Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich updates: everything you need to know

Verizon’s Android 4.0 update for Motorola’s Xoom 4G tablet is rolling out right on schedule. The update adds a number of improvements to the device's camera software and data management, in addition to Google’s Holo UI. Xoom 4G owners will be able to search their emails, save web pages for offline reading, lock their devices by pressing the power button, and launch the Xoom’s camera from the lockscreen.

Upgraders will also be able to take panoramic photos with a single motion and take advantage of some new effects during video recording. There are some general performance enhancements, too, including better rotation response time, a faster-rendering browser, and improved stability, security, and connectivity. If you’re a Xoom 4G owner and haven’t yet received the update, you can initiate it manually from the Settings menu at any time and say goodbye to Honeycomb for good.

The Ice Cream Sandwich update LG promised in June is here, at least for one of its phones. We've gotten confirmation that the Optimus LTE software upgrade, which adds Android 4.0 as well as the Optimus UI 3.0, is now live for phones in Korea. LG PR rep Ken Hong has posted a picture of his Optimus LTE running Android 4.0.4, and we're keeping our eye out for similar updates elsewhere. Besides the Optimus LTE, LG has previously said that the Vu and Optimus LTE Tag will be getting Ice Cream Sandwich in June.

LG has been slow but steady about announcing Ice Cream Sandwich rollouts, but we're still in the dark when it comes to American variants of its phones. The LG Nitro HD, for example, is just the Optimus LTE for American carriers, but users are still stuck on Gingerbread. The Spectrum, meanwhile, has gotten a recent upgrade... to 2.3.6.

Owners of the Wi-Fi Motorola Xoom were upgraded to Ice Cream Sandwich all the way back in April, and two months later owners of Verizon's version will finally be able to say the same. The carrier has announced that Android 4.0.4 will be coming to the tablet in just a few days — June 4th, to be exact. The update will obviously bring with it a number of new features, including a built-in photo editor, single-swipe notification dismissal, and additional speech-to-text functionality. According to the carrier, the update will run 107.9MB in size, and will be available as an over-the-air update.

Thanks, Sean!

When LG announced the Optimus Vu it promised that the phone would receive Ice Cream Sandwich within three months of its March launch. True to its word, the company has now announced that the Vu, as well as the Optimus LTE and Optimus LTE Tag, will all be receiving Android 4.0 this June. Along with the latest flavor of Google's mobile operating system, all three phones will also be bumped up to Optimus UI 3.0. The new skin had quite a few nice touches when we took a look at it with the Optimus LTE 2 earlier this month, including a new lock screen and a voice-activated camera shutter. However, it's not clear how many of the new software features demonstrated on that phone will make it to the three upgraded devices.

HTC's Ice Cream Sandwich upgrade schedule is still murky at best, but the promised update for the Sensation XL appears to be coming to at least some European users. A user in Romania provided the first proof with a screenshot of the over the air download, which brings the phone up to Android 4.0.3 with Version 3.6 of the Sense UI. Since then, customers on the UK's Three network have also reported getting the update.

Like most Android software changes, The Sensation XL's 4.0 upgrade cycle is likely to be a bit spotty as carriers test and delay it. Hopefully, however, these reports are a harbinger of a wider rollout in the coming days. Users of the Sensation 4G on T-Mobile have already gotten their upgrade from the carrier, and several other HTC devices are set to receive Ice Cream Sandwich later this year.

Just as promised in March, Sony has started rolling out Android 4.0 updates for two of its Xperia smartphones, the Xperia Arc and Xperia Neo. The update is coming to both devices in batches, so you'll need to check Sony's support forums — here for the Neo, and here for the Arc — to see if your particular phone is eligible just yet. Meanwhile, the Xperia Arc S, Neo V, and Ray are all being update as well, bringing the trio to version 4.0.4 of the OS. As for other Xperia smartphones, Sony has said that a second wave of rollouts is due in early June, so owners of the Xperia Mini, Mini Pro, Pro, Active, and Live with Walkman should be receiving Ice Cream Sandwich in the next few weeks — though unfortunately Xperia Play owners are stuck with Android 2.3 for good.

Sony has been one of the most active handset manufacturers when it comes to Ice Cream Sandwich upgrade plans for older devices, releasing beta ROMs and continually providing updates on its ICS release schedules. However, it appears the company may have quietly dropped plans to upgrade the Xperia Play. A Sony Mobile Android 4.0 upgrade page lists the devices that are due to receive the latest version of Google's mobile operating system. Every device that was mentioned in the company's April blog post are listed — all except the Play. It's unclear why such a decision may have been made, but it's certainly not for lack of development; a beta version of the Play upgrade was released back in March, with Sony Mobile stating that it was particularly interested in "how the gaming experience works on ICS." No matter what the reasoning, it would certainly be a disappointing end for a product that was once touted as a flagship device.

Motorola has updated its timeline for Ice Cream Sandwich updates for a number of devices, several of which should see Android 4.0 within the next few months. In the US, both the Droid RAZR and RAZR Maxx are expected to receive ICS before the end of the second quarter, while the 3G model of the Xoom should see the update during the same period. Meanwhile a number of devices will be upgraded to Android 4.0 during the third quarter — including both the 8.2-inch and 10.1-inch versions of the Xyboard, the Droid 4, and the Droid Bionic.

