We do know that HTC’s new handset flow will begin to wane in 2012 in favor of better quality devices but we don’t know if that also translates to a greater focus on updating the massive amount of different handsets it released last year. At the moment, everything is just talk but we’re more than happy to hear HTC filling in its customers.

HTC has been working hard to get its Ice Cream Sandwich upgrades ready, and we’re excited to announce that our first round of ICS upgrades will roll out by the end of March for the HTC Sensation, HTC Sensation 4G and HTC Sensation XE, followed soon there after by the HTC Sensation XL.

In addition, we can confirm Ice Cream Sandwich upgrades will be coming later this year to the HTC Rezound, HTC Vivid, HTC Amaze 4G, HTC EVO 3D, HTC EVO Design 4G, HTC Incredible S, HTC Desire S and HTC Desire HD. Stay tuned for more updates on Ice Cream Sandwich releases in the coming weeks.

If you’re rocking a Sensation, which includes the 4G, XE, or XL, you can expect to get your handset updated within or around a month’s time. All other handsets will likely be waiting for a while. It doesn’t come as a surprise that HTC’s 2011 flagship handset line will be getting updated the quickest but most of the remaining handsets to be updated are more than capable of handling the next version of Android and Sense. It remains to be seen as far as the Incredible S, Desire S, and Desire HD are concerned. Hopefully there is enough space without stripping too much out.

HTC is the latest among a decent list of manufacturers who have already announced its upgrade schedule for Ice Cream Sandwich this year. Now, it’s time to wait and see which company does or doesn’t make good on their promises.

[Via: Droid-Life, Facebook]

With the prospects of a quad-core Galaxy S III, the expectations for the handset are already pretty high. We can also expect something similar to the Galaxy Nexus’ display, which is a 4.65-inch Super AMOLED  HD panel. Now we’re hearing that Samsung’s next flagship phone may come in at a ridiculously thin 7mm thick. While it’s impressive to say the least, this is something I’m not looking forward to.

Like the Motorola Droid RAZR, the Galaxy S III may be stunningly thin in its own right but that doesn’t necessarily translate well in all areas. Holding the Droid RAZR is uncomfortable and the device just doesn’t fit in the hand in the natural way we’re used to. When Marin reviewed the RAZR, he begged the question, “Is being thin enough?” and now the question seems to be “When is thin too thin?”

We get that every company wants to be the thinnest, lightest, fastest, and all of that jazz but at some point they need to step back. Does anyone care if their phone is 7mm thick? Not this guy. I know I’m just one person and most of the other specifications within the handset may be enough to overlook the anorexic profile of the Galaxy S III but at the same time, everything is still a rumor until proven otherwise.

Also rumored is that the handset could land on shelves sometime in May, which sounds about right for a European launch. Like the original and Galaxy S II, the US will have to wait a while before the Galaxy S III graces its shores.

[Via: BGR]

We already got a chance to play with the Galaxy Note at CES this past January and while the idea of a 5.3 inch phone sounds a bit ridiculous, we were surprised to see just how pocketable the handset is. That said, despite its thin profile and stunning Super AMOLED HD display, it just might be too much phone for some people.

AT&T-bound and up for pre-order starting today, the Galaxy Note is proof that a device this large can be popular. We’re sure Dell is feeling a little silly right now, as Samsung has shown the company what the Streak 5 could have been.

The Galaxy Note is essentially a larger Galaxy Nexus with TouchWiz  (and LTE) but it Samsung has also introduced the S Pen with the US variant of the Phoneblet. While we question if stylus-pens will catch on, as it seems ancient these days, the S Pen has some pretty nifty features when paired with the Note. We’ve seen similar implementations from HTC with its Flyer tablet, which failed to impress. But at this point in Android land, if anyone could make a stylus somewhat popular, it would have to be Samsung.

While we do like the way Samsung pokes at the Apple fans of the world with its ad-campaign, we would have preferred a brand new ad instead of something recycled. Nonetheless, we’ll have to see if the commercial was effective when the handset lands on the 19th. Already sold? Head over to AT&T’s site to secure your Galaxy Note now.

Head over here to see our hands-on with the Galaxy Note at CES and check out the new ad below!

What do you think of the ad? Effective or “over the top”?

Nokia and Samsung still hold their respective positions as the top phone manufacturers by a long shot. Last quarter, Nokia shipped 113.5 million mobile phones and Samsung shipped 97.6 million. After that, shipments drop significantly to Apple’s 37 million. Comparably, that doesn’t seem like a lot, but keep in mind Apple only ships iPhones. That’s it. Samsung and Nokia ship all sorts of smartphones and basic dumbphones. Looking at it from that perspective, it’s quite astonishing.

