IS YOUR ANDROID DEVICE GOING TO GET ICE CREAM SANDWICH?

Android 4.0 is coming, and now that we know exactly what the Ice Cream Sandwich is made of, only one question remains: exactly which devices will get the green light to upgrade to the newest version of Google's mobile OS? Details are beginning to trickle out from the woodwork, and below the break you can check out our list of lucky devices that have been confirmed to get the official refresh at some point in time.

ASUS

Confirmed:

• Padfone
• Transformer Prime
• Eee Pad Transformer

Rejected:


HTC

Confirmed:

• Rezound
• Vivid

Rejected:

• Nexus One

LG

Confirmed:

• Optimus X2

Rejected:

Meizu

Confirmed:

• Meizu MX, M9

Rejected:

Motorola

Confirmed:

• Droid/Motorola Razr
• Droid Bionic
• Xoom
• Xoom 2, Xoom 2 Media Edition

Rejected:

Sony Ericsson

Confirmed:

• 2011 Xperia smartphone lineup

Rejected:

GAMESTOP STARTS SELLING ANDROID TABLETS PRE-LOADED WITH 7 GAMES

GameStop recently began carrying several Android Honeycomb tablets pre-loaded with seven free games. It was originally rumored that the game retailer would begin selling its own custom Honeycomb tablet, although it appears that is no longer the case. GameStop currently lists the Acer Iconia, Acer Iconia Tab A500, ASUS Eee Pad Transformer, Motorola XOOM, ViewSonic VPAD7 and Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 in stock with prices starting at $300. The seven free games include Dead Space, Madden NFL, Monster Madness, Sonic CD, Re-Load, Riptide GP and Cordy. GameStop is also bundling a special tablet-friendly own-brand Bluetooth controller with its slates for an additional $39. The devices are currently only available in 200 of GameStop’s stores, although you can also purchase one directly from the company’s website.

MOTOROLA OFFICIALLY ANNOUNCES XOOM 2 AND XOOM 2 MEDIA EDITION

Motorola on Thursday announced its new XOOM 2 and XOOM 2 Media Edition tablets. The XOOM 2 runs Android 3.2 Honeycomb and is equipped with a dual-core 1.2GHz processor, a 10.1-inch display, 1GB of RAM, 16GB of storage, a 5-megapixel camera and a 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera for video chat. Motorola said the display, which has a special “splashguard” for added protection, is brighter and more vibrant than the screen used on the original XOOM. Motorola also pre-loaded the XOOM 2 with several enterprise apps in hopes of attracting the corporate market. The XOOM 2 Media Edition also runs Android 3.2 Honeycomb but is thinner, lighter, has a smaller 8.2-inch display. It also lacks the enterprise focus of the XOOM 2. Motorola said the tablets will be available in various retail outlets throughout Ireland and the United Kingdom in November but did not provide any details on a U.S. launch date.

LEAK: MOTOROLA XOOM 2 IMAGE AND PRICING

A leaked advertisement obtained by Engadget suggests the XOOM 2 will be offered for €399.99 (US $550.75) by Carphone Warehouse in Ireland just time for the holiday shopping season. The XOOM 2 is reportedly equipped with a 10.1-inch display, a dual-core 1.2GHz processor, a camera capable of recording 1080p video and 1GB of RAM. It is also said to be 9-millimeters thick, which is just a hair fatter than the 8.6-millimeter thick Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1. Motorola has yet to officially announce the XOOM 2, but we wouldn’t be surprised to hear more on it as the holidays get closer.

MOTOROLA SLOW IN RETURNING LTE UPGRADED XOOMS

Consider yourself lucky if you sent off your Motorola Xoom for the 4G LTE upgrade and got it back in about a week, as promised. It seems that Motorola Mobility is now having some trouble holding up their end of the bargain on the quick turnaround. In a note to eager, empty-handed slate faithful, the company informed those waiting that it's experiencing delays and will let customers know when their device finally ships. No comments from Motorola on the cause for the delay or how much long it will take.

VERIZON BEGINS FREE 4G LTE UPGRADE FOR MOTORLA XOOM

Motorola XOOM owners who want to take advantage of the promised 4G LTE upgrade can finally begin to do so beginning Thursday. Once a customer signs up to receive the upgrade, Verizon Wireless will send the shipping instructions along with a box. The option is free and Verizon Wireless said changes to data plans are not required. Verizon also advises that XOOM owners back up their devices before sending them in for the upgrade. The process is expected to take six business days. Verizon Wireless also announced on Wednesday that it will begin to sell the Motorola XOOM with 4G LTE pre-installed for $499.99 starting October 13th.

LEAK: MORE MOTOROLA XOOM 2 PICS

More pictures of the Motorola Xoom 2 tablets have leaked. The tablets are only about 9mm thick, about the same thickness as an iPhone 4. It will come in two sizes, 8.2" and 10.1". In the pictures we can see the rear buttons that appear to be on/off and volume. The leaker has indicated both tablets, codenamed Fleming, will sport a 5 MP HD rear facing camera and LTE. The OS is currently Android 3.2, but said to be very buggy requiring frequent reboots. Click the link here to see the new leaked pictures.

