In Depth: Android 4.0 release date: when will you get it?

With every announcement of an update to Android there comes the same chorus from users - "When is it coming to my phone?"

The Android 4.0 release date chorus is getting louder and is becoming punctuated with increasingly rude words as the days and weeks pass, as owners get more and more flustered about the possibility of being denied an update, no matter how small, or how old and incapable their phone might be.

Usually the hardware makers keep their plans pretty quiet to avoid angering customers with promises of timelines they can't keep, but in the case of Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich there's been a rush of announcements from the phone manufacturers, all trying to make their models appear "future proof" in some way.

Here's what's been put on the record by the main Android supporters so far regarding the likelihood of an Android 4.0 upgrade for their owners.

HTC

HTC has issued several statements on its plans for Android 4.0, with the latest claiming it wants to bring the update to some of its phones starting from "early 2012." The statement specifically name checked some US and European models, namely, for us, the HTC Sensation, HTC Sensation XL, HTC Sensation XE and EVO 3D.

Which means if you own anything older than an HTC Sensation, don't get too excited. And if you own an HTC Wildfire, don't get excited at all. In fact, you might as well just bin it now.

Motorola

Motorola has only gone public on plans to update one of its mobile phones to Android 4.0 - its newest, dual-core Motorola RAZR. There's also good news for owners of its XOOM tablet, as that's on the company's 4.0 update list as well.

But given the ongoing nightmare of the Motorola ATRIX Android 2.3 update, we'd say it's unlikely that the ATRIX, or any other older Motorola phones, will ever see an official 4.0 upgrade.

LG

LG got itself in a bit of a lather over Android 4.0. One part of the company said it wasn't going to update its Optimus 2X, then a subsequent statement said it was - and that the 2X and "other LG high-end smartphones" would eventually receive an update to the Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0 version of the OS.

It later fleshed that out to state that the Optimus 2X, Optimus Black and Optimus 3D would be the ones to see the Ice Cream Sandwich update first, with plans to upgrade other phones currently up in the air.

Don't expect it any time soon, though, as LG says it's only "in the process of planning" the update, which is about as vague and non-committal as it's possible to get. It's got some meetings scheduled about it.

Sony Ericsson

Great news for anyone who's bought one of the company's very nice Xperia Android phones this year - Sony Ericsson says all of its 2011 Android models will get an update to ICS at some point.

Again, as with LG, Sony Ericsson is using the distant future tense when discussing the update, saying "We are working on merging our current Xperia experience with the new features in Android 4.0" - so it may be a while, although recent reports claim it could make it to some models as soon as March 2012.

Samsung

Google has confirmed that last year's Nexus, the Nexus S, will get an Android 4.0 update, which should be arriving shortly.

As for Samsung's other Android phones, we've not had any official word, just the usual slightly shady internet leaks, in which Samsung Italy supposedly confirmed Ice Cream Sandwich updates for the Galaxy S II, Galaxy Note and its Galaxy Tab tablet range. And nothing more.

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