Samsung Galaxy Nexus and Android Ice Cream Sandwich Updates

• 29th - First seed of speculation is sowed, and we hear the words Nexus Prime for the first time.

112 days to Google and Samsung announcement on 19th October

• 21st - The manufacturer for the 'fabled' Nexus Prime is not known yet, but we have gathered rumors that both HTC and Samsung are vying for the top spot.

90 days to Google and Samsung announcement on 19th October

• 25th - Samsung Teases Something Big for IFA 2011 on August 25th with a short teaser video.
   
• 29th - The leak of both Wi-Fi certification note and  alleged letter from Samsung legal team further confirms rumors that Google has chosen Samsung to manufacture the next Google phone, tentatively known as Nexus Prime.

• 4th - An image used by Texas Instruments (TI) during a slideshow presentation reveals that Google may have chosen its OMAP4 processor to power the upcoming Ice Cream Sandwich phones including the next Nexus phone.
   
• 12th - Four screenshots of the OS running on a Nexus S phone are leaked. While we don't quite get a good look at the OS, some details emerges.

• 7th - The user agent profile of the Nexus Prime has prompted readers to speculate that the phone will have a "screen size of 480 x 800".

• 8th - The word comes straight from the horse's mouth - Google CEO announces that the next version of the Android operating system (codenamed Ice Cream Sandwich) will arrive in October or November.

• 20th - @tfleming223 composes a twitter poem that is quite telling of the Nexus Prime's features -  “Be it a Droid or Nexus branded new toy, with dual cores “hd” screens, fancy new widgets and more…. The one with the keyboard is what I enjoy”.
   
• 30th - Samsung starts to send out invites for their Unpacked event at CTIA on the 11th of October. The event will be held in conjunction with Google and will revolve around Android. The Nexus Prime and the Ice Cream Sandwich OS are rumored to finally make their appearances then.

  

• 29th - So, a lucky buyer purchases a Nexus S over Ebay only to find out that it is running on Ice Cream Sandwich. The video of the alleged OS running on the smartphone starts to go viral.
  

 

 

 

• We catch a slight glimpse of the Samsung Nexus Prime, strongly inferring that it comes with a Super AMOLED display of HD resolution - 720p on a 4.6-inch screen.

• Samsung continues to tease us with leaks and ... videos. We spot a curved body and 3 LED notification lights where the camera button usually is.

14 days to Google and Samsung announcement on 19th October

• The spec sheet for the Samsung Nexus Prime, now known as the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, gets a massive update - the beast is said to be running on a 1.5 GHz dual-core processor while featuring a 8-megapixel camera with improved sensor, a 2050 mAh battery and a 4.65-inch AMOLED HD display of 1280 x 720 pixels resolution.

• Google confirms the launch of Android 4.0 Launch at Samsung Unpacked event by slipping up on its official YouTube page.
   
• First live photo of the Nexus Prime emerges. 
   
• On the same day, Google and Samsung announce that they will be postponing the event, citing Steve Jobs' untimely demise as a wrong "time to announce a new product".

• A video that allegedly shows the new Ice Cream Sandwich OS (Android 4.0) running on the Samsung Galaxy Nexus (Nexus Prime) makes its round.
   

• A quick search on Picasa of the term 'Galaxy Nexus' leads to two photos taken by Google employees (the photos have since been taken down) - once again confirming that the newest Samsung phone will be called Samsung Galaxy Nexus and not Nexus Prime as purported earlier.

• Google and Samsung officially confirms that the previously postponed event will be held on the 19th of October in Hong Kong at 10am (Singapore Time). As per tradition with every Android update, a statue of the designated dessert will be put on display, and its presence at Google's Mountain View headquarters has already been recorded and placed on YouTube.

• Another video has been leaked, purportedly showing a Samsung Galaxy S II running the new Android OS. Certain elements such as the Recent Apps feature, listing apps that are currently running in the background, and a 3D-like user interface were given a much clearer sighting in this video.
  
  *Update: It has been revealed that this is a customized ROM based on the current Google Android 2.3 Gingerbread.

• The OS is said to come with a comprehensive photo editing software that includes features like crop, sharpen, flip, and a selection of 19 possible photo effects.
   
• Even now, more leaks of Android Ice Cream Sandwich are surfacing, one of which is a long-awaited feature - screenshot capabilities.