back and the extremely thin and sleek design, but then I also see a few dots near that home button so it could be Android, but could also run Windows Phone 7 — just saying. One thing worth mentioning is that just because ICS has built in navigation and home buttons doesn’t mean manufacturers will move to no dedicated home buttons on all devices. So that doesn’t necessarily rule this out for ICS, but I do have my doubts.
What does everyone think? Will we start seeing all devices that ship with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich have no dedicated buttons, or will OEM’s still try to be different from the pack and include a few? We’d love to hear your thoughts or preferences.
[via GSMArena]

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Samsung Galaxy S gets a taste of Ice Cream Sandwich via SDK port

I always love seeing what dedicated Android modders can do with new software and old hardware. the latest phone to get the Ice Cream Sandwich SDK port treatment is none other than the original Samsung Galaxy S – no II, no HD, no LTE, no X, just the S. It shouldn’t be that much of a surprise, since the Nexus S shares a lot of the same hardware, and it saw Ice Cream Sandwich almost immediately after the SDK was released.

This time the legwork comes from a pair of XDA-Developers, uh, developers, galnet and lttldvl, both members of the MIUI team. The hardware in their photo looks like the original international version, but it shouldn’t be too difficult for community members to begin pumping out variations for the Captivate, Vibrant, Fascinate, et cetera. The ROM is in the extreme alpha stage – not even the touchscreen works, and proper resolution scaling has yet to be implemented. Brave souls can download and flash the ROM now, but for goodness sake, keep a Nandroid backup handy.
Naturally the Nexus S and Nexus One were two of the first devices to get an SDK port for Ice Cream Sandwich, with more esoteric hardware like the ThunderBolt following. More stable and useful ports should begin appearing once Google releases the open source code, currently expected a week or two after the November launch of the Galaxy Nexus. HTC, Motorola, Samsung, Sony and others have already committed to bringing Ice Cream Sandwich to such devices as can handle it.

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Add the Samsung Galaxy S to the List of Devices with an Unofficial Ice Cream Sandwich Port

The Samsung Galaxy S is joining a growing group of current devices receiving pre-release builds of Android Ice Cream Sandwich. As was the case with previous instances on the Nexus S and HTC Thunderbolt the alpha build is worth mentioning but hardly useful as daily driver ROM. Android 4.0 has not seen an “official” release, so developers have been using the SDK (rather than the source code) to patch together makeshift builds of the new OS version. This results in software that isn’t fully baked. The Samsung Galaxy S version of this tasty treat is not even available to the general public yet, though work is progressing thanks in large part to the same team that brought us MIUI.
[via XDA]

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Samsung Confirms: Galaxy Nexus hitting Europe November 17

Samsung is busy throwing a Galaxy Note world tour today and you can watch the live stream here. While the Samsung Galaxy Note is extremely awesome and unique they've also shared a few details that you all might be interested. Samsung has confirmed the new Galaxy Nexus with Ice Cream Sandwich will be available across Europe starting November 17th. Who is ready for some ICS? I know I am.

This has just hit the wires so we are still sifting through the details. We’ve seen the Galaxy Nexus up for pre-order at Amazon.uk for a few days now and the shipping date went from the 17th to the 7th and back. Now that this is official the price has also dropped to a more reasonable £549.99.



This was confirmed watching the live stream linked to above, as well as tweeted by the offical@SAMFirmware account. This is about as official as it gets for now, and users across Europe will be able to get their hands on some tasty Ice Cream Bars soon enough. For all of our coverage of this awesome device feel free to look over our Galaxy Nexus and Ice Cream Sandwich portals, then enjoy the hands-on videos below.

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HTC ThunderBolt gets an Ice Cream Sandwich SDK port

Stock ThunderBolt users are just now getting their first taste of Gingerbread, but all the cool kids are already running versions of Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich based off of the Software Development Kit. Verizon’s first LTE phone is the latest to get the treatment, courtesy of the fine folks at RootzWiki. Experienced custom ROM users can flash the software in the usual way via a custom recovery – don’t forget to do a backup!



SDK ports are usually a stop-gap before the source code for the latest version of Android becomes available, and that seems to be the case here. Major functions like the touchscreen, audio and data aren’t working – basically the only thing that the port is good for at the moment is booting up and looking pretty. That isn’t a put-down, mind you; this stuff isn’t easy, and I commend the developer “jdkoreclipse” for his or her efforts. Asimilar port on the Nexus S is a lot more complete, probably because of the ease of creating ROMs for a developer device.

