Samsung Galaxy S3 gets a release date, plus some photos

Earlier in the week, we reported on the hardware of the upcoming Samsung Galaxy S III. The handset maker has listed the "carrier preference" list for the phone on its U.S. signup page, and although it has not been confirmed, the following carriers are listed: Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, MetroPCS, US Cellular, and C Spire. 

Samsung says the device will hit Europe on May 29th and the U.S. and Canada "in June." In Europe the phone will be a Vodafone exclusive for the first 30 days. HIt the break link for some press photos.

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Samsung Galaxy Nexus available on Sprint with Google Wallet

The Samsung Galaxy Nexus is now available to Sprint users. Like its CDMA counterpart on Verizon, the flagship Android 4.0 phone will have LTE support, but unlike the Verizon version, the Sprint model will give access to Google Wallet, an NFC app which turns the phone into a virtual wallet. 

The device will sell for $200 with contract, and is available now. 

One catch with the phone being LTE, however, is that Sprint does not actually have an LTE network yet. The company is transitioning from WiMax to LTE and the network will only be available in 10 cities over the summer before rolling out more widespread in 2013. 

In terms of Google Wallet, the mobile payment system is fully supported and Google will even give you $50 for activating within a week of buying the phone.

Ice Cream Sandwich now on 2.9 precent of devices, 63.7% still using Gingerbread

Android Ice Cream Sandwich has seen some growth since its launch half a year ago, but there are still very few devices adopting the Google OS. Usage has grown from 0.6 percent in January to a whopping 2.9 percent in March, but that is still a far cry from the amount of users running Gingerbread which is at 63.7 percent.  The Android user base is upgrading slowly and charts like these will give developers ideas on what and how to develop apps.  So it may be a while before we see ICS specific apps in the Google Play store.

Google Wallet Prepaid cards back up. Gives you $5 for your patience

If you opened up your Google Wallet app lately, you will notice that you have been granted an extra five dollars to your prepaid card as an apology for the recent security SNAFU. Also, Google fired off an email to existing Wallet users stating the following:

We are happy to announce that you can now add the Google Prepaid Card back to your wallet with the newest version of Google Wallet, and any funds that you previously had on the card should be restored, unless you contacted Money Network and asked for a refund of those funds. To add the Google Prepaid Card back, you will first need to update your Google Wallet application to the most recent version.

Just in case you haven't been following along, here is a quick recap on the entire Wallet saga. On February 9th, it was discovered that it was trivial to access Google Wallet prepaid accounts on a stolen phone by clearing the app's data and re-provisioning it. Google disabled creating new cards, then re-enabled that but left re-provisioning disabled, then re-enabled the whole thing by securing it with a Google Account password. If you've been living through this entire ordeal as a Google Wallet customer, five bucks seems like the least the company could do.

This fix comes in the form of an update for the Android app, if you are a Verizon Galaxy Nexus owner like I am, you can't simply go to the Google Play Store and download this update since Big Red is still blocking the use of the app. Lucky for us however, the good fellows over at XDA have pulled the APK and you can find all the info on how to get your hands on the latest version at the reference link below.

Samsung Galaxy S2 to get ICS this Saturday UPDATE: Just kidding

Two days. That's the amount of time remaining for you, dear Samsung Galaxy S II owner, before the long-awaited upgrade to Android 4.0 -- the dessert known as Ice Cream Sandwich -- becomes readily available for your device through Kies. Naturally, this is going to be adorned with Sammy's TouchWiz UI, and it's only going to be ready on the GT-I9100 (global version) for now. According to the notes, we can expect to see Face Unlock, Android Beam and data usage included, and multitasking and some apps will be improved. We're sure this is just the tip of the feature iceberg, however. Curiously, the site specifies that because of "ICS OS feature," Flash and Bluetooth 3.0 HS won't be supported.

The update will come to individual carriers and their own GSII variants eventually, after a hefty amount of testing on their end, but at least this -- combined with HTC's rollout of Sense 3.6 to the Nordic countries today -- means the ICS ball is officially rolling for custom skins. Let's just hope it's going down a steep hill. If you happen to be packing a GT-I9100, be sure to check the links below for the full set of instructions, and let us know what you find.

Update: Samsung's just tweeted that March 10th date is (sadly) wrong. It added that once the upgrade schedule is concrete, it'll confirm through its dedicated Twitter account.

Ubuntu Desktop for Android

Canonical has announced Ubuntu for Android. Your Android smartphone can now fully scale up in to a full fledged desktop computer!

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Are we going to see Android Jelly Bean as early as this summer?

Last October all the hype was around Google's newest iteration of their mobile operating system Android, named Ice Cream Sandwich.  Yet after five months, there is still only one device currently supporting the OS, the Samsung Galaxy Nexus.  Although there have been promises that the operating system will get pushed to a number of other devices, we will not see those until late this year. 

