Chrome for Android Beta brings the best web browser to mobile

They really didn't have to, but we're glad they did. Google has just announced Chrome for Android smartphones and tablets. It is only available for  'Ice Cream Sandwich' enabled devices (less than 1% of Androids out there) but this is still a promising development. 

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Samsung Galaxy S and Galaxy Tab aren't getting Ice Cream Sandwich because of bloatware

By Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

Owners of Samsung's Galaxy S and original 7-inch Galaxy Tab devices will not be able to upgrade to the latest and unified Android OS 4.0 codenamed Ice Cream Sandwich. The reason for this isn't the hardware but limitations brought about by Samsung's own TouchWiz overlay and country specific carrier apps.

This came to light when Samsung revealed its ICS rollout that included the Galaxy S II, its LTE versions, the Galaxy Note, the Galaxy R and  the Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus to the Galaxy Tab 10.1. The update is slated to arrive first on both the Galaxy S II and Note in Q1 2012.

According to a blog post, the adding ICS on these Galaxy Tab and the Samsung Galaxy S isn't possible because of lack of space taken up by TouchWiz elements (Touch Wiz / Samsung Widgets / video calls, etc.) as well as third party carrier apps that are country specific such as mobile TV and music apps. There isn't enough RAM and ROM to run both ICS, TouchWiz and the sundry carrier apps.

The Google Nexus S, which has similar hardware, runs ICS just fine but it runs just the ICS software without any extraneous applications.

ICS can still run on these devices but through unlicensed ROMs which require rooting and hacking around the system to eliminate tbe bloatware and overlays. This is not advised, however, since it is not officially supported and device specific issues are unlikely to be fixed. 

Samsung sold 10 million of these smartphones under the  Epic 4G, Vibrant, Captivate, Fascinate, and Mesmerize monickers with various carriers globally. It is unfortunate that the smartphones have the specs to run ICS (1GHz ARM Hummingbird processors,  512MB RAM) but is limited by add-on software.

Review: Samsung Galaxy Nexus Android 4.0 smartphone

Text and photos by Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

Google's Galaxy Nexus is undoubtably the most desired Android smartphone this year. It is, after all, the first device to showcase Android 4.0 (AKA Ice Cream Sandwich) and brings a long list of improvements to the device it replaces, the Google Nexus S.

As competition in the high end handset segment gets tighter, is the Galaxy Nexus the best Android smartphone or has the competition finally caught up with this year's prime Google phone?

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Bell and Virgin Mobile to release the Galaxy Nexus on Dec 8, $150 on 3-year plan

Galaxy Nexus from Google will be landing in Canada on December 8 at Virgin Mobile and Bell. Both those companies have sign up pages on their websites. Canada gets the goods ahead of the US which still has to announce a release date for the Galaxy Nexus. Check out our first impressions of the device.

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