Android Ice Cream Sandwich on Smartphones by Christmas

During the opening keynote at the Google I/O conference in San Francisco, Internet giant Google announced the upcoming availability of a new version of its Android platform, one that would bring together the currently existing Android 2.3 Gingerbread and the Android 3.0 Honeycomb flavors, namely Ice Cream Sandwich.

Not only would the next Android release enable smartphone users enjoy features that were previously available for tablet PC owners alone, but it would also mark a fusion between the two different iterations of the OS.

At the developer conference, Google announced that the new platform release would become an “operating system that runs everywhere.”

The next Android platform flavor should be capable of scaling well both on handsets that sport smaller screens, as well as on high-end tablet PCs, many of which would pack large, 10-inch touchscreen displays.

“Ice Cream Sandwich is when phones will get the Honeycomb features, so that will be like a merge,” Google stated during the Q&A session following the opening keynote at Google I/O.

The platform would arrive with a series of other features included into the mix as well, and some of them were unveiled during the keynote in the opening day: holographic UI, richer widgets, or an enhanced application framework.

The company also stressed on its plans to bring unification between different releases and to make Ice Cream work on all sorts of devices, including tablets, convertible laptops, and, of course, smartphones.

What remains to be seen is whether there would be a new Nexus device launched with Ice Cream Sandwich. When asked about it, Andy Rubin was vague, but did not exclude the possibility.

“We want all phones to run Ice Cream, not just new phones. The Nexus has been the device we’ve used to set the bar. The market works in cycles that revolves around the holidays and summertime. We’ll make an announcement in the future,” he reportedly stated.

Face-tracking and camera focus shifting based on voice recognition capabilities were demoed at the conference as well, along with the aforementioned new features for Ice Cream Sandwich. The platform would also offer support for all the services that existing OS flavors enjoy.