HTC has committed to bringing Ice Cream Sandwich to as many devices as possible, and to my mind, that certainly includes the high-powered ThunderBolt. But given HTC and Verizon’s pretty dismal upgrade path to Gingerbread, who knows how long it will take. Custom ROM junkies can take solace in the fact that true Ice Cream Sandwich ROMs will probably start popping up only a week or two after the open source code dropslater this year.

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Samsung Galaxy Nexus on Amazon UK, ships November 2nd

Who is ready for some Galaxy Nexus action? Apparently the folks from Amazon UK are ready to start the party because they’ve already posted up pre-orders for the Galaxy Nexus. We saw some order pages go up earlier this week but I get a better feeling ordering from Amazon than some smaller sites, not to mention they have a release date of November 2nd.

Yup, in case you missed that, Amazon UK is listing the Samsung Galaxy Nexus running Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich as due to be released on November 2nd. One small problem is the price though, Amazon is asking £730.15 for the new superphone. I might not be great at math but if my currency conversion skills are accurate that is well over $1100 USD. Wow, at that price put me down for three. At least shipping is free right?
According to our tipsters (thanks guys) the Amazon UK page went live last night and the device was being offered for just £540 and was listed as in stock November 7th. That actually still hasn’t changed and third party retailers on Amazon are listing the phone at the much lower £540 price tag. You may have to wait a few more days but will save a bundle.
In case anyone missed it, here is all of our Galaxy Nexus and Ice Cream Sandwich coverage, plus the hands-on video below for your enjoyment.

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No official Ice Cream Sandwich for Nexus One

Well, it looks like the venerable Nexus One has finally reached the end of its software cycle – officially, at least. When asked whether or not the original Nexus would be seeing an upgrade to Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, Google responded that the phone’s hardware was simply too old to handle the update. The oldest developer phone to get Ice Cream Sandwich will be the Nexus S, released twelve months after the original Nexus One.

Of course, Google itself is hardly the last word when it comes to Android. Versions of Ice Cream Sandwich have already appeared on the Nexus One via the recently-released SDK, and while this isn’t an ideal solution, it’s a pretty good indication that running the software on comparable hardware is far from impossible. Once the official Ice Cream Sandwich source code is released (currently expected a few weeks after the November launch of the Galaxy Nexus) you can bet that a multitude of ROM developers will have Android 4.0 running on the Nexus One in a jiffy.
The more disturbing implication of Google’s announcement is the basic hardware requirement for Ice Cream Sandwich, which has yet to be outlined. Recent mid-range phones like the HTC Rhyme run on hardware that’s almost identical to the original Nexus and HTC Desire, and there’s plenty of low-end phones being introduced on even less powerful hardware. What of these devices, some of which are only weeks old on the market?  Will customers who bought a $200 phone this summer be denied an official update just a few months later? Motorola and HTC have committed to bringing Ice Cream Sandwich to current phones, but in most cases have not outlined which precise models will be updated.

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Widget Locker update brings ICS to your phone and tablet lockscreen

For everyone that loves the new Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich lockscreen found on the Galaxy Nexus I have a treat for you today. The popular lockscreen replacement application Widget Locker has just received a huge update that brings many new features, the biggest being a new Ice Cream Sandwich unlock option. It works great on phones and tablets both so check it out.

That isn’t all we have either — this update also brings new Sense 3.0 and Honeycomb unlock options, hardware acceleration and full Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich support. Once devices hit the market if you are one of the few that doesn’t like the new lockscreen, simply use Widget Locker to go back to something more original.

If you are unfamiliar with Widget Locker the image above should give you a good idea. You have the standard ICS unlock option, but right on that screen you can slide to unlock and instantly access anything you’d like. Everything is customizable and we can have camera, text, browser, email, market and more all added to your homescreen as sliders. Then instantly head to any application you choose right from the unlock screen. It really is an awesome application and you should check it out if you like customizing your Android or want to make it feel new again. Another nice new feature with the latest update is Unlock-With-WiFi compatibility.
For those wanting to try some Ice Cream Sandwich on your own lockscreen or any of the many awesome features you can get Widget Locker right now in the Android Market for just $2.99

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Motorola commits to Ice Cream Sandwich and unlocked bootladers

Motorola got no end of grief when it made the decision to lock the bootloader on its latest flagship device, the DROID RAZR. Though we later learned that international versions of the phone would be user-unlockable, their current and past reliance on custom software and locked bootloaders has been a sore spot with the Android mod community for years. Moto has decided to come clean with a forward-facing new start, instructing curious users to two separate sites for unlocking and upgrading.

