However, the word on the grape vine is that that the Galaxy S and 7” Galaxy Tab will both have to live without Android 4.0 permanently. Samsung is now stating that both devices will be unable to upgrade due to “hardware constraints”.

It seems that ICS just doesn’t seem to work when it is paired up with Samsung’s UI TouchWiz and the hardware. The Korean smartphone giants have said that the original Galaxy S has lots of GUI enhancements and extra software that the 1GHz processor just cannot handle due to RAM and ROM constraints.

This may well be true, but if your memory is as sharp as ours you will remember that the Taiwanese smartphone makers HTC said something similar about Android 2.3 and the Desire range of handsets. Once the owners kicked up a stink, the problem was somehow fixed. It will be interesting to see if Samsung stick to their guns or are swayed by the power of the people.

The update for the Galaxy S II and Galaxy Note will start in the first few months of 2012, with other Galaxy devices following shortly behind. Samsung has confirmed that the devices eligible for upgrade are:
• Galaxy S II
• Galaxy S II LTE
• Galaxy Note
• Galaxy R
• Galaxy Tab 10.1
• Galaxy Tab 8.9
• Galaxy Tab 7.7
• Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus

You may have noticed one or two glaring omissions from the list, the original Galaxy S and the 7” Galaxy Tab. At the moment we are not sure whether the rollout is delayed for these devices, or simply not happening.

Samsung will make a separate announcement of the update for each market as there will be a delay if you have a network-branded device.

Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich is a mash-up of Gingerbread and Honeycomb with some additional features thrown in too. The idea behind the new OS is to bring combine the best bits from the tablet and smartphone OS’ to create one platform optimised for both devices.

Ice Cream Sandwich brings all sorts of new things such as NFC Support, People App, Face Unlock, Android Beam, Google Talk, and much more.

The RBWG project sees Three partner up with Race Online 2012, The Countryside Alliance, and a number of politicians to find out which rural areas of the UK could use mobile broadband as an alternative to fixed line broadband.

A Conservative MP for Penrith and Borders said, “This is Ofcom’s last chance in a generation to give rural communities the help they need in getting access to broadband,”

“There are 6 million people in the UK who will be left isolated if Ofcom does not get this auction process right, and that means ensuring there is a minimum coverage commitment in the auction structure to guarantee operators get mobile broadband coverage to outlying areas of the country.

“It must be about Ofcom securing the future of rural communities, securing these communities’ access to mobile broadband coverage, and ensuring that the people living, working and learning in these areas can access all the benefits of broadband that those living in urban areas can.

“If Ofcom fails to do this, more and more rural communities will simply die out and disappear.”

This is thought to be the final update for Flash as Adobe has recently revealed that it is not developing mobile Flash any further. The halt is down to the increased focus on HTML5 as an alternative to the trusted Adobe software.

Android Ice Cream Sandwich users should be able to find the update under the “What’s New” tab in the Android Market.

The update to Flash Player 11 is now fully supported by Android 4.0 handsets, and also includes some improvements and security bug fixes:
• Seeking while video is paused will not update the frame on ICS device
• StageVideo using On2 and Sorenson does not work on ICS devices
• PHDS content stops after playing for ~10 seconds
• OS does not prioritize incoming call – audio remains playing before and after call is received
• Enter key does not work on the multi-line text input field

The latest demo to hit the internet shows off some very futuristic looking tech that could realistically be hitting shelves at some point in the near future. The tablet on display shows a transparent flexible AMOLED screen which ‘throws’ a holographic 3D image making it look real – far in advance of the glasses-free 3D images currently available. Other features include instant translation, and the demo shows the screen translating French into Korean.

Samsung will be looking at shipping mobile phones with flexible screens before thinking about other products such as fold-up tablet computers. The smartphone, aptly named Galaxy Skin, will be so bendy that it can be rolled up and folded over. The technology is similar to that of a basic prototype from Finnish smartphone manufacturer, Nokia, the Kinetic.

