Google and Samsung are holding an event in Hong Kong on October 19th to introduce the next major update to the Android operating system, as well as at least one of the first phones that will run it. Since Hong Kong is all the way on the other side of the world, the event will actually take place at 10:00 at night on October 18th if you’re on the east coast of the US.

The two companies had originally scheduled a kick-off event for for this week. But the launch event for  Google Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich and a new Samsung Nexus smartphone was pushed back.

In the meantime, as if the invitation didn’t already provide enough evidence that Ice Cream Sandwich will be available soon, Google has added a new desert-themed statue to its lawn.

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Google has already promised that the next major version of the Android operating system, code-named Ice Cream Sandwich, would be the first designed to run on both phones and tablets, combining some of the features of Android 2.x and Android 3.x and sprinkling in a few of its own. But that’s about all Google has said on the matter so far. Now the folks at Rootz Wiki and Android Police have published some leaked screenshots of the next generation of Android running on a Nexus S smartphone.

Here are some of the new features:

• The user interface with a blue theme that looks a lot like Android 3.x Honeycomb
• There’s a new app drawer and launcher screen that look a bit like what you would get if you took the Honeycomb versions and shrunk them down for a smartphone screen.

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Google has announced that the next major version of Android called Ice Cream Sandwich will be available in the 4th quarter of the year. It will be the first version of Android designed to run on all sorts of devices including phones, tablets, and even devices with keyboards such as the Asus Eee Pad Transformer.

The update will bring many Honeycomb features to smartphones, including the “holographic” user interface, the program launcher, widgets, and the application framework.

Google also went out of the way to confirm that Ice Cream Sandwich will be open source… which may be an indication that the source code for Android 3.x Honeycomb will never be released to the public, but I may be reading too much between the lines right now.

Google will start pushing out the newest version of Google Android 2.3 Gingerbread to the Nexus One and Nexus S smartphones in the coming weeks. But you may not have to wait that long to get your hands on Google Android 2.3.4, because the source code for the operating system has already been released.

All we know about the update right now is that it’s designed to fix some bugs in the Nexus One and add support for voice and video chat to Google Talk on the Nexus S.

I suspect custom ROM developers will be able to incorporate some of those features into software for those phones and others pretty quickly.

via Android Central

Google has rolled out a new Gmail app for Android, and the good news is that it’s available as a standalone download from the Android Market, which means updates won’t be tied to operating system updates anymore. In other words, you won’t have to wait for Android 3.0 to get a new version of Gmail if you’re currently using Android 2.2. That’s the good news.

The bad news is that the new app is only available for Android 2.2 at the moment. So if you were hoping that a new Gmail app that’s independent of the OS would make your older Android 1.6 device feel like new, it looks like you’re out of luck, at least for now.

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Google has been saying for a while that it plans to take this approach with some of the core apps that are normally bundled with the operating system. This will allow Google to push updates more quickly to devices even if they’re running HTC Sense, Samsung Touchwiz, or Motorola Blur software which tends to lead to handset makers taking a longer time to push out operating system updates.

Aside from OS independence, there are a few other new features in the latest version of Gmail, which is quite similar to the version leaked a few weeks ago.

First, there are new persistent icons near the top of your screen no matter how far down you scrolling a message. This makes it easier to reply or star a message without having to scroll all the way back to the top. Honestly, I think the old version left the screen feeling less cluttered, but I can definitely see how this new toolbar could save some scrolling time.

Gmail for Android now also has a “show quoted text” button to show you text quoted in earlier messages, much as you can do with the desktop version of Gmail.

Google has also added a bit of support for the new Priority Inbox feature. If you enabled priority Inbox in a desktop web browser, you’ll see a new “Important” label in the mobile version of Gmail, although that’s not quite the same as dividing up your inbox window the you can on a desktop.

Gmail for Android is available as a free download from the Android Market if you’re running Android 2.2.

Motorola Droid (sans yogurt)

Sure, a handful of Google Nexus One users have been rocking Android 2.2 Froyo on their handsets for a few months, but that’s a pretty small percentage of Android users overall. But it looks like the wider Android world is about get a cup full of frozen yogurt soon.

Engadget reports that Verizon will be rolling out Android 2.2 for the Motorola Droid next week. And Samsung UK reports that it will be rolling out Froyo updates for its phones in September.

That’s just the tip of the iceberg. There’s also evidence that the HTC Evo, HTC Desire, and other phones are getting updates soon.

Among other updates, Google Android 2.2 Froyo brings a new Java compiler which should significantly improve the speed of third party apps on most phones. There are also home screen changes, with persistent buttons for launching the web browser and phone app. And some carriers will allow you to take advantage of another killer Froyo feature: support for tethering your phone to a computer to share the 3G internet connection.

Google has been pushing out test builds of Android 2.2 Froyo to a small group of users with Google Nexus One phones for the past month or so. But as we’ve repeatedly been told, those early builds weren’t the official release that would be made available to the general public — so if you somehow managed to find and download the updates through some link you found on the web, you weren’t necessarily running the final version of Froyo on your Nexus One.

Starting today, that all changes. Google has announced that it has begun rolling out Android 2.2 for Nexus One handsets. Some users have already received notifications that the update is available, and Google promises that most users should get the update by the end of the week. I guess that means the build that leaked last night really was the final build — and if you’re the impatient sort, you can probably download it now by following one of the links from the xda-developers forum.

The Google Nexus One is the first phone to receive the Android 2.2 update because it’s the phone Google has the closest connection to. Up until recently the company had been selling the phone directly to consumers through its web site. But now that Froyo is available for one phone, I suspect it won’t be too long before we start to see other phone makers and wireless carriers start to offer updates for other devices.

Some of the new features in Android 2.2 Froyo include a major speed boost — particularly for third party applications, support for Adobe Flash Player 10.1, USB tethering and WiFi hotspot capabilities, and a new Home Screen design featuring phone and web browser buttons that show up at the bottom of all five home screens.

Another leaked build of Google Android 2.2 Froyo for the Google Nexus One has been leaked. It’s not entirely clear what if any changes there are between this build and the one leaked a few weeks ago, but it appears likely that this is just a bug fix update, since the update is quite small (under 2MB).

In order to install the update, you’ll want to download the file from Google or a mirror site, rename it to update.zip and copy it to your SD card and then follow the steps below. But bear in mind, this will only work if you have a Google Nexus One that’s running the FRF50 build that was leaked recently and you haven’t rooted your phone.

OK, so here’s how to apply the update:

1. Turn off your phone.
2. Hold down the power button and the trackball at the same time until a white screen with three Androids on skateboards pops up.
3. Use the volume buttons to select “bootloader,” and then press the power button.
4. On the next screen, select “recovery.”
5. The phone will reboot to show you an Android and an exclamation point.
6. Use the trackball to select “apply sdcard:update.zip.”
7. Once the installation is complete, select “reboot system now”

Note that it will probably take longer than usual for your phone to reboot. This is normal.

If you notice anything new in the FRF72 build, let us know in the comments!

via xda-developers

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