Just when you think that Samsung is forcing you to upgrade your Galaxy S II, the Korean phone maker finally decided to deliver its much-awaited Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS) update for Singapore users in the past few days.

It has released a “DXLP9″ version of the phone’s firmware, which essentially updates the current Android software onboard to version 4.0 or the much-talked about ICS version.

It brings along enhancements like a niftier task switcher and a more powerful Gmail app, along with cosmetic upgrades like smarter icons and fonts.  …

Guess which Chinese company is back in the news with a pleasant surprise?

After being the first company in the world to roll out the Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) update to the Honor, Huawei said on Friday that an update is now also available for the MediaPad Android tablet as well.

Unveiled last year at CommunicAsia, it has been running Android 3.2. Besides the expected feature and performance boost that comes with Android 4.0, the software update will also let the MediaPad send SMSes and make voice calls.  …

When everyone was going ga-ga last week over Apple’s new iPad, I went out to a small store in Funan and bought a Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7, a tablet that I had under-estimated when I first saw it earlier this year.

I had thought this was simply a refresh of the 7-inch Galaxy Tab that marked the Korean firm’s entry into the tablet market in 2010. But I changed my mind the moment I saw the screen on the new tablet. It is sharp, bright, has great contrast, and is quite stunning.
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At this time last year, Samsung was agonising over how slim its Galaxy Tab 10.1 was going to be to challenge Apple’s iPad 2.

Just like Apple this time, its updated Galaxy Tab 2 tablets, unveiled recently at the Mobile World Congress show in Barcelona, seem more poised and you could say, possibly more confident of the response from potential buyers.

Besides having Google’s Android 4.0 or Ice Cream Sandwich operating system out of the box, no big changes exist in the two versions of the Galaxy Tab 2, either in their 7-inch or 10.1-inch versions.

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The Korean phone maker finally released its official Ice Cream Sandwich update for the popular Galaxy S II phone, after weeks of leaked rumours that it would be available this month.

The update brings the S II on par, at least in terms of the software, with the Galaxy Nexus, along with several other features like an improved Gmail experience, a new task manager and improved browser.

However, the release is only available for South Korea and several European countries like Poland, Hungary and Sweden, and there is no news still of availability for Singapore users, who have had the phone since last year.

Samsung said on a Facebook post today that it was still working with other wireless carriers in other markets to get the Android 4.0 operating system out to more users.

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The Samsung Galaxy Nexus, the Google phone that had fans waiting for months, is finally here in Singapore this Saturday with a small bonus – it will come in both black and white.

The first model here to sport the new Android 4.0 OS out of the box, the top-end phone had been delayed from its original January launch, missing both the Christmas and immediate post-Chinese New Year buying sprees.  …

Motorola is putting up a lighter, more powerful follow-up to its Xoom tablet for sale here in Singapore from today, but with a rather hefty price of S$978.

The new Xoom 2, which will come with both 3G and Wi-Fi, sports a 10.1-inch screen and a faster processor, but will run only on Android Honeycomb (3.2) for now. It should likely be upgradeable to the newest Android 4.0 later in the year, if Motorola Singapore follows the practice of its US headquarters.

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If you still have any doubts as to whether Huawei is in the Android game for the long haul, take a look at the screenshot above.

That’s right, shortly after its launch in Singapore, the Chinese manufacturer has beat every other big-name Android manufacturers to the game and released an Ice Cream Sandwich update to its Honor smartphone.

The update can be downloaded via Huawei’s website. Click on the second tab, which means “software” and you’ll see Ice Cream Sandwich listed. The file is a pretty hefty 150MB download, and there is not one, but two builds for you to play around with. …

One of the most loved Android phones and certainly the most long-lasting – the Google Nexus One – looks to finally have a worthy successor in the Samsung-made Galaxy Nexus out in Singapore in January 2012.

For a long time, the Nexus One’s sleek lines, zippy performance and first access to the latest Google Android OS releases have made it a phone to cherish for folks who bought it when it first hit the stores about two years ago.

Since then, brighter and better screens, as well as dual-core chips and faster graphics processors have appeared on newer gizmos, but the Nexus One’s basic design and simple Android OS without any third-party manufacturer add-ons still kept it a favourite among Android geeks.

In the Galaxy Nexus, they will find a worthy upgrade. The Nexus model immediately after the Nexus One, the Nexus S made by Samsung last year, was interesting, but it didn’t feel as slim, as sturdy or as much of an upgrade to the original. …

The Galaxy Nexus, the first of many phones bearing Google’s latest Android 4.0 operating system, will hit the shelves in Singapore in January 2012, to the delight of Android fans who have waited a long time for a new Google-branded device.

Though it won’t make it in time for the holiday season, the Samsung-made gizmo will come with all the goodies on the “Ice Cream Sandwich” OS that were unveiled in Hong Kong about three weeks ago. Among these: a face recognition feature that unlocks the phone by detecting a user’s face, and updated Gmail features.

However, all the bells and whistles will come at a cool S$948, said Samsung at a regional media event.

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