14 DAY TRIAL // When made available for purchase, the Samsung Galaxy Nexus smartphone won't be the only handset to run under Google's Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, even if it will be the only one to have it officially.
Unofficial ports are already available for a wider range of smartphones out there, both coming from Samsung and from other handset vendors, the guys over at Pocketnow have found out.
Apparently, Samsung's Galaxy S family of devices has already got a taste of the Ice Cream Sandwich goodness, courtesy of XDA-Developers.
Both the Galaxy S i9000 and the Galaxy S II i9100 can run the Android 4.0 OS, though not all aspects are working as they should, it seems.
On the older device, the touch screen doesn't work, and the screen resolution needs some adjustments, while the newer device can't play videos, as the necessary drivers are not yet put in place.
Sprint's Epic 4G can also enjoy the Ice Cream Sandwich goodness, though the touchscreen doesn't work as it should, and the keyboard mapping is off.
Nexus S and Nexus One are other handsets that got a taste of the new OS flavor, but also with a series of issues.
HTC's Nexus One does not have video decoding, while WiFi and audio are having issues working at all times. As for Nexus S, the Bluetooth, Panorama Mode, and camera will force close the 1st time when launched.
And there is also the Xperia X10 smarphone from Sony Ericsson, which has some issues with the touchscreen when running Ice Cream Sandwich.
All these unofficial ports of ICS on existing devices emerged after Google made available the new SDK for the platform, and more of them should become available in the not too distant future, especially after the source code for the new OS flavor comes out.
In the meantime, we should wait for the new Galaxy Nexus to arrive on shelves to see how Ice Cream Sandwich was actually meant to work on devices, and for more handsets and tablets to be announced with the new platform on board.