Reports had leaked online earlier this year that Samsung was planning on manufacturing vast amounts of screen in the first part of 2012, but no one could think what for at the time…

The Sensation XL has to be one of the most powerful smartphones on the market right now. It features a huge 4.7 inch S-LCD capacitive touchscreen and under the bonnet is an ultra-fast 1.5GHz Scorpion processor which makes moving around this phone so simple and speedy.

The massive screen is so sensitive, making sending texts, writing emails, and browsing the web enjoyable and efficient. No longer do you have to struggle with a buggy resistive touch screen, or even an old hardware keypad.

This HTC model also comes with the Audio Beats technology from Dr Dre, and a free pair of headphones, so you can listen to music in the way it was originally meant to be heard.

O2 are offering the Sensation XL on the O2 Bonus + Unlimited tariff which includes the free handset, 1200 anytime calling minutes and unlimited texts for £36 per month. The plan does not include any data, which is essential to make the most of this phone, so you might want to consider adding an additional bundle.

However, Huawei has released the OS for the Honor smartphone on its support site. So, you might be wondering what the catch is. Well, for one ICS is currently only available in Chinese, not a lot of use to the majority of UK citizens.

Huawei’s version of Android 4.0 ICS is also just the beta version so the ROM is maxed out at 150MB, but if you fancy a taste of what’s to come, this is the only way at the moment. If users are not impressed by the Chinese beta ICS they can easily turn back to their existing OS.

The Honor handset features a 4 inch display, 1.4GHz processor, 512MB RAM, and 1GB internal storage, so it’s not exactly hitting Nexus specs, but it’s not a bad mid-range phone.

The device currently runs on Android 2.3.5, and other features include both front and rear facing cameras, and a 3-day battery. The handset is available from this month in many of the Asian countries, but is not yet available in the US.

The smartphone market is booming at the moment and it doesn’t look set to stop for a very long time, and so getting into the arena could prove to be a good venture for the company. A reshuffle of the structure saw the introduction of the Systems and Communications Company (SNC), and it is this department that will take care of mobile communications.

Panasonic already has a number of smartphones on sale in Japan, but it has never taken its business elsewhere before. It is thought that the firm will keep production at the current smartphone factory in Malaysia.

Although smartphones are obviously in demand, it is also a very packed market with giants such as Apple, Samsung and HTC dominating, so Panasonic will need to show something unique in order to grab attention.

The first model is thought to include a 4.3 inch OLED screen, have a super-thin D-shaped body, and be both water and dustproof. We imagine that Panasonic will jump on the Android bandwagon to stay safe but nothing has been confirmed.

This isn’t the only new software to be hitting the software this month, both devices will also get HTC Sense 3.0 – the latest version of the HTC UI, and perhaps more valuable to HTC owners than the Android.

The new version of Sense has some marked improvements on its predecessor, namely a lock screen which provides immediate access to your favourite apps, and an enhanced homescreen and widgets. Google has adopted the favourite app feature for Ice Cream Sandwich but it doesn’t work as well as the HTC Sense version.

Both of the HTC devices getting the update have a 1GHz Qualcomm processor so you can nip between apps and so on pretty quickly with little lag. Both phones also sport a megapixel camera, although there is no front-facing cam for video calls. The HTC Desire HD features a huge 4.3 inch touch screen which is a bonus considering the age of the phone.

If you have either the HTC Incredible S or Desire HD search for updates as they are rolling out now.

The next tablet from the Korean electronics giant is rumoured to be the Galaxy Tab HD, which would feature a huge 11.6 HD touchscreen with a 2560×1600 resolution. This sort of display will significantly enhance the quality of web browsing, watching videos, and playing games.

If there is anything more important than the screen, it is what’s under the bonnet, and believe us, this sound good. The Galaxy Tab HD is thought to be packing a super-fast dual core processor, and will be running on the newly released Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich.

No release details have been leaked or confirmed, but it is thought that the new Samsung tablet might be debuted at MWC in February 2012. We shall have to wait and see – but this definitely looks like it’s worth waiting for.