For Ice Cream Sandwich upgrades to current devices (like the DROID BIONIC and XOOM) as well as future software upgrades, head over to the Motorola Android Software Upgrade News page on the official Motorola forum. For news and instructions on bootloader unlocking, check out MOTODEV, a long-standing arm of Motorola’s software department. These two locations will have updates and instructions for all the devices that apply, presumably all the Android devices the company makes for U.S. carriers.
It’s not all sunshine and rainbows. Motorola is serving the carriers first and foremost, and in Verizon’s case that means that they won’t be providing unlocked bootloaders any time in the near future. Prospective DROID RAZR owners can take heart in the fact that an unlock for the international RAZR will probably be reversed-engineered for US owners. In the meantime, the two sites are a good place to start in your modding endeavors – not to mention in making Motorola aware of your frustration.

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Galaxy Nexus ICS boot animation live wallpaper, get it here [Download]

Who is ready for another awesome live wallpaper? Yes, you read the title right and that sweet boot animation from the Galaxy Nexus and Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich can now be used as a live wallpaper. This is one of the many awesome reasons why I love Android. Thanks to the quick developer mazook98 from XDA Developers, we now have a fully working and beautiful looking LWP built from the 4.0 boot animation, check out my hands-on video and then grab the download below.


I usually always try to find something unique and different and this definitely qualifies. Sadly like most of my features wallpapers this one will NOT work on tablets. Well, it will, but isn’t designed for the larger screen and I doubt anyone will find it enjoyable. For now this live wallpaper works best for smartphones and I recommend you give it a try. The graphics truly look great, even on my qHD 960 x 540 resolution phone and on a smaller screen it looks even better. Here’s a quick hands-on video below. Recorded using Screencast for Android (sorry for audio quality).
Galaxy Nexus Ice Cream Sandwich boot live wallpaper





The developer understands not all devices are created equal and has provided a few different screen size options in the application, then for those older devices that aren’t as powerful you can even lower the frames per second from the stock 30 fps anywhere from 1-60. Again, this is the Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich boot animation turned into a live wallpaper and it looks stellar on my phone and so far battery isn’t taking much of a hit, but with something like this you’ll just have to try it out. All the details are available at the xda forum post.
Galaxy Nexus Live Wallpaper Download: Click Here
Give it a try and let us know what you think by giving us a shout below in the comment section.

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Motorola will bring Ice Cream Sandwich devices to market 6 weeks after Google [Update]

Well, according to Motorola’s official Twitter account we will be seeing Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich devices from the company just 6 weeks after Google launches and releases it. Maybe they’ve had a little extra prep time now that Google aims to take control of Motorola Mobility, we don’t know but either way this is good news.

The tweet doesn’t reveal much, and quite often these comments on Twitter by big companies quickly get updated when someone makes a mistake (not saying this is or isn’t). We are just glad to hear this fast of a turn around might actually be possible from Motorola. Here is what the official tweet had to say:

When asked if the Atrix would receive 4.0 ICS the answer above is what was given, that is a good sign although we’ve recently heard the new DROID RAZR wont get 4.0 until early 2012 but that is a little longer than 6 weeks — just saying. We could be looking a bit deep with this comment and even though it was a reply to a device update they mention “releasing” devices with Ice Cream Sandwich soon, not updating. Most likely they are referring to a few tablets we’ve recently seen at the FCC but with a comment so bleak it’s really anyone’s guess.
Update: Motorola has now sent out another message on twitter now that a few users have started to ask questions regarding the above tweet. They seem to have confirmed that the Bionic, RAZR and Xoom will all get 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich within 6 weeks of Google releasing it. We aren’t really sure if they mean they’ll actually update these devices 6 weeks after ICS launches, or if they’ll just announce dates for when the updates will actually be available. 6 weeks from the end of November is early 2012, so we should be seeing some updates or at least hearing some news by then. Thanks Motorola!

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Acer Iconia Tabs to get Ice Cream Sandwich update next year?

With all the hubbub over the latest Android 4.0 version of the popular OS, lots of folks want to know when they will be able to get Ice Cream Sandwich on their own tablets and smartphones. Last week Asus announced that the original Transformer tablet would be getting the ISC update next year. Today news on more devices possibly getting the update next year have surfaced.