LEAK: MOTOROLA XOOM 2?

Who's looking sleek in angled corners? Why, it's the Motorola Xoom 2 -- at least it might be, according to Droid-Life and the folks that leaked it the above image. The outfit's informant tells them that the pictured device is flaunting micro-USB and HDMI ports, a SIM card slot and a few large, flush buttons on its back. Is it the real deal? Well, we can't say it looks much like Verizon's door-destroying tablet, or even the shy slate that we spied on Motorola Mobility's leaked website redesign -- but we wouldn't put too much stock into ambiguous renders and inconclusive advertisements anyway.

FTC INVESTIGATING GOOGLE'S ANDROID

Antitrust investigators with the Federal Trade Commission are focusing on Google’s Android operating system and web search services, The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday. Reportedly, there is some concern that Google prevents its Android partners from implementing services provided by Google’s competitors to their smartphones.

One example comes from backin May, when Google blocked Motorola from using Skyhook Wireless’ location services on its phones. The FTC is also investigating whether Google promotes its own services over its rivals, and whether it actually uses data that its competitors have collected, such as local reviews, to populate its own results.

The FTC announced that it was opening an investigation into Google’s business practices on June 24th and, at the time, Google said that it was not clear what the FTC’s concerns were. The search giant said that it will cooperate fully and will continue to follow its five pillars: “do what’s best for the user,” “provide the most relevant answers as quickly as possible,” “label advertisements clearly,” “be transparent,” and “loyalty, not lock-in.”

LEAK: XOOM 4G UPGRADE COMING IN SEPTEMBER

To say we've been patiently waiting for the Xoom's promised 4G upgrade would certainly be an understatement. It looks like those of you counting on blistering speeds this summer are flat out of luck, as the LTE overhaul apparently won't begin until fall. Droid-Life's got a snap of a seemingly official Verizon memo, which alleges that the FCC-espied gratis upgrade will apparently land sometime in September. Also mentioned are links to Big Red's website on how to backup and package one's slate for its eventual voyage back to Moto's mothership. Hop on over to the source to see the full communiqué, and peep the more coverage links if you enjoy being prepared entirely too far in advance.

LEAK: MOTOROLA ALREADY BUILDING XOOM REPLACEMENT WITH ICE CREAM SANDWICH AND HI-RES SCREEN

Motorola has already built and is testing prototypes of the XOOM’s successor, Fudzilla said on Thursday. The device is reportedly much thinner than the XOOM and packs a 10-inch display with a 4:3 aspect ratio and an impressive 2048 x 1536-pixel resolution. While known specs are currently slim, the new tablet apparently runs Android 4.0 “Ice Cream Sandwich” and it’s possible that it will be powered by NVIDIA’s brand new quad-core Kal-El processor. Fudzilla said it’s possible Motorola will launch the tablet sometime this year, but it remains unclear if this will be the previously leaked XOOM 2 or possibly another XOOM tablet.

WIFI XOOM RECEIVING ANDROID 3.2 UPDATE

Motorola began issuing the Android 3.2 (Honeycomb) update to Wi-Fi XOOM owners on Tuesday. The patch reportedly adds support for the tablet’s SD card slot and also features a new screen zooming feature that will allow users to resize mobile applications so that they fit the screen appropriately. Android 3.2 will also add support for smaller tablets with 7-inch screens, many of which currently run older versions of Android such as Gingerbread.

LEAK: VERIZON VIDEO SHOWS UNKNOWN TABLET, POSSIBLY XOOM 2

The guys over at Droid-Life spotted a VZW ad starring a mysterious new Honeycomb tablet, which to our ninja-trained eyes looks to exhibit many of the design elements of Motorola's Xoom. It could, of course, be just about anything, given that Verizon yanked the video almost as soon as the above screengrab was lifted, but the rear of this 10(ish)-inch tablet looks very much like a Xoom designed to be used in portrait orientation. We know Moto has a Xoom 2 cooking in the oven and it's not unreasonable to surmise that Verizon is putting together the finishing touches on a promo campaign for it.

MOTOROLA DROPS MOTORBLUR

Motorola introduced its MOTOBLUR user interface and software service with the debut of the Motorola CLIQ back in 2009, but now it appears that moniker’s days are coming to an end. Just yesterday the company unveiled two new Android smartphones for Sprint and Virgin Mobile: the Photon 4G and the Motorola Triumph. The Motorola Photon 4G clearly sports Motorola’s custom user interface, but there was absolutely no mention of the name.

Sources confirmed that Motorola will phase out referring to its UI as MOTOBLUR. Perhaps the move is related to Motorola’s purchase of Three Laws Mobile (3LM) earlier this year, which suggests that an entirely new UI is in the works. Either way, it’s clear that customers didn’t care for the original service and UI, but the bits and pieces that Motorola continues to use seems to be working well for the company.

LEAK: MOTOROLA UPCOMING DEVICES

Motorola inadvertently went live with an upcoming website redesign on Tuesday evening, revealing six unannounced devices set to be released in the near future, reports claim. Before Motorola was able to pull the test site, cell phone blog Pocketnow.com was able to procure some telling screen grabs.

