Ice Cream Sandwich Release Date: Which Smartphones Will Receive ICS Updates?
Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich and its flagship smartphone, the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, will be released in November, but consumers are anticipating an operating system update for older Android phones.
The Nexus S is the first smartphone expected to receive an Ice Cream Sandwich operating system update. The Samsung Galaxy S2, the Motorola Droid Razr and Droid Bionic may receive updates in the future.
All of the phones currently run on Android 2.3 Gingerbread.
Google representatives said any Gingerbread powered phone has the potential to run Ice Cream Sandwich, however, it has been confirmed that the HTC Nexus One is too old to receive an update.
Google's Product Management Director for Android Hugo Barra announced on Oct. 26 that the 1 GHz Scorpion processor that powers the Nexus One is too slow to run Ice Cream Sandwich.
Barra, as well as several other sources, have confirmed that the Nexus S will receive an Ice Cream Sandwich update "in a matter of weeks."
Gaurav Hasabnis, an industry analyst and contributing editor for Fonearena.com, left a comment on Twitter on Oct. 25, hinting that the Galaxy S2 should receive Ice Cream Sandwich update by 2012.
However, Samsung has not confirmed any Ice Cream Sandwich updates for its devices.
Motorola announced via Twitter that its Droid Bionic and Droid Razr smartphones, and the Xoom tablet, would receive an Ice Cream Sandwich update within six weeks of the operating system’s release.
Droid-Life, a technology website, has since clarified the company will actually be announcing the release schedule of its Ice Cream Sandwich devices within six weeks of the operating system’s debut.