This is unconfirmed right now so take the rumor with some salt. According to Tablet-online.pl the Acer Iconia Tab A100/A101 and the A500/A501 will all get the upgrade to ICS early next year. That would be no surprise really. The details come from information presented from an unnamed source to the Tablet-online.pl site.
It has been said by Android product manager Gabe Cohen that in theory any of the tablets on the market today running Honeycomb can be updated to ICS. How quickly those updates come will depend on if the device is running a custom UI that takes a while to tweak. I would expect that a bunch of devices would get the update in early 2012. We have asked Acer for an official comment and will update if Acer responds.
[via Tablet-online]

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Get Android Ice Cream Sandwich Features Now

This guide shows you how you can get some of the features that Android Ice Cream Sandwich offers on your current Android device. Below are a few of our favourites from the list, for the full article and more ideas head over to LifeHacker.
1. Facial Recognition Unlock -This is one of the features about Android Ice Cream sandwich that will catch the eye of many. This feature was originally advertised for the SGS2 when it was announced at MWC 2011, but alas never came to fruition. This app won’t do the job of the Face Unlock stock app that is promised with ICS, but it’s as close as you can get at the moment and is still a pretty cool feature.  The app is called Visidon AppLock and can be used to protect certain apps, rather than the entire device. It currently costs £1.99 on the Android market.

2. Save Web Pages To View Offline – This isn’t necessarily one of the standout features of Ice Cream Sandwich, but will still be useful to have once it’s there. Of course, there is already an app that does a superb (in-fact probably better) job of this, called Read It Later. The app let’s you save an article to read offline, syncs it across all your devices and strips it of adverts. All this for free. There is also a pro version of the app which adds a few more features should you want them.
3. Data Monitor – An app that I have found useful for monitoring 3G Data in the past is called NetCounter. It keeps count of both 3G and Wi-Fi data usage and allows you to set up alerts to notify you when a certain amount of data has been used. A similar app that is mentioned by LifeHacker is Onavo, which offers pretty much the same features but also allows you to restrict certain apps to Wi-Fi only. The new HTC Sense has data monitoring features built in, as does Android ICS.
Via Gizmodo UK

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Ice Cream Sandwich includes game controller support

Google just made the classic console emulator crowd very, very happy. While digging around in the recently-released Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich SDK, some industrious developers discovered support for direct input game controllers via USB. That means your next Android smartphone or tablet (or even your current one, given a timely update) might be able to support PC or Xbox 360 controllers for your favorite games.

Android has included support for basic Human Input Devices like mice and keyboards since Froyo, but game controllers are something of an electronic oddity, and require some special attention. Not that it hasn’t been done before: one of the earliest widespread “hacks” for Android was connecting the friendly Wii Remote via Bluetooth, and with the aid of a special app, controlling popular emulators like Gameboid. In recent months PS3 and Xbox 360 controllers have found themselves in Android clutches, though in both cases, not without considerable effort and creativity.
With official support, the downright annoying world of touchscreen controls (at least in the opinion of yours truly) might give way to more robust gaming. There’s only so many simultaneous moves and functions you can program in for a multi-touch screen, but if you’ve played a game like Batman: Arkham Asylum, you know the control with umpteen buttons, triggers and sticks is night limitless. Sony’s official gaming support is possibly making the jump to other hardware soon, not to mention next-generation games like SHADOWGUN, so the news is very exciting indeed. With new advances like 720p screens and Nvidia’s quad-core Tegra 3 on the horizon, who knows what lofty heights Android gaming might achieve in the very near future.

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HTC looking over Ice Cream Sandwich to determine upgrade plan

Just like most manufacturers probably are doing, HTC is looking over Ice Cream Sandwich as we speak and are trying to device and determine their upgrade plans. We can expect many of their newer device will most likely receive Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, otherwise many users will be angry and they don’t want to relive the Desire Gingerbread debacle.

Like mentioned above most devices that are fairly new should receive an update to Ice Cream Sandwich — although a few HTC Thunderbolt users waiting for Gingerbread might have a thing or two to say about that. Today HTC has updated everyone officially on their Facebook page and had this to say:

Since Google unveiled Ice Cream Sandwich earlier this week, HTC has been looking closely at the new OS’s features and functionality to determine our upgrade plans. We’re a recognized industry leader in providing fast and consistent upgrades to our Android devices, and Ice Cream Sandwich will be no different.
Upgrades require a careful balance of hardware and software to ensure the best possible performance and usability, so please stay tuned as we assess our product portfolio. Our goal is to upgrade as many HTC devices as possible and we’ll be sharing details on specific devices and timing in the coming weeks!

We didn’t expect to hear any sort of confirmation on any devices, or where they’re headed with the HTC Sense UI they are widely known for, but most likely we’ll still see it on ICS. With a user interface as gorgeous as Android 4.0 I don’t know why you’d want to skin it up with a different look, but HTC most likely feels different on this front. I have a feeling the Sense UI will need some serious re-working to be compatible with Ice Cream Sandwich so we’ll all just have to wait and see. We will be sure to update when we hear any additional details from HTC.

