Samsung Galaxy Nexus (Prime) to Run Android Ice Cream Sandwich?

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Just a few days ago we got an almost complete rundown of specs and features of the upcoming Samsung Nexus Prime, the third Google Nexus smartphone that’s going to be launched in late October or early November, and now we have more details about this device.

Again we hear that the phone may not be called the Nexus Prime and could be sold as the Samsung Galaxy Nexus by Verizon and other carriers. The news comes from “some random dude” who had access to the device.

The Galaxy Nexus will offer a 4.65-inch HD display with 1,280 x 720 resolution, a 1.5GHz Exynos processor, 1GB of RAM, 16GB of memory, SD card slot support, a 2,000 mAh battery and Android 2.4.1 Ice Cream Sandwich. The Galaxy Nexus will have a curved screen like the Nexus S and a profile of 8.8mm. The phone is apparently a Verizon exclusive in the USA, which is something we’ve heard before.

Last time we checked though, the Galaxy Nexus was supposed to sport a TI OMAP processor. That could still happen, with the U.S. Verizon edition having it replaced with an Exynos CPU. But it looks like such processors won’t work with LTE, and we certainly expect the Galaxy Nexus to support 4G LTE connectivity.

The other troubling issue is that Ice Cream Sandwich is referred to as Android 2.4.1, not Android 4 as we’ve been expecting it to be numbered. It is apparently ready to work “like Gingerbread,” but wasn’t this supposed to be a major OS update, one that would bring the same Android experience tablets and smartphones? Isn’t Google’s intention to have ICS run on all these devices? Should that still be the case then wouldn’t it be strange to upgrade a Android 3.1 Honeycomb tablet to Android 2.4.1 ICS? Yes, it’s just numbers as long as everything works, but it’s still weird to go from 3.x back to 2.4.x.

Of course Google can’t offer the same Android experience on all existing devices out there, can they. There’s plenty of fragmentation going on, and that will continue even after the introduction of Android 2.4.x. Here’s what’s supposed to be changed in ICS:

The Galaxy Nexus that he used was running Ice Cream Sandwich and showed a version number of Android 2.4.1. It “works like Gingerbread” but has undergone a major face lift with smoother menus, better animations, and a “glassy” look to everything. The app drawer appears to be customizable with folders (like the new Blur) and has sections for Apps, Games and Widgets – feels a lot cleaner than any other build.

There is a preview mode for widgets, that allows you to see how your widget will look on a screen before you actually place it on there. Icons appear much more “shiny” than in the past and there are blues and purples all over rather than the green we saw in 2.3.

The Gmail, calendar, and browser apps have all been re-done. Gmail includes panels in landscape view like in Honeycomb. Calendar app apparently received a similar overhaul with blue color scheme. Browser has also been completely re-done with tabs at the “bottom” of the screen, better pinch-to-zoom and a new icon that features Bugdroid.

How does the Galaxy Nexus (Prime) sound so far? Will you buy it later this year or are you going for a different kind of device, the iPhone 5?