On the other end of the spectrum, the list also confirms that both the Droid 3 and X2 won't be receiving any more updates, but instead will remain on Android 2.3. For those devices that are getting ICS, the majority were still listed as in being in the evaluation and planning stages when Motorola updated the list back in February. And several have been waiting for quite some time, as devices like the RAZR and Bionic were among the first few devices confirmed for Android 4.0 prior to the OS' launch in November. Be sure to check the source link below for the complete release schedule to see just when you'll be able to finally get ICS on your device.

Sony will be releasing an Android 4.0 update for the Tablet P on May 24th, nearly a month after its Tablet S was updated. While both devices were supposed to get the new software around the end of April, Tablet P users will have to endure Honeycomb for another week before they get the good stuff. In addition to "Small Apps" that let you open a miniature browser window, calculator, or remote control on top of supported apps like the browser, the update will also let you jump straight to the camera from the lock screen and take panoramic photographs. The new browser also lets you switch between mobile and desktop versions of a site with a single button, something we're surprised more companies aren't offering.

The press release we're looking at about the Tablet P update is for Japan, so we can't say for sure that it'll happen on the 24th everywhere. That said, assuming the Japanese and international releases go out on the same day — like they did for the Tablet S — you should be prompted to initiate the over-the-air download sometime next Thursday (provided you're connected to Wi-Fi).

When Samsung announced its official roadmap for US Android upgrades, T-Mobile customers were left in the dark: Samsung said it was "in close communication" with the carrier and would be providing more details soon. Those details have now been released, confirming four devices that will be getting Android 4.0: the Galaxy S II, Galaxy S Blaze 4G, Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus, and Galaxy Tab 10.1. This corroborates part of a leaked document promising an upgrade for the Galaxy S II, but the May 14th date given there has come and gone, leaving us with no real hint at when these will be rolling out.

Outside the US, Samsung has begun updating its Galaxy family, but so far some American carriers, like AT&T, have held back its software for stability testing. T-Mobile is beginning the upgrade process for HTC's Sensation 4G this week, so hopefully we'll be seeing some progress on Samsung in the next month or two.

We've heard that T-Mobile's HTC Sensation 4G would get an upgrade to Ice Cream Sandwich "very soon," and now the carrier has announced that the software update will start rolling out on May 16th. Unsurprisingly, it'll be a skinned version, with Sense 3.6 on board rather than the new Sense 4 that's included on HTC's latest phones. The update should automatically be pushed out over-the-air, but if you're impatient and want to upgrade as soon as possible, just start checking the HTC software updates option in the settings menu. T-Mobile's been teasing users with this update since March, so we're glad to see it finally have an official release date.

T-Mobile has also put a page live saying that Android 4.0 would come to the HTC Amaze 4G "in the coming weeks." That's pretty ambiguous, but we heard that the Amaze 4G would be getting its update at the same time as the Sensation 4G, so it wouldn't surprise us to see this update available in the early summer. Still missing in action is the Ice Cream Sandwich update for T-Mobile's Galaxy S II — we heard it was coming out before the Sensation 4G and Amaze 4G updates, but it remains missing in action for now.

Samsung has started pushing out an over-the-air update that brings Android 4.0 to its Galaxy Note smartphone. The news was broken by Devin Balentina, who included a screenshot of his Dutch Galaxy Note notifying him that the 318MB update was available to download. Unfortunately, his location makes this update likely to only roll out to users with the GT-N7000 international Note — AT&T customers with the SGH-i717 Note will have to wait for their carrier to push out its own firmware. The release of an OTA update marks a break from the norm for Samsung, which generally requires its devices to update to Android 4.0 via the Samsung Kies desktop software.

Samsung delayed the release of the ICS update to Q2 back in March, promising a new "Premium Suite" of S Pen apps in exchange for a longer wait. Unfortunately, the new suite appears to be restricted to a pair of updated apps; The S Note App and S Memo Widget are the only ones listed as improved in the pop-up notification. Let us know if you've successfully updated your Galaxy Note in comments; what do you think of TouchWiz over Android 4.0, and are there any additional improvements that Samsung failed to mention?

Acer previously announced April 27th as the day that Iconia Tab A100 and A500 owners would be able to get their Android 4.0 update, but it didn't go entirely to plan — while the release sprang early for the A500, the A100 update hasn't made its way out to everyone yet. That may well change for you today, though, as several more users on the AndroidCentral forums are reporting that they can now update their devices. You should be getting a notification saying that the Ice Cream Sandwich update is available, but if it hasn't appeared yet then it might be worth a manual check.

Last month T-Mobile announced that, while an Android 4.0 update for the HTC Sensation 4G was in the works, it wouldn't be launching in April. And though we still don't have a specific date, the carrier now says that Ice Cream Sandwich will be available on the device "very soon." According to a note on the Sensation's support page, the update has already gone through testing and an "official communication from T-Mobile regarding how and when you'll be able to receive the update" is on its way. This news follows a purported leaked T-Mobile document, which claimed that the ICS update would be available for both the Sensation 4G and Amaze 4G on June 16th, while the Samsung Galaxy S II was set to receive it on May 14th.

