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:

RUMOR: APPLE TO INVEST $1 BILLION IN SHARP LCD FACTORY

Apple may invest $1 billion in a Sharp LCD factory to ensure adequate production of screens for its iPhone and iPad, according to MF Global FXA Securities analyst David Rubenstein. Apple typically buys its LCD displays from Samsung, LG and Chimei Innolux, although recent reports have suggested the iPhone maker has boosted its orders with Samsung after LG failed to meet iPad 2 display requirements.

Apple’s recent legal battles with Samsung in the United States, the European Union and Australia could be why the company is looking to invest in other manufacturers. “If the situation escalates into a state of war, this could mean a huge shift in orders,” a source told Reuters, suggesting that Apple could give larger orders to Elpida Memory and Toshiba.

Sharp is expected to provide the LCD displays for Apple’s sixth-generation iPhone, which is expected to launch next year.

WINDOWS PHONE 7.1, 'MANGO', COMING THIS FALL

Microsoft on Tuesday unveiled its forthcoming major update to its Windows Phone platform — Windows Phone 7.1 “Mango.” We gave you live coverage of the event as well a hands-on look at the update, and now that the dust has cleared we can finally sit down and collect ourselves. In short, Mango looks awesome. We’ve seen plenty of promise in the Windows Phone platform right from the start, but we also thought Microsoft rushed the OS to market — understandably — and a lot of key features and functionality were missing as a result. Mango goes a very, very long way in bringing the emerging platform up to date, and Microsoft has named HTC, LG, Samsung, Dell, Acer, Fujitsu Limited, ZTE Corporation and of course Nokia as partners moving forward. Windows Phone 7.1 will be the launch platform for upcoming Windows Phones from Nokia, by the way, and Microsoft confirmed that Nokia has already built devices running Windows Phone 7.1 that are currently being tested in its labs. Mango will add more robust multitasking support, messaging threads, deeper social integration, a unified email inbox, voice-to-text and text-to-voice support, and about 500 other enhancements to the Windows Phone platform when it launches this fall.

COURT RULES AGAINST LG, SONY CAN CONTINUE TO SHIP PLAYSTATION 3 IN EUROPE

The Hague's civil court of justice has just ruled in Sony's favor in its dispute with LG, and ordered that the 300,000 PS3s currently seized by customs be released to Sony for distribution across the continent. LG has also reportedly been ordered to pay €130,000 in legal fees -- and if it doesn't comply, it will face a fine of €200,000 per day until it does. That doesn't mean that the tussle between the two companies is over, however, as this ruling doesn't have anything to do with the patents at the heart of the dispute.

EUROPEAN PLAYSTATION 3 SHIPMENTS SEIZED BY CUSTOMS

Sony and LG have been going toe to toe with allegations of patent infringement for over a year now, but Sony's now been dealt what's surely its biggest setback to date in Europe. The civil court of justice in the Hague has just granted LG a preliminary injunction that will see all new PlayStation 3s imported into Europe confiscated by customs for at least ten days. Those are apparently now already being stockpiled in Dutch warehouses while the drama plays out, and there remains a possibility that the injunction will be extended even further, which would almost certainly lead to a shortage of PS3s on store shelves -- as the Guardian notes, retailers generally have two to three weeks worth of stock on hand across the continent. Not surprisingly, Sony is said to be "frantically" trying to get the ban lifted, but it isn't making any public comments on the matter at the moment.

LG UNVEILS THE G-SLATE TABLET

LG wants to lead the pack of Android tablets and unveiled its newest (and first) entry in that segment, the G-Slate. This 8.9-inch powerhouse packs a 1Ghz dual-core Tegra 2 chipset behind a 3D display, running Android 3 (Honeycomb).

The Tegra 2 chipset gives the G-Slate the ability to show 720p HD and 3D content while also having the power to output in 1080p HD and 3D content to TVs and displays. The rear camera is a 5 megapixal stereoscopic 3D beast able to record 3D video in 1080p. The bad news is the 3D will require the use of glasses.

The G-Slate also has a two-megapixel frontside camera for video conferencing, and 32 gigs of storage space. And, as with most tablets and smartphones these days, it also comes equipped with a gyroscope and accelerometer.

The G-Slate will be coming to T-Mobile this spring. No word on pricing.

LG REPORTS Q4 LOSS

Korean manufacturing giant LG released its Q4 results and they were not good. The company posted a net loss of $230 billion compared to a profit of $325 billion for Q4 2009.

Overall shipments were down 10% to 30.6 million units, pushing LG into the No. 5 spot globally behind RIM. The company will look to new high-end smartphones like the Optimus 2X, Optimus Black and Optimus 3D as it attempts to reverse its declining mobile trend. LG remains the No. 2 TV company globally, as sales in its home entertainment division increased 15.8% compared to the third quarter of this year. Because competition forced LG to drop the average selling price on its television sets, however, the company’s home entertainment business still posted an operating loss in the quarter.

WINDOWS PHONE 7 SELLING "EXCELLENT" ACCORDING TO DEUTSCHE TELEKOM

A few weeks ago we reported on an LG executive stating that they were disappointed with Windows Phone 7. The executive said Microsoft's new mobile OS has potential, but sales are not meeting expectations and that some people may find it "boring".