Coming in after Apple is LG with only 17.7 units shipped and ZTE with 17.1. The grand total of mobile phones shipped in Q4 factoring in all other manufacturers as well? 427.4 million. That’s a year-over-year change of 6.1 percent, which was overall a bit lower than expected.

“The introduction of high-growth products such as the iPhone 4S, which shipped in the fourth quarter, bolstered smartphone growth. Yet overall market growth fell to its lowest point since 3Q09 when the global economic recession was in full bloom,” said senior research analyst at IDC, Kevin Restivo.

[via IDC]

The HTC Ville is one of the thinnest handset’s coming from the manufacturer. This is a very good thing, as we’ve been dealing with devices like the Rezound, which seriously needs less chunk to its profile. The Ville is your typical HTC phone: Gorgeous hardware with equally gorgeous software, Sense. We’ll get back to the software later.

The Ville rocks a 1.5GHz dual-core Snapdragon S4 processor, 4.3 inch qHD Super AMOLED display, 8 megapixel camera, VGA front-facing camera, and the now-expected WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS, etc. Snapdragon S4 notwithstanding, which truly is the best part of this device, the Ville is essentially every HTC phone we’ve seen before but it comes in at an impressive 8mm.

Like we mentioned above, the real story about this phone is the Snapdragon S4. Still, with the heavy customizations and animations HTC just loves to fill its phones with, we’re wondering just how noticeable the performance boost will be. Many were hoping that the introduction of Android 4.0 would give HTC a hint and strip a few pieces of its custom user interface out in order to let Ice Cream Sandwich shine through but within the short video of the pre-production software you see below, it looks like HTC has gone in the other direction, customizing the OS more than ever.

We’ll probably get our first real look at the handset come February, so stay tuned!

There have been rumors that the Galaxy S III wouldn’t make its debut at Mobile World Congress this year, which could possibly make one believe that the Super Bowl ad could indeed be for the upcoming flagship handset but let’s consider the facts.

• Both the Galaxy S and Galaxy S II initially launched outside of the US and we don’t see that trend changing any time soon.
• While it’s a nice thought that Samsung would advertise the Galaxy S III for the Super Bowl, the US likely won’t see the handset until at least the 3rd quarter of the year.

The Galaxy Note on the other hand makes a lot of sense. We already have an official release date for AT&T and the phone has been in Europe since October of 2011.

The Galaxy Note has been getting quite a bit of attention lately, and while the phone is definitely going to be too big for some people, it’ll likely be a hit with others. It only took two months for the obscenely large device to sell a million units but having that beautiful HD Super AMOLED display in your face could easily sway some naysayers.

It’s funny to think that Dell released the Streak 5 and it seemed to have been a flop, with the biggest complaint being that it was unnecessarily large. Fast forward to today and we have Samsung releasing a similar product with a bigger display and it’s generating a lot of hype. If only, Dell. If only.

Well, it may not be the Galaxy S III but here’s to Samsung and its first Super Bowl ad.

[UPDATE: The Galaxy Note was confirmed on Samsung's Google+ page] Thanks, Androinica!

[Via: Twitter]

Before you get all excited, you should know that there’s an incredibly small chance that we’ll see any ARM Cortex A15 based chips hit the market this year. Clock for clock, the Cortex A15 is roughly 40% faster than the Cortex A9 that’s inside nearly everything from the iPhone 4/4S to the Transformer Prime, but it also eats up more power. How much, we don’t yet know due a lack of devices, but when and if Cortex A15 based processors come from the likes of Texas Instruments and the OMAP 5 or NVIDIA and the unannounced Tegra 4, then they’ll be in Windows 8 tablets first.

What’s Apple going to do then for their A6 chip that’ll likely make up the heart of the iPad 3 and iPhone 5? Are they going to go with a quad core Cortex A9 configuration like NVIDIA? We’ll find that out sometime in March, hopefully.

The Galaxy Nexus was officially released on Verizon just a little over a month ago, so seeing the powerful handset come in at this price is pretty awesome. Those who craved the Pure Google experience on the handset but weren’t in love with paying up $300 now have their chance to get the best of both worlds. That said, if you’re serious about grabbing one of these bad boys at this discounted rate, we’d suggest you do so as soon as possible. At this price, the offer probably won’t be around that long.