It's worth noting that the numbers published on the Android Developers blog reflect the number of devices that accessed the Google Play store within a 14-day period. For that reason, they don't include people who use their devices like dumbphones, or devices without Google Apps such as the Kindle Fire and certain Chinese handsets. In any case, May is looking to be another big month for Android 4.0 updates — Verizon is said to be releasing new software for a number of its handsets, Sony will be pumping out a new round of updates, and Samsung Canada just released Android 4.0 for nine of its devices.

Samsung has announced that nine members of its Galaxy lineup in Canada will receive Android 4.0 from today. The Galaxy Note, S II, S II LTE, S II LTE HD, and S II X will all be upgraded soon, but the manufacturer isn't giving itself a deadline any more precise than "this quarter" to complete the updates. On the tablet side of the Galaxy line, the Tab 7.0, 7.0 Plus, 8.9, and 10.1 are all eligible for upgrades. As with any update, when it actually reaches your phone is largely down to your carrier, although if past rollouts are anything to go by, SIM-free devices should be upgradable very soon.

Despite numerous leaks, there hasn't been much in the way of updates for Samsung's North American lineup, so hopefully today's announcement is a precursor for a continent-wide rollout soon. If you're Canadian, and just can't wait to get Ice Cream Sandwich — along with a healthy dose of TouchWiz of course — then we recommend downloading Samsung's Kies app on your PC or Mac and checking to see if there's an update available for your device.

TmoNews has uncovered a purported internal document which lists upcoming Android 4.0 updates and devices. The document indicates that the Samsung Galaxy S II will receive an update on May 14, followed by the HTC Sensation 4G and Amaze 4G on June 16. There are also a number of new phones on the horizon, including the Huawei Astro, Phoenix, and Buddy, two of which could be the rumored Huawei MyTouch devices, as well as the ZTE Pascal.

It's not clear if the document is genuine or accurate, but the presence of the HTC Ville (the codename for the One S) seems to indicate that it's outdated. There's also no mention of the supposedly scheduled Samsung Galaxy Note or the Galaxy S II successor. With just two weeks to go until the first update should arrive, we'll have an idea of just how accurate the document is soon.

A Verizon document that appears to be a roadmap with the status and dates of upcoming updates has leaked on Reddit. While something like this could easily be falsified (and we've seen incorrect dates in the past) it seems unlikely that someone would go through the trouble of producing a four-page document including BREW update paths just for some karma and upvotes. The roadmap shows that the HTC Rezound Android 4.0 update is in testing and will pushed out on May 9th; the Motorola Razr and Razr Maxx ICS update is also in testing and will be updated on May 21st; and the Motorola Xoom 3G and 4G updates have already completed their tests and are seemingly very close to being pushed out by Google.

Verizon has already announced that updates for these devices will be coming at some point, and we've recently learned that Motorola will be selling the international version of the Razr Maxx with Android 4.0 in May. Verizon hasn't confirmed the validity of the document, but May 9th isn't too far away, so hopefully we'll hear some official news on updates soon.

Sony has just announced that the Android 4.0 update for its Tablet S is now available and should be rolling out to owners —j ust connect your Tablet S to Wi-Fi and you should be prompted for a system update. It's good to see Sony living up to its word and delivering this update when it said it would, though we're still waiting for the Tablet P to receive its Ice Cream Sandwich update. To go along with this update, Sony's offering the Tablet S at a bit of a discount — if you buy between now and May 12th, you'll receive $50 as well as a free cradle accessory. This puts the Tablet S at $349 for the 16GB model, and while it isn't the best Android tablet we've ever used, the infusion of Ice Cream Sandwich should help give it a new lease on life.

Acer had announced that its dual-core Iconia Tab A100 and A500 tablets would be getting Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich on April 27th, but it appears some A500 users may be getting an early taste. Several owners over at the Android Central forums have indicated that they began receiving the update starting early yesterday. It's continued to roll out to several more users since then, but it doesn't appear to be hitting all devices just yet. There hasn't been any word yet on the A100, but with the official rollout just two days away, owners shouldn't have to wait very long to get the latest version of Android on their tablets.

A list of phones on US carriers set to receive an upgrade to Android 4.0 is now available on Samsung's support pages, providing confirmation for a number of devices. It's not the first time the manufacturer's update plans have been detailed, but the latest announcement is far more carrier-specific.

On AT&T, the Galaxy S II, Galaxy S II Skyrocket, Galaxy Note, Captivate Glide, Nexus S, and Galaxy Tab 8.9 will all be upgraded, while on Verizon the Galaxy Tab 10.1 and Galaxy Tab 7.7 will receive Android 4.0. Sprint's Nexus S 4G already has Android 4.0, while the Galaxy S II Epic 4G Touch is also set to be updated. All Wi-Fi Galaxy Tabs currently running Honeycomb will get the update. However, T-Mobile customers aren't being furnished with any details, just a message saying that Samsung is "in close communication" with the carrier, and will "provide updates as we have additional details to share."