Deutsche Telekom, the German mobile phone carrier and owner of T-Mobile Europe and partner in T-Mobile US, has stated Windows Phone 7 sales have been excellent and “We are ahead of budget, Microsoft is very pleased,” Deutsche Telekom’s head of consumer marketing Ingo Hofacker said at a CeBIT preview in Munich.

Of course Hofacker was referring to European sales and not US or global, while the LG comment was based on LG's global sales.

LG DISSES WINDOWS PHONE 7; OS STILL FINE FOR CERTAIN SEGMENTS

In a sit-down with the folks over at Pocket-lint, LG's marketing strategy and planning team director James Choi noted: "From an industry perspective we had a high expectation, but from a consumer point of view the visibility is less than we expected." Nothing too shocking there, but he followed up by noting that LG feels Windows Phone 7 "is absolutely perfect for a huge segment out there." Perhaps more shocking was this tidbit: "What we feel is that some people believe that some operating systems, mainly Google, are extremely complicated for them; but Windows Phone 7 is very intuitive and easy to use." He followed his not-terribly-subtle Android jab with a WP7 jab, oddly enough, noting that "for tech guys, [WP7] might be a little bit boring after a week or two, but there are certain segments that it really appeals to." What's left unclear is exactly how much support LG is going to give Microsoft after launching the Optimus 7, but we're guessing that next month's outlay at Mobile World Congress will be a huge indication.

AMAZON SELLING 3 WINDOWS PHONE 7 PHONES FOR $0.01

Amazon is selling three handsets for just one penny, with a 2-year contract on AT&T. The handsets are the HTC Surround, LG Quantum and Samsung Focus. All the devices are Windows Phone 7 devices.

VERIZON UNVEILS 10 NEW LTE DEVICES

Verizon has announced 10 new "4G" LTE smartphones and tablets at their CES keynote today. The devices include:

• HTC ThunderBolt – HTC Sense 2.0, 1GHz Snapdragon processor, 4.3-inch WVGA display, 8-megapixel camera with HD video recording, DLNA capability, video chat support
• LG Revolution – 4.3-inch touchscreen, Android 2.2, video chat, mobile hotspot support (up to eight devices)
• DROID Bionic 4G – Android, video chat, rear-facing 8-megapixel camera, 4.3-inch display, HDMI connectivity, dual-core 1GHz processor, 512 DDR2 RAM
• Unnamed Samsung Smartphone – Android 2.2, 4.3-inch Super-AMOLED Plus display, 1GHz processor, rear-facing 8-megapixel camera with LED flash, video chat
• Motorola XOOM tablet – 10.1-inch display, Android 3.0 Honeycomb OS, 1080p HD video, front-facing 2-megapixel camera for video chat, 5-megapixel camera with video capture, mobile hotspot capability (up to five devices)
• 4G LTE-enabled Samsung Galaxy Tab – 7-inch TFT display, Android 2.2, 1.2GHz Cortex A8 Hummingbird processor, rear-facing 5-megapixel camera, front-facing 1.3-megapixel camera
• Novatel MiFi® 4510L Intelligent Mobile Hotspot – 3G and 4G LTE compatibility
• Samsung 4G LTE Mobile Hotspot – 3G and 4G LTE compatibility
• Compaq CQ10-688nr – 10.1-inch display, Intel Atom N455 processor, up to 8.5 hours of battery life, multi-format digital media card reader, webcam and multiple connectivity options
• HP Pavilion dm1-3010nr – 11.6-inches, HP CoolSense Technology, up to 10.75 hours of battery life, 320 GB of storage, multi-format digital media card reader, HDMI port, Dolby Advanced Audio and GPS for mapping and navigation

A nice lineup, however the tablets are a bit out of date considering Google announced Android 3.0 specifically tailored to tablets.

GOOGLE TV TO BE DELAYED

According to The New York Times Google has asked Toshiba, LG and Sharp to hold off on their presentations of Google TV at CES to give Google more time to refine and tweek the software.

Google TV is suppose to be the next generation of television viewing. It will allow viewers to access the internet and watch TV at the same time. Want more facts on something a character said in your favorite TV show? Launch the in frame browser. Sign into Twitter and tweet about what you are watching right this minute.

The New York Times article does not say of the companies have agreed to give delay the launch of their products until Google can get its product right, so plans can change rapidly as CES approaches or even during CES. [Gizmodo]

LG & VMWARE TEAM UP FOR MOBILE VIRTALIZATION

LG has teamed up with virtualization company VMWare to integrate virtualization on mobile phones. With smartphones becoming more of an end-user phenomenon than ever before, it's getting tougher for IT departments to sell employees on giving up their personal phones in favor of a secure, managed, corporate-provided alternative. With the virtualized setup, the work phone lives as an app within the personal phone -- two phone numbers, two complete environments, and only the work environment can be controlled by the IT nerds. Long term, the concept would be that employees could use whatever phone their little hearts desire -- companies would merely need to dump their VMware setup on top and you've suddenly got your work phone integrated.

