Google is expected to launch the next version of Android soon… possibly as soon as October 11th, when Samsung and Google will hold a joint event on the eve of the CTIA trade show. The newest version of Android, which is code-named Ice Cream Sandwich, will be the first designed to run on both tablets and smartphones — and it will bring many of Android 3.x Honeycomb’s features to phones for the first time.
It’s likely that Google has been testing the software internally on Nexus S, and possibly Nexus One smartphones — and one guy found that the Samsung Nexus S he ordered on eBay came with Ice Cream Sandwich instead of Android 2.3 Gingerbread.
Like any good geek, he shot some video to share with the world. But unfortunately all the attention the video has received led Google to remotely wipe the phone so that the operating system is no longer available.
The video does show a new design for the camera app, a Honeycomb-style Recent Apps menu, notification area, settings menu, and other elements all have a new look and feel that’s closer to what you’d find in Honeycomb than Gingerbread. The OS seems to be pretty responsive on the Nexus S, so odds are it should play well with most high-end Android phones released in the last year or so.