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:

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.

PCI EXPRESS CABLE TO HIT 32Gbps BY 2013

Thought Thunderbolt (the data cable, not the phone) was the only superfast interconnect in town? Well, it is and will be for a little while yet, but the PCI Special Interest Group has just held its annual meeting and developer conference in California, where plans for a 32Gbps PCIe cable were revealed. Details are still fluid on precisely what such a connector would look like and do, but the expectation is that it'll be built out of copper wire, will be flatter and thinner than Thunderbolt's rotund construction, and will be able to channel power as well as data through to devices up to 10 feet (3m) away.

Targeting consumer applications, and extra skinny tablets and laptops in particular, this cabled variety of PCI Express will start off based on the 3.0 spec in 2013, but will then move on from there to PCI Express 4.0 and, potentially, optical data conveyance. Oh yes, PCIe 4.0 also got announced by the PCI SIG, though that's at least four years away at this point

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

RIM RECALLS AT LEAST 900 PLAYBOOKS

An inside source is saying that nearly 1,000 faulty tablets were shipped to Staples, and now they're being recalled. We're hoping that Staples (and any other affected retailers) will reach out to customers and inform them of the problem right away, but just in case that doesn't happen, click here for the list of serial numbers.

RUMOR: AMAZON PLANNING ENTIRE LINEUP OF ANDROID DEVICES, INCLUDING SMARTPHONE

Amazon is planning to release an “entire family” of Android-powered devices, not just one tablet as originally thought, according to Android and Me. The rumor hasn’t specified whether or not Amazon is planning multiple sized tablets, or a tablet and a new Android-powered eReader, although there’s some speculation that a smartphone could be in the works too.

It’s no secret that the company is working on at least one tablet. Earlier this week Amazon’s CEO, Jeff Bezos, said “stay tuned” for more information on the product, which is rumored to have been manufactured by Samsung and could launch as early as this summer. However, Android and Me disputes those claims and believes the devices will land closer to the holiday season.

Either way, it certainly makes sense for at least one Amazon tablet to exist: the firm has already launched its Unbox movie and TV streaming service, Amazon’s Cloud Player and Cloud Drive for music and data storage, and Kindle for books, all of which fit perfectly on a tablet.

GOOGLE HOSTING AN ANDROID EVENT FEBRUARY 2ND

Google has just announced an Android event for Wednesday, February 2nd. The event will include "an in-depth look at Honeycomb, Android ecosystem news and hands-on demos." Google wouldn't host an event just to re-hash Honeycomb, so they must have something else planned as well. There is a lot of speculation as to what will be announced (if anything) with some folks predicting Android 2.3, new tablets and even Honeycomb for smartphones.

If you didn't get an invitation or can't make it to Mountain View, CA, Google will live-stream the event on YouTube.

LEAKED: HP'S webOS TABLETS

Looks like we didn't have to wait until Feb. 9th after all to see HP's webOS tablet. Engadget has what are reportedly the first pictures of the dark horse tablets that may finally step up to the iPad.

As you can see from these renders, the 9-inch Topaz and 7-inch Opal tablets have no physical buttons, but do posses a front-facing camera and what looks like a microUSB port on the bottom and speakers on two sides.

The two tablets are expected to launch September (Wi-Fi, AT&T 3G, and Verizon LTE) of this year, with an AT&T LTE following in July 2012.

HONEYCOMB TO REQUIRE DUAL-CORE PROCESSOR?

PCMag, citing a report from managing director of Korea's Enspert consumer electronics firm, Bobby Cha, writes that "Google’s new [...] tablet OS will require a dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 processor to run properly.” Mr. Cha went on to note that Honeycomb may also require 1,280 x 720 screen resolution, but should run on tablets with displays measuring at least 7-inches on the diagonal. Presumably, single-core Android tablets already in the market (e.g. Samsung’s Galaxy Tab) would be unable to run the tablet-centric offering. Mr. Cha, who admitted his company is currently working on Froyo, Gingerbread, as well as Honeycomb devices, states that Honeycomb will be shipped to manufacturers “towards the end of January.” [BGR]

LEAKED: ASUS TABLETS TO HAVE SLIDE OUT AND REMOVABLE KEYBOARDS

Details are sparse, and the info is unconfirmed, but screengrabs from Italian site eeepc.it show a chalkboard mockup of a "transforming" tab with a removable physical keyboard, along with the EP102, whose keyboard slides out. We'll have to wait until next week for concrete details, but the prospect of Asus playing with the already stale tablet form factor is exciting. [Gizmodo]

T-MOBILE TO FOCUS ON ANDROID, TABLETS AND SPEED AT CES

According to a report filed by Mobilized, the nation’s fourth largest carrier, T-Mobile, plans on focusing its CES efforts on HSPA+, Android, and tablet computers. Mark McDiarmid, T-Mo’s senior director of engineering, sat down with the blog and noted that his company will outline plans for its ultra-fast 42Mbps HSPA+ network at the show. Mr. McDiarmid also mentioned that devices equipped with HSPA+ radios capable of taking advantage of the higher speeds would come to market sometime next year. A post-interview email expanded on the carrier’s CES plans:

T-Mobile is big on Android, big on faster 4G speeds and big on 4G devices including tablets. We will continue to drive innovation on these fronts in 2011.

We wouldn’t be adverse to hearing about some 42Mbps, HSPA+ handsets and tablets… even if we do have to listen to them be referred to as 4G. [BGR]

SHARP QUITTING THE PC BUSINESS

Sharp has become the latest causality of the electronic companies tough times. They announced they are leaving the low margin, cut-throat personal computer business to focus on more profitable areas.  Sharp still has plans to develop tablet computers starting with Galapagos and concentrate on related ebook, music and video services for those tablets. [Engadget]

LEAKED: VERIZON LAUNCHING TIERED DATA

We reported about a month ago that Verizon was going to introduce tiered data plans for their 3G smartphones.  Those plans are set to launch on October 28th.  There will be two tiers with the lower tier costing $15 for 150MB/month and 0.10/MB overage charge.  The second tier is Verizon's standard unlimited plan for $29.99.  For those people that don't use a lot of data with their smartphones this may be a good thing.

Other data plans include tablets and the MiFi and FiveSpot customers.  For tablets, Verizon is offering:

• $20/1GB
• $35/3GB
• $50/5GB
• $80/10GB
• Overage will be $10/1GB

The MiFi and FiveSpot plans include:

• $50/5GB
• $80/8GB

The new smartphone data tiers only include 3G at this time, but it is expected Verizon will have different tiers for their 4G network once they get that up and running by years end. [Gizmodo]

RUMOR: BEST BUY TO PUSH TABLETS THIS HOLIDAY

According to a Forbes report, via Gizmodo, Best Buy will have a huge influx of tablets for the holidays this year. No mention of specific models/brands, but one can imagine the iPad will not be alone on the displays this year.  Buyers will be inundated with choices from Android, Windows7 and iOS.