LG will start with select Android handsets and move to other platforms if the market demands it. [Engadget]

BEST BUY TO OFFER FREE PHONES EVER DAY IN DECEMBER

Best Buy will be offering 4 phones, one for each carrier, every day in December. The price will be $0 (that's right, FREE) with a 2-year agreement. Some of the devices include the Droid Incredible, Xperia X10, LG's Optimus T and S. So if you are in the market for a new phone, head on over to Best Buy and see if there is something you like for FREE. [Engadget];

LEAKED: LG STAR

More photos of the LG Star have emerged.  These show an HDMI out port and Froyo.  It is expected the Star will ship with Gingerbread.  The leaker, over at AndroidForums, also claims the Star has a 480x800 resolution screen, a Tegra 2 chip and forward-facing camera. [Gizmodo]

AT&T AND MICROSOFT OFFER BLACK FRIDAY BOGO - NOT TOO GOOD OF AN OFFER THOUGH

AT&T and Microsoft want to brighten your holidays while simultaneously lightening your pockets, but wise shoppers will likely look elsewhere. AT&T is offering up a free Samsung Focus, HTC Surround or LG Quantum on Black Friday when one of the aforementioned Windows Phones is purchased at full retail, or $199.99. Of course they’re all great phones, but online retailers like Amazon already have that deal beat. AmazonWireless is offering the Focus, Surround and Quantum for $49.99 each and you don’t even have to wait until Friday to order. The retailer also throws free shipping and waived activation fees into the mix. So really, the only reason to go for AT&T’s deal at twice the price of Amazon’s is if the Focus strikes your fancy — Samsung’s WP7 handset is backordered at Amazon and likely won’t start shipping again for a couple of weeks. [Engadget]

WINDOWS PHONE 7 LAUNCHES IN US TODAY

The long anticipation is now over. Microsoft is releasing its newest mobile OS, Windows Phone 7 (WP7), in the US today. Microsoft has chosen AT&T as their launch partner and AT&T hasn't disappointed with 5 new phones. The list includes the HTC Surround, Samsung Focus and HTC HD7 are already available for purchase and the Dell Venue Pro is rumored to drop later today. The LG Quantum is also available for pre-order from AT&T starting today. Expect to pay $199.99 for any of the aforementioned Windows Phones, though better deals are available through the likes of Amazon.com, as is often the case. [BGR]

LG JUMPS ON TABLET BANDWAGON

This holiday season its all about the tablet.  Apple started it off with the industry leading iPad, Samsung has the Galaxy tablet and now LG is releasing their version of the tablet computer.

A new report out of South Korea Wednesday sheds some light on LG’s upcoming virgin tablet offering. According to the report, LG is preparing to launch its first Android tablet in the first quarter next year. The “LG Pad”, as it may be called, will purportedly feature a dual-core Tegra 2 processor, an 8.9-inch touchscreen display and the Android Honeycomb operating system. A senior official at LG is quoted as saying, “LG Electronics decided to launch a new tablet PC, so-called LG Pad, both in the domestic and overseas markets in the first quarter of the next year when Google unveils Honeycomb, tablet PC-version Android OS.” The official goes on to say, “While the existing tablet PCs focus on e-book, movie, music and the Internet functions, LG’s new tablet PC is jumping into the market with more diverse contents based on powerful functions.” [BGR]

APPLE MOVES PAST RIM TO BECOME FOURTH LARGEST MOBILE PHONE VENDOR

When Apple launched the first iPhone way back when and announced they planned on selling 10 million per year, everyone scoffed at the idea.  Now they are shipping 14.1 million handsets every three months according to the latest IDC report.  These number moves Apple from fifth to fourth place worldwide, overtaking RIM.  Nokia, Samsung and LG round out the top three vendors.  [Engadget]

WINDOWS PHONE 7 EVENT

Microsoft has officially announced Windows Phone 7 in a press event held simultaneously in New York and London.  A total of 9 handsets were announced for the launch on November 8th.  All the major US carriers, with the exception of Verizon Wireless, will have a handset available at launch.

T-Mobile:
     HTC 7 Mozart
     HTC 7 HD7
     Dell Venue Pro
AT&T:
     HTC Surround
     Samsung Focus
     LG Quantum
Sprint:
     HTC 7 Pro
No Carrier:
     LG Optimus 7

Windows 7 was built around the idea that your mobile phone should not be all consuming.  The concept as described by Microsoft is "Glance and go".  The user interface (UI) uses tiles to easily find and press the app you desire and the tiles are customizable so the user has control of the interface.

It also comes with the new Bing voice search, which appears fairly impressive and responsive.  Flight information was demonstrated.  The user told the device the flight number and up popped all the relevant information about that flight.

Internet capabilities appear to be brisk and very well done.  Note syncing is built in and there is a feature to find your lost phone through Microsoft's Live service.  Copy and paste will be coming in "early 2011".

The WP7 app store will launch with over 2000 titles and EA games has announced they will have a "suite" of games available at launch like Sims 3.

Steve Ballmer with WP7 launch phones

Screenshot of customizable app tiling interface

Voice Search results for flight information

Internet capabilities