We’ve got some great news for those of you eager to get a feel for what your Galaxy S II running the Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich build. A new ROM for the international version of the Galaxy S II just leaked from the Samsung R&D center and you can give it a try if you want.

Better yet, we installed the leaked Android 4.0.3-based ROM on a Galaxy S II we had at hand and prepared a quick video for you to show you what it feels like. Read more »

Last week ASUS announced that the original Transformer TF101 will be receiving the ICS update shortly after the Transformer Prime got it. They even confirmed it later on their Facebook page that the update will, in fact, be released today.

Later however that update was pulled down from the account and replaced with a proper statement saying that the original Transformer will in fact be getting the ICS update around end of this month, along with an apology for giving the wrong date earlier and invariably getting everyone’s hopes up. Read more »

Our tour around the CES 2012 booth continued with Polaroid and their Android-running smartphone Polaroid SC1630. The 16 megapixel device is one of the very few phones to offer optical zoom, which lets it easily stand out in the crowd.

Back in the days, when this one was going by as Altek Leo it hardly turned into a great success, but now it has an even higher resolution camera and some of Kodak’s image processing magic, so it should have better chances on the market. Read more »

Google has just released an update to its Maps app for Android. The update brings more indoor floor plans and should prevent you from getting lost at CES or some of the other famous venues in Vegas.

The list of new places includes famous casinos and venues from the Las Vegas strip as well as Las Vegas McCarran International Airport. The most interesting addition, however, is the new Google Maps game for Google+. Read more »

LG is bringing their latest super droid to Verizon under the name Spectrum, a version of the South Korean Optimus LTE and the LG Nitro HD for AT&T. That means the Spectrum packs a 4.5″ AH-IPS LCD display of 720p resolution, a dual-core 1.5GHz processor and LTE connectivity.

Design-wise, the LG Spectrum is nearly identical to Optimus LTE LU6200, whereas AT&T’s version takes after Optimus LTE SU640. We noticed that the back has changed though – it’s now glossy and gets smudged all over with fingerprints very quickly. Read more »

Vimeo, famed video-sharing site, popular among users for its array of user-generated original and consistently high quality content, have just released a number of mobile apps for both Windows Phone and Android devices, alongside the Kindle Fire.

Previously mobile users of Vimeo only had access via means of an iOS device or a clunky unofficial iteration, but now it would appear that the love has indeed been shared more freely with a bumper release onto two app stores at the same time. Read more »

The Excite X10 might be the tablet Toshiba are using CES to shout about, with it’s competent specs and measuring in at just 7.7mm thick (making it the thinnest tablet around).

But there are three other members of Toshiba’s tab family that have caught our attention, despite a certain level of mysticism surrounding them. Read more »

We stopped by the Pantech booth at CES 2012 to see two more additions to the AT&T lineup of LTE-touting devices. The 4″ Pantech Burst smartphone and the 8″ Pantech Element tablet were kind enough to pose for a few pictures.

The $49.99 (on a contract, of course) Pantech Burst actually turned out a pretty nice Gingebread smartphone, upgradable to Ice Cream Sandwich later in the year. Its dual core chipset and Super AMOLED display allow it to make way better first impression than most other smartphones in its class. Read more »

We already covered the Droid 4, but Motorola had a couple of other interesting handsets for Verizon to show at CES – the RAZR MAXX and the purple version of the original RAZR. The MAXX is the one that had our jaws drop to the floor though, it’s a little thicker and a little heavier than a regular RAZR but it offers the amazing 21.5 hours of continuous talk time. Now go back and read that again.

The key to this nearly day-long talk time (people with insomnia will probably appreciate it) the giant battery that Motorola somehow managed to cram inside. We are talking a capacity of 3300mAh here. Read more »

LTE is reigning supreme at this year’s CES and Samsung is one of the main reasons for that. The company unveiled a number of LTE-enabled versions of its smart devices and we are rushing to take them for a spin. We now have our first impressions of the Verizon-headed Galaxy Tab 7.7, and the AT&T-bound Galaxy Note.

The changes that the AT&T Galaxy Note brings include a different chipset, LTE connectivity and the four capacitive buttons, which replace the two-touch-plus-one hardware combo that we saw on the international version. Verizon’s Galaxy Tab 7.7, on the other hand trades the GSM/HSPA support for the speedier CDMA/LTE combo. Read more »

Verizon and Motorola had some interesting Androids to show at CES, including a brand new member of the Droid family. It’s not as thin as its RAZR siblings, but 12.9mm still sounds great given the arsenal of features it offers (4″ qHD screen, slide-out QWERTY and LTE are the headliners).

We got the opportunity to see the Droid 4 in person and we’re ready to share our initial impressions. Read more »

Earlier yesterday, Nvidia CEO Jen-Hsun Huang let it slip that the ASUS Transformer Prime will be updated to Ice Cream Sandwich and in case you didn’t believe him, let me tell you, he was right.

We are now hearing reports from everywhere about people getting the ICS update on their Transformer Prime. If you haven’t got the notification yet, head down to the settings and do a manual refresh. Read more »

The HTC Titan II is one of the hottest smartphones to be announced so far at CES 2012 and with its impressive 16 megapixel camera even hopes to become one of the devices of the season.

Just like any Windows Phone 7 Mango device, the Titan II feels incredibly smooth. The Microsoft platform will make sure that you won’t feel the absence of a dual-core CPU, when navigating the UI or when opening and closing apps. Read more »

Huawei surprised quite a lot of people with their announcement of the Ascend P1 and Ascend P1 S smartphones at this year’s CES. The smartphone maker was previously known for its affordable devices with modest functionality, but these two are aiming to take on the big boys out there.

The great news is that impressions made by the Huawei Ascend P1 and Ascend P1 S based on their specs sheets, still stood after we got a chance to play with them. The two ultra-slim droids are really solidly built and those 4.3″ Super AMOLED screens of qHD resolution are every bit as impressive as they sound. Read more »

Asus is certainly aiming to become one of the big players in the tablet game. After releasing the first quad-core tablet last month, today at CES the company unveiled the Asus Transformer Prime TF700T featuring a 10.1″ 1920×1200 resolution display.

That’s right, we got another FullHD tablet. Clearly, ASUS is responding to Acer’s Iconia Tab A700 tablet challenge. The Transformer Prime TF700T display uses the same SuperIPS+ technology as on the original Prime TF201, which promises splendid viewing angles and contrast. Read more »