And now, sources close to the matter, are stating that the next operating system for Android could be out as soon as this June.  The next mobile OS, codenamed "Jelly Bean" will primarily be geared toward tablets. The OS will be a slight improvement upon ICS with the added ability to dual boot between Android and other operating systems.  Namely, it is aimed at dual booting between Android and Windows 8, making the Microsoft mobile operating system even that more diverse.

This is all speculation at this point, but with Windows slated for a fall release, Android Jelly Bean could see its debut just prior to that.

Apple going after Android 4.0 and the Galaxy Nexus

Apple has moved its attack on Samsung back to the U.S., after spending a year trying to take the company down in Germany and other European nations. The latest complaint directly targets the Galaxy Nexus, the first Android 4.0 device to be released. The company is looking for an injunction on sales of the device in the U.S. 

Four patents are in focus, including one for Siri, one for unified search, one for slide-to-unlock technology and word completion for touch screens. 

All of the patents are very new, and were issued in the last few months. Patent specialist Florian Mueller says the patents "are the patent equivalent of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse." Because Apple already won its ITC suit for the "data tapping" patent, the company will almost certainly win again this time, adds Mueller. 

Android 4.0.4 ROM leaks out for the Galaxy Nexus on Verizon

A little gem known as Android 4.0.4 wriggled its way onto the interweb last week, and while it was geared specifically for Sprint's Nexus S 4G, a similar version has just cropped up for the CDMA / LTE Galaxy Nexus from Verizon. While it's only available for tenacious users who've unlocked their bootloader, it seems that a host of improvements are on deck for the official release. First and foremost, the ROM is said to be noticeably faster, with the speed gains also extending to the web browser and the device's boot time. The release also packs a new radio file that (at least from user impressions) offers more seamless transitions between the CDMA and LTE networks. All in all, the rest of the changes are rather minor, but if you'd like to join the bleeding edge, you'll find everything you need in the source link below.

XDA-Developers

Google puts out a style guide for devs of ICS

Matias Duarte just dropped by The Verge trailer at CES 2012 to fill them in about Google's new effort for ensuring consistency in the Android user experience: a style guide. And since I am now best friends with Josh Topolsky, we've got the scoop too! (kidding, he merely shook my hand). According to The Verge:

Android OEMs and app developers will be provided with a set of in-depth guidelines on how to build atop of Android. All the instructions will be made available on a new website, Android Design, a subset of the Android Developers site, which will be built out over time with ever more granular and detailed best practice advice.

The initial version of the guide includes information like typography, color palettes, and other stylistic advice, as well as a breakdown of the components making up the Android UI. Matias stresses that what we're seeing today is a purely optional aid for Android designers, not something that Google will seek to enforce.

Lenovo's new smartphone: The K800

Of all the showstoppers at CES, Lenovo's new K800 smartphone, the first in the world to run on Intel's Medfield chipset, is among the top. I liked the design of the phone's hardware, though it's a little thick. It will run a heavily skinned version of Android 4.0 (though the model I saw ran Android 2.3.7), which looks similar to the skins on Lenovo's tablets. It's got a 1.6GHz Intel processor, a 4.5-inch 720p HD TFT display, an 8-megapixel camera, a WCDMA HSPA+ 21Mbps wireless radio, 802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 3.0, and GPS onboard. It's also got WiDi onboard, which Lenovo says "enables screen sync to a TV at 720p." The phone felt pretty snappy, but I'll reserve real judgment for when I can spend more time with the device. It's going to launch in China in the first half of this year, and there's no word on when (or if) it will be available stateside.

Sprint's flagship ICS and LTE device

The talk of the show so far has been lumped into two categories: LTE and ICS.  Yes indeed, Ice Cream Sandwich and Long Term Evolution are the buzz words and on top of that, the announcement earlier that Sprint will have the Galaxy Nexus very soon has myself and all of us here giddy with excitement.  So when David Owens, VP of Product at Sprint took the stage at the Engadget booth, all ears were tuned in to hear about one of the Now Network's inaugural entries into the world of LTE sometime in the first half of 2012. As was expected, the exterior of both the Verizon and Sprint phones are nearly twins, with differences only found in the branding and the inclusion of Google Wallet, not to mention the exclusion of pre-loaded bloatware, on Sprint's version. Kind of wishing I had held out for the Sprint version, but what are you going to do.  More on this when I get some hand on time with the device.

Ice Cream Sandwich available on Nexus S GSM devices today!

You heard right -- Google itself has just affirmed on its own social networking branch that Android 4.0 will begin to hit GSM / UMTS Nexus S devices over the coming month, with the luckiest few to get it today. Outside of that, there's no more specific time table to be had, but if you're able to suck it down in the coming hours, definitely sound off on the improvements in comments below.

UPDATE: Looks like the package is available to download and install (at your own risk, of course) for T-Mobile's Nexus S.

