News · 2 May 2011 · MTW Editorial Team
Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 Mango buzz is about to fade out a little bit next week when Google will most probably announce the newest version of Android for smartphones code named Ice Cream Sandwich aka Android 2.4 during the Google I/O conference (May 10 – 11) . This newest version is expected to include most of the new features introduced in Android 3.0 aka Honeycomb and adapt them for the smartphone form factor (remember that Honeycomb is exclusive to tablets) and feature integration with Google’s new music streaming cloud platform.
With an expected release date this summer, this new update will once again widen the features gap between Android and Windows Phone 7 who’s only expected to be updated to Mango later this year. If I had to guess I would bet that the Google Nexus S will be the first to get the update (probably months ahead of the vast majority of Android devices on the market thanks to sloppy carriers and OEM customizations).
The Ice Cream Sandwich code name was once again confirmed by a Google employee just a few hours ago on the Android AOSP forums:
source: Google, Google IO, Androicentral
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