Devices pictured include Motorola’s upcoming second-generation Android tablet, the XOOM 2, a watch phone codenamed “Tracey XL” after fictitious crime-fighting gadget hound Dick Tracey, and four smartphones: the ultra-thin Motorola “Slimline” and Motorola “Zaha,” the upcoming 4G LTE-enabled Motorola “Targa” and the Motorola “Pearl.” No further information about the devices was made available by the screenshots.

ASUS UNVEILS PADFONE

ASUS on Monday unveiled its second convertible tablet just ahead of Computex 2011 in Taipei, Taiwan. Using what ASUS calls the “n+1″ concept, which refers to taking a current product and adding a single change that allows the product to evolve beyond its current capability, ASUS sought to simplify the process of moving between a tablet and a phone.

The result is a unique 10.1-inch tablet that acts as dock for a 4.3-inch Android smartphone dubbed Padfone. Similar to Motorola’s “webtop” design that allows a smartphone to be docked in a laptop, ASUS’ Padfone smartphone powers the tablet when it is docked. All of the data stored on the smartphone is accessible on the tablet’s display, but the UI is tweaked and enlarged to better accomodate various functions. ASUS’ first convertible design, the Eee Pad Transformer, is in high demand in every market where it is available, and ASUS clearly hopes to build on that success with the Padfone.

DROID X GETTING GINGERBREAD TOMORROW, FRIDAY MAY 27

On Wednesday Verizon Wireless announced that Droid X users would start receiving the update on Friday, May 27. According to Verizon, enhancements that come with the update include a new user interface with new colors, a download manager for your apps and attachments, faster access to the numeric keyboard mode, and autosuggestions to group your contacts faster.

Update instructions are posted here. You can either download it manually, which is useful when you're roaming, or wait for the over-the-air update.

This means that a Motorola employee wasn't fibbing on Monday when he told a forum of disgruntled Droid users, all still running Android 2.2 Froyo, that their Gingerbread updates were on the way. He specified that Droid X was scheduled to receive the update by "the end of the second quarter of the year," (i.e. June), barring Verizon's approval. Other Droid phones are scheduled to receive the update by the end of the third quarter, he said.

MOTOROLA CONFIRMS GINGERBREAD UPDATE FOR MOST DROID SMARTPHONES

If you own a Droid X, Droid 2 (or Droid 2 Global,) or Droid Pro, Motorola has good news for you. Android 2.3 “Gingerbread” will make its way to your device, and according to Motorola support, you should get it before the end of the summer. Additionally, the Gingerbread update will include updated support for Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync, something that corporate Droid owners have been waiting for.

The Droid X will go first, according to Motorola, and should get an over-the-air update before the end of June. The Droid Pro, Droid 2, and Droid 2 Global will all get their updates before the end of the Q3 2011, meaning before the end of September, as long as Verizon approves and pushes the update to users. Granted, users who have rooted their devices likely already have Gingerbread ROMs. The Droid X, however, has been notoriously difficult to root, so the upgrade is good news for Droid X owners.

NVIDIA CEO SMACKS ANDROID TABLET SALES AROUND

It won't have escaped your attention that just about every Honeycomb tablet shipping in the first half of this year features, or will feature, NVIDIA's Tegra 2 hardware. Unfortunately for NVIDIA, reception for the Android 3.0 slates has been a little underwhelming, and the company's Chief Eloquence Officer, Jen-Hsun Huang, has had a few words to say about it.

He sees the relative paucity of tablet-optimized Android apps as a weakness, while also expressing the belief that cheaper WiFi-only models should've been the standard shipping config rather than fully fledged 3G / 4G variants as Motorola has been pushing with the Xoom. All in all, his is a very sane and accurate analysis, but Mr. Huang loves to look to the future as much as he enjoys talking about the present, and in his opinion all these major downsides have already been "largely addressed" by "a new wave" of Android tablets. He doesn't specify the devices that constitute said wave, but his emphasis on thinness and lightness leads us to believe he's talking up Samsung's Galaxy Tab 10.1 and 8.9 models

ANDROID ISN'T AS OPEN AS THOUGHT PER INTERNAL EMAILS

The “is Android open?” question is one that constantly fades in and out of focus on blogs and in the tech media. The latest snippet that will undoubtedly reinvigorate the argument was revealed this past weekend, and this time it’s not a pretty one for Google.

As part of Skyhook Wireless’ lawsuit against Google, which alleges that the company interfered with a contract that placed its services on Android phones sold by Motorola, several internal emails have been made public by a Massachusetts state court. Collectively, the emails provide various insights into the business strategies employed by Google’s Android team.

One email in particular, however, is attracting a great deal of attention. In it, Android Open-Source & Compatibility Program Manager Dan Morrill writes, “we are using compatibility as a club to make them do things we want.” In other words, we’re brought right back to the earlier revelation that Android partners can do whatever they want with the platform, but only those that play ball with Google’s compatibility requirements get preferential treatment, such as early access to new Android builds. Of course this time, the sentiment comes straight from the horse’s mouth in a relatively gruff manner, which doesn’t exactly do a service to Google’s repeated “open” claims.