Consumers and developers hoping to get their first taste of “Ice Cream Sandwich” at next week’s CTIA show in San Diego may have to wait a little longer. Ice Cream Sandwich is a name for the newest version of Android, and many expected the newest iteration when Google Inc. and Samsung Telecommunications Americas invited press to an event next week at CTIA to see “what’s new from Android.” But today Samsung U.K. reportedly said it will postpone its planned new product announcement. The company reportedly said that “this is just not the right time to announce a new product,” leading to speculation that Google and Samsung decided to delay because of the passing of Apple founder Steve Jobs.
Google CEO Eric Schmidt has said that Android 4.0 will be released in October or November. Among the expected improvements are better text-to-speech (for example when a phone speaks directions to you while you’re driving) and improved NFC (near field communications) technology, making it much easier for two Android devices to communicate and even transfer money to one another.
The other big part of the expected announcement from Google and Samsung is the unveiling of Samsung’s newest Galaxy phone, which apparently will not appear next week either. That handset has been referred to as the Galaxy Nexus and the Nexus Prime. It is rumored to have a larger screen than the current Galaxy and a dual-core 1.2 GHz Texas Instruments Inc. OMAP 4460 processor.