We reviewed both the GSM and LTE versions of the Galaxy Nexus and walked away quite impressed. It’s a rather large phone but it’s something that you grow accustomed to with use, and after watching videos on the gorgeous HD Super AMOLED display, you probably won’t want to go back. Even though the handset sports some great hardware specifications, it’s the Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich update that really lets the Galaxy Nexus stand out and shine.

While the next generation of smartphones will soon be rocking quad-core processors, the dual-core toting Galaxy Nexus will always have the lead in one arena, and that’s software updates. The Nexus line not only offers the pure, stock Android experience but it’s also a device for developers to create and test applications with the latest version of the OS. The Nexus line is always first to get updates to the OS, so if that’s something that’s important to you, the Nexus line is for you.

If I didn’t already have the GSM version of the (some call it “the real”) Galaxy Nexus and I was willing to sign my life away to Verizon, I’d probably buy two of these handsets just for the hell of it.

Head over to AmazonWireless now to claim your Galaxy Nexus!

[Via: AmazonWireless]

“If we were to apply the technology in smartphones, that ecosystem is, of course, very complex, with some very large players there. It’s an industry that’s very different and driven based on operational excellence,” Chi told PC World. “For us to compete in there, we’d have to be a very different kind of company. So if we were to enter that space, it would definitely be through a partnership and a codevelopment of the technology, and ultimately some kind of licensing with the appropriate partner.”

He doesn’t give any definite answers that Lytro will enter into the smartphone market, but it’s fairly obvious that compact cameras will replaced with camera phones in the future. The intelligent people at that company have to know this, so it’s really not a matter of if Lytro cameras (or the technology from those cameras) will be in phones, but when.

Before his demise, Lytro even caught the attention of Steve Jobs. He talked with CEO Ren Ng about working to revolutionize photography together in mobile devices. Jobs unfortunately won’t be able to see if Apple and Lytro ever strike a deal, but Apple is actively pursuing his visions, so I don’t think the two companies have dropped connections just yet.

If you’re in need of some background on Lytro, the startup came to full attention in 2011 when it pioneered light-field camera technology. By taking in all the light traveling in every direction and every dimension, Lytro cameras are supposedly able to produce photos with unbelievable quality. Plus, users can take photos without even worrying about the focus and readjust the image’s focal point later on.

It’s probably too early to wait for Lytro cameras in phones, as the company’s first product isn’t even out the door yet. Still, we’ll definitely keep an eye on this one.

[via PCWorld]

This beastly device is said to sport a quad-core processor, presumably NVIDIA’s Tegra 3 SoC. We won’t be terribly alarmed if we see a handful of devices shipping with quad-core processors but given that LG launched the Optimus 2X with the Tegra 2 before anyone else (and got into the Guinness Book of World Records because of it), the possibility of LG launching one of the first quad-core phones seems like a shoe-in.

Other notable specifications of the X3 include a massive 4.7 inch HD display, which we’d expect to be the same True HD IPS panel we’ve seen on some of LG’s newer Android devices. We can also expect an eight megapixel shooter on the back, a 1.3 megapixel front-facing camera, 16GB of storage (expandable), WiFi, Bluetooth 4.0, 2000 mAh battery, NFC, and Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. Even though the handset should launch with the latest version of the OS, it looks like LG is still partial to capacitive buttons and will skip the on-screen soft keys provided in Android 4.0.

With a spec list that reads so well, one could easily expect that the X3 would land itself into HTC Rezound territory (read: fat and bulky). Luckily, it’s said that the X3 would keep itself below the 9mm mark, which is pretty impressive if you ask us. While the handset will likely launch in HSPA form, the X3 could get a LTE upgrade at some point, which would give it a nice data speed bump but make the device thicker as a whole.

Until we get an official announcement and hands or eyes-on time with the X3, this still very much a rumor. A rumor that will likely hopefully materialize in the weeks ahead. Stay tuned.

[Via: PocketNow]

That being said, Qualcomm’s new Krait core is going to land in devices due to be released in the next few months and it’s estimated to be around 30% faster clock for clock than a Cortex A9, which isn’t as fast as the A15, but hey, it’s got a time to market advantage. Let’s not forget that Qualcomm also sells you the whole package, their Snapdragon platform comes with everything you need to slap into a plastic case and call it a day. Besides, we know that a fast chip doesn’t always translate into a fast device. It’s all about the software integration and how much crap the operators throw on top of Android.

Anyway, what also makes the OMAP 5 special is that it’s going to run Windows 8. If you’ve been wanting a tablet, but something that doesn’t run either Android or iOS, then Microsoft’s platform has got you covered. Expect more details about that during the second half of this year.

[Image Credit: Engadget]