Skip to main content

Rumor: Android’s Ice Cream Sandwich might come as soon as October

Android Ice Cream Sandwich largeIt’s no secret that Apple will be releasing its new iPhone at some point in the near future. Rumors have the announcement as early as this month, and a release date sometime in September. There is a rumor that Google might be moving up the release date of its Ice Cream Sandwich flavored version of Android to compete with the iPhone.

When the new Android operating system was announced, all we were told is that it would come out some time this year. The last set of rumors we heard put the release around Thanksgiving, just in time for the holiday shopping season. Google might be trying to rain on Apple’s iPhone parade by moving up the release date to sometime in October. The report states that Google might be making the move to help keep original Droid owners on Android, rather than jumping ship once their two year contracts are up.

Ice Cream Sandwich is more than just an update to Google’s phone operating system. ICS will be a unified operating system that users will experience on tablets, phones, and Google TV. Google hopes that it will allow for a seamless ecosystem across all of Google’s platforms.  This would be very nice, seeing as Honeycomb and Gingerbread are similar but are not interchangeable.

If there are to be devices launched in October, the safe money would be on a Nexus phone, and maybe even a Nexus-branded tablet. If the rumored specs are true about the next-generation Nexus phone, it will be a real beast of a phone. The phone is rumored to have best-in-class specs across the board, and if it follows tradition will be the first device with ICS.  There is still no word on who will be making the Nexus phone for Google, but the two main front runners based on previous Nexus devices have to be HTC and Samsung.

Editors' Recommendations

Mike Dunn
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Mike graduated from University of Arizona with a degree in poetry, and made his big break by writing love sonnets to the…
Google launches Switch to Android app to chirping crickets
Switch to Android app displaying Step 2 of 4 for transferring data from iPhone to new Android device.

Google has quietly launched the Switch to Android app on the App Store to the sound of chirping crickets. As reported by TechCrunch, the tech giant rolled out the app on Monday to make it easier for users who want to switch to an Android device, whether they want to try out Android for the first time or they just miss having one of the best Android phones in their hand. It was a quiet launch, so nobody paid any mind to it -- until now.

The Switch to Android website gives you steps on how to copy all the data in your iPhone -- contacts, photos, videos, calendar events, etc. -- and send them to the new Android device of your choice. It also instructs you to turn off iMessage, so you'll be able to see important text messages once you open your new device, and request Apple to transfer a copy of your data from iCloud. The app works in a similar manner to Move to iOS, which Apple launched in 2015 to ease users' transition from Android to iPhone.

Read more
Google Pixel 5 vs. iPhone 11: Should you buy Android’s best or iOS’s finest?
Google Pixel 5 Front

The Google Pixel 5 is very much a Google flagship smartphone. Lacking some of the bells and whistles of more expensive phones by Samsung or Apple, it nonetheless gets the fundamentals spot-on. Its camera is unsurprisingly excellent, and it comes with very slick software, a sharp touchscreen, 5G support, and also a much bigger battery (compared to the Pixel 4). It's also priced at a reasonable $700, making it a direct competitor to last year's iPhone 11, which also begins at $699.

However, which phone is better: The Pixel 5 or iPhone 11? We pit the two devices against each other in a head-to-head, looking at how they compare in a number of categories. This should tell you all you need to know about the two smartphones.
Specs

Read more
6 surprising reasons you should buy an iPhone instead of Android
iphone 11 pro max vs pixel 4 xl screen

We have heard the same arguments from the Android faithful for so long that they have become accepted wisdom. If you want a cheap phone, you need an Android. If you want to make a phone personally yours, you need Android. If you want the coolest new features, you need Android.

I question these pillars of the pro-Android argument. What if an iPhone actually costs less than an Android? What if customization is also possible on the iPhone? And what if all that Android hardware bragging is just hot air?
The iPhone is a better budget device
You can easily find a great phone on either side for $1,000, but what if you only have $300 to spend, or less? Common wisdom says buy an Android, and big brands like Samsung, Motorola, and LG offer fine phones in that range. At Apple, the cheapest new phone is a $399 iPhone SE.

Read more