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Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich brings native stylus support

We already know that Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich will be getting all sorts of cool new upgrades and features. The tweaks will be many and a tip has surfaced today that those wishing for a stylus for their device will love. Google has confirmed that ICS will bring with it native support for a stylus allowing the tablet or smartphone to be controlled with the users fingers or a stylus.

Apparently, an API first spotted by Reddit can differentiate between a stylus, finger, mouse, and eraser. It will also support pens with up to three buttons. It sounds like this will be the operating system for the designers out there that want to draw directly on the Android tablet. If you are wondering the existing tablets that have pens, the HTC Flyer and the Samsung Galaxy Note both had custom pen-control software.
Google also expects that the new native support for a stylus will also boost the precision for gestures on the screen. Handwriting recognition is also possible, but Android has no native handwriting recognition engine at this time. The coming of a native stylus control system for ICS leaves questions as to what Samsung and HTC will do with their proprietary systems. Both had held their system would be adopted by devs.
[via SlashGear]

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Get The Look Of Ice Cream Sandwich On Your Rooted Device Now [Download]

Love it or hate it, Ice Cream Sandwich has made a drastic change in the overall look of stock, vanilla Android. What some are calling the “Tron UI” from Honeycomb is officially the new look of the Android OS on smartphones. If flashing buggy and extremely alpha versions of the SDK port aren’t exactly your cup of tea, XDA member sonnysekhon has cooked up a great theme for CM7 users dying to have the look of ICS and nothing else. Well, I shouldn’t say nothing else seeing how many of the new features introduced in ICS have been found in CyanogenMod for about a year now — but I digress.
The theme works using the Theme Chooser app included in CM7. After downloading and installing the theme, all you have to do is select the theme from the Theme Chooser app and BOOM, ICS on your Gingerbread device. According the his thread, the developer is constantly updating the ICS theme so make sure to check back regularly for updates. Enjoy!
Ice Cream Sandwich Alpha 2 App [Download]

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Motorola promises Ice Cream Sandwich update for DROID BIONIC

We’ve heard a lot in the last couple of days from DROID BIONIC owners who are more than a little miffed about the relatively quick launch of the DROID RAZR. Well take heart, early adopters: a Motorola representative confirmed that the company is planning on upgrading the BIONIC’s software to Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. The confirmation came after a Facebook user asked the question on the company page.

Motorola and other manufacturers are waiting for Google to release the Ice Cream Sandwich source code, which will probably happen a couple of weeks to a months after the Galaxy Nexus makes it to retail stores. Once the source is public, code monkeys across the Android world will begin crafting software for new and old phones alike. BIONIC owners should check out our Ice Cream Sandwich coverage in the comfortable knowledge that their phones will receive the new features… someday. Verizon and Motorola have yet to fix some of the early bugs that are still plaguing owners.
Unfortunately Motorola has a pretty lackluster track record for device upgrades – for example, the DROID X2 only got Gingerbread in late July, almost nine months after the source code became publicly available. Motorola tends to load down their phones with a custom don’t-call-it-BLUR interface, and Verizon also has a bad habit of including bloatware and other customizations. It could be quite a while before BIONIC owners get to taste Ice Cream Sandwich, but at least their expensive 4G phones will get it eventually.

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Asus says original Transformer will get Ice Cream Sandwich

The EEE Pad Transformer is an impressive and versatile tablet, and just because Asus is preparing a successor with an insane quad-core processor doesn’t mean it should be left behind. Fortunately, that does not appear to be the case: Pocket-lint is quoting a source inside Asus that says the original Transformer will be upgraded to Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. Unfortunately, the source didn’t give a timeframe for the software update.

Despite running on hardware that’s nearly a year old in development terms, the original Transformer is no slouch when it comes to specifications. The 1GHz Tegra 2 processor and a full gigabyte of memory handle Honeycomb just fine, and should be up to the task of Ice Cream Sandwich without any problem. It’s encouraging to see Asus confirm that ICS is coming to its current customers, especially after chairman Jonney Shih hinted that the upgrade could come before the end of the year.
Currently Google is expected to release the Ice Cream Sandwich open-source code two weeks or so after the Galaxy Nexus launches, and as we’ve been hearing for months, the new operating system is designed to play well with both smartphones and tablets. With the Transformer 2 announcement coming November 9th, it’s entirely possible that we could see the first Ice Cream Sandwich tablets hitting the market before New Years. We’ll keep you updated on the upgrade options for the Transformer and other Honeycomb tablets as news breaks.

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