It is official! The Samsung Galaxy Nexus on sale December 15 on Verizon Wireless for $299.99

Finally, it is official! Verizon has put an end to all the speculation and announced the release date and price for the LTE-capable, Ice Cream Sandwich-equipped Galaxy Nexus. It launches tomorrow, December 15th, and will cost $299.99 with a two-year contract.

Galaxy Nexus being sold early at Best Buy and certain Verizon stores. (UPDATE: Confirmed!)

After all the false promises from Samsung we'd heard that many Verizon, Best Buy, and Radio Shack locations already had the elusive LTE Samsung Galaxy Nexus in stock, and it was inevitable that consumers would do their best to try to buy it ahead of the scheduled launch date — currently rumored to be December 15th. Today, some lucky individuals were able to do just that. Droid Life has posted images from a reader that claims to have picked up a unit from a Verizon retail store, while Google+ user Dave Fayram bought his new phone at a Best Buy. There appears to have been some confusion at Best Buy locations today, confirming that they were a go for sales this morning. Other locations continued to state that the device was not yet released and would simply be available "soon."

The phone was priced at $299.99 on-contract as expected, and screenshots indicate it comes with at least three different Verizon apps pre-loaded: the My Verizon Mobile account management tool, Verizon Login, and VZ Backup Assistant (of course, thanks to Ice Cream Sandwich, all three can be easily disabled). With the Red Menace still refusing to make an official announcement, no doubt many more will try to "encourage" retail employees to sell the phone early. If you're so inclined, please be aware that Verizon doesn't take pre-launch sales lightly when it comes to employees and retailers, so if you're denied it's better to commiserate with your local representatives than berate them. While we'd like to say an official launch date will be announced soon, unfortunately neither Verizon nor its retail partners are offering any new information at this time.

Update on Monday, December 12, 2011 at 10:25AM by Dustin Turley

Confirmed!  Just called four different Radio Shacks in the San Diego area and they have the Galaxy Nexus in stock and all sales representatives say the units will be for sale "very soon"

Galaxy Nexus arrives for Verizon on December 9th

We have all been impatiently awaiting its arrival, but fear not Android fans, the Verizon version of the Galaxy Nexus is almost here... or so we've been told. A tipster sent in a shot to Engadget of an internal VZW email outlining the next few weeks of launches and in-store displays.  The largest amongst those is the December 8th arrival of banners, signs and other marketing materials for the world's first Ice Cream Sandwich handset. Engadget reports that posters and all the relevant merchandise  will be rolled out after close of business and the Nexus will officially go on sale December 9th. So lets rejoice...and hope the other carriers that we actually want the phone on, will closely follow suit.

Galaxy Nexus Shipping in America Now

To hell with pre-orders. Americans more anxious to blow $750 on the planet's first Ice Cream Sandwich handset than anything on Black Friday can do so right now, as Samsung's Galaxy Nexus is shipping from the warehouses at Expansys. Engadget reports that orders placed today are shipping out, with the aforementioned price getting you an unlocked 16GB GSM (HSPA+) build that plays nice with T-Mobile and AT&T's 3G bands. 

Motorola Announces what phones will get ICS and when

Motorola has announced when and what devices will receive the hotly anticipated Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0 update, Google's biggest Android update ever.

The company says a number of devices will receive the update exactly 6 weeks after Google releases the final version of the operating system.

Google and Samsung unveiled the Galaxy Nexus (with 4.0) last week to great applause. The device will go on sale next month and will be the first device with the upgrade.

Motorola says the first three devices to receive the update are the Droid Razr, Droid Bionic, and the Xoom tablet.

Additionally, the company says they'll confirm other devices after Google pushes the final operating system to the public.

Motorola RAZR to get ICS soon?

Samsung got the first shot at Android 4.0 with the Galaxy Nexus, but it'll only be a matter of time before we begin seeing it show up on other devices. HTC has already made an official statement on its plans, and now it's Motorola's turn. Alain Mutricy, SVP Portfolio and Product Management, was in Germany talking up the European announcement of the RAZR, and slipped in a few details about Ice Cream Sandwich. Mutricy mentioned that while the company's new flagship device was designed for Gingerbread, plans have been set to introduce the latest version of Android in the start of 2012, with a more precise date naturally on its way. Given past experience, however, it's probable that the unbranded version of the device will get the refresh ahead of the Droid RAZR on Verizon, so US users may need to exercise a wee bit of patience here. Regardless, it's time for the competition to step up.  If the RAZR is next in line to get the OTA update, the Galaxy Nexus will have the spotlight all to itself for a fair amount of time.

Android 4.0: Ice-Cream Sandwich

"Android should make me powerful and smart", that’s what people think when they see Android powered devices, so Developers for the software took the opinion of the people and developed an Android system that can compliment our desires. Follow after the break for the major features of the new Android 4.0 Ice-Cream Sandwich software:

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