Ice Cream Sandwich Compatible Devices

On 19th October, 2011, Google announced its much-awaited Android OS upgrade for smartphones and tablet PCs - the Android 4.0 aka Ice Cream Sandwich. It was announced alongside Samsung Galaxy Nexus, which boasts of being the first smartphone to have Android 4.0 on board. Since then, the tech arena has been abuzz with rumors and speculations about this Android OS, with people discussing its features, release date, advantages and disadvantages over rival iOS 5, and so on. Among the numerous things discussed, one of the most frequently discussed aspects is the compatibility of this OS. The question, in particular, is whether this Android upgrade will be available for all the existing Android users or for a chosen few.

Samsung HTCNEW! Sony Motorola LG Other Devices Android 4.0 Compatible Devices

Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) Compatible Devices

Google had earlier revealed that all phones with the Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) OS and tablets with the Android 3.0 (Honeycomb) OS will receive an Android 4.0 upgrade, unless the manufacturer decides otherwise. While some manufacturers, like HTC and Motorola, have gone public with their Ice Cream Sandwich plans, others are yet to decide on the future course of action. That, in turn, has resulted in all the more confusion as to which phones will get Ice Cream Sandwich, and which phones won't. Given below is a list of phones and tablets which will get an official upgrade to Android 4.0 in the course of the next few months.

Samsung
Samsung Italy has confirmed that the company will make the new Android OS upgrade available for its smartphones as well as tablets soon after it is rolled out officially. So the Samsung phones and tabs which will be getting the Android 4.0 upgrade sometime soon are:

• Phones
  
  • Samsung Nexus S^{Now Available!}
  • Samsung Galaxy S II^{Now Available!}
  • Samsung Nexus S 4G^{Now Available!}
  • Samsung Galaxy Note (Q2 2012)
• Tablets
  
  • Galaxy Tab 10.1
  • Galaxy Tab 8.9
  • Galaxy Tab 7.7
  • Galaxy Tab 7 Plus

HTC^NEW!
After keeping its users guessing for a while, HTC finally announced its Android 4.0 update schedule. As we know, the manufacturer had already started rolling out the Ice Cream Sandwich in March, with HTC Vivid becoming the first phone to get the update. According to the HTC official website, most of the devices are scheduled to get updates somewhere between June and July (Details are given below).

• HTC Vivid^{Now Available!}
• HTC Sensation (March-June)
• HTC Sensation 4G (March-June)
• HTC Sensation XE (March-June)
• HTC Sensation XL (April-June)
• HTC Rezound (June-July)
• HTC EVO 3D (June-July)
• HTC EVO Design 4G (June-July)
• HTC EVO 4G+ (May-June)
• HTC Amaze 4G (May-June)
• HTC Desire S (June-July)
• HTC Desire HD (July-August)
• HTC Incredible S (June-July)
• HTC Rhyme (June-July)
• HTC Thunderbolt (July-August)
• HTC Velocity 4G (March-June)

Sony
Those eagerly waiting to hear about the Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) for Sony mobile phones - earlier Sony Ericsson, finally have some good news coming their way. As mentioned earlier, the company has started rolling out the Ice Cream Sandwich for Xperia phones - with the Arc S, Neo V and Ray being the first three devices to receive it. The list of Sony phones that will get the Ice Cream Sandwich upgrade include:

• Sony Ericsson Xperia arc S^{Now Available!}
• Sony Ericsson Xperia neo V^{Now Available!}
• Sony Ericsson Xperia ray^{Now Available!}
• Sony Ericsson Xperia arc (May or June)
• Sony Ericsson Xperia PLAY (May or June)
• Sony Ericsson Xperia neo (May or June)
• Sony Ericsson Xperia mini (May or June)
• Sony Ericsson Xperia mini pro (May or June)
• Sony Ericsson Xperia pro (May or June)
• Sony Ericsson Xperia active (May or June)
• Sony Ericsson Live with Walkman (May or June)

As we mentioned earlier, the users won't receive any notification for this update. Instead, they will have to resort to the list displayed on the Sony Mobile website. The update will be made 'available for download via PC Companion and Bridge for Mac', and not Wi-Fi or 3G as in case of Samsung phones. To see if the upgrade kit for your phone is ready, you can crosscheck the list (which will be updated on a regular basis) with your Sales Item (SI) number - an 8-digit number in the XXXX-XXXX format printed beneath the battery.

Motorola
Even Motorola has announced that it will roll out the Android 4.0 upgrade for its smartphones and tablets. However, more information on the same will only be provided after the upgrade is made public by Google. Motorola smartphones and tablets which will get this update are:

• Phones
  
  • Motorola Droid RAZR
  • Motorola RAZR
  • Motorola Droid BIONIC
• Tablets
  
  • Motorola Xoom^{Now Available!}
  • Motorola Xyboard

LG
Around a week after LG confirmed that they are in the process of planning the Android upgrade for Optimus 2X and other high-end smartphones in an official statement on a social networking website, the company has finally revealed which LG smartphones will get the Ice Cream Sandwich upgrade.

• LG Optimus LTE (Q2 2012)
• LG Optimus 2X (Q2 2012)
• LG Optimus Sol (Q2 2012)
• LG my Touch Q (Q2 2012)
• LG Eclipse (Q2 2012)
• LG Optimus 3D (Q3 2012)
• LG Optimus Black (Q3 2012)
• LG Optimus Big (Q3 2012)
• LG Optimus Q2 (Q3 2012)
• LG Optimus EX (Q3 2012)

Other Phones and Tablets
The list of smartphone manufacturers which plan to switch to Android 4.0 doesn't just end there, with a number of other manufacturers going public with their Android OS upgrade plans. ASUS, for instance, has confirmed that the Eee Pad Family is all set to join the league of Ice Cream Sandwich compatible tablets very soon. So the other phones and tablets which have been confirmed to receive the new Android OS upgrade are:

• Phones
  
  • Asus Padfone
  • Meizu MX
  • Meizu M9
• Tablets
  
  • ASUS Eee Pad Transformer
  • ASUS Eee Pad Transformer Prime^{Now Available!}

Major service providers like AT&T, T-Mobile, and Sprint have also released official statements confirming the Ice Cream Sandwich upgrade for various handsets. While all these manufacturers have revealed their Android 4.0 upgrade ambitions, the road map as to how they will go about it is yet to be finalized. It was initially believed that these manufactures will start rolling out the official Android 4.0 upgrades soon after the launch of Samsung Galaxy Nexus, but now it is said that this will happen only somewhere in the first half of 2012.

Now that Google has released the source code for Android 4.0 'Ice Cream Sandwich', it is but obvious that the developers will try to tweak it and run it on various other devices - including the ones which have denied this upgrade by the manufacturer. So you don't have to get disheartened if you don't find your device in this list, as sooner or later, the developers are bound to come up with some tweaks which will help you run Ice Cream Sandwich on any phone or tablet which is compatible to the upgrade in terms of hardware.

"We're rolling out Android 4.0, Ice Cream Sandwich, to GSM/UMTS Nexus S devices over the coming month, starting today. Enjoy the tasty update!"

After a weeklong testing of the new Android OS update by its employees, Google has finally announced that the much-awaited upgrade will be available for general users from today. As you see in the official statement above, the update will be released gradually over the period of next one month. So T-Mobile and AT&T users will get this Android update today, while Sprint users will have to wait for some for time before they get to hear this good news.