(Image source: Digital Trends)
BY EVAN THOMAS
ANCHOR CHRISTINA HARTMAN
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Computer maker ASUS says its upcoming Transformer Prime tablet will be the first to run Android 4.0, or Ice Cream Sandwich -- and it may ship as soon as next month.
The preorder page on Newegg estimates the Transformer Prime will be available for sale on December 8. Videogame retailer GameStop has the tablet bundled with gaming peripherals and available on December 9.
The Transformer Prime will ship with Honeycomb-- the Android build designed specifically for tablets. An update to Ice Cream Sandwich is expected over the air before the end of the year.
NVIDIA has already demoed the new software on the Transformer Prime. Ice Cream Sandwich takes advantage of all four of the tablet’s cores for UI navigation, gaming and HD video playback.
The Transformer Prime might be among the first ICS devices to market-- Android and Me says it could beat the hotly anticipated Galaxy Nexus.
“We never would have guessed this several weeks ago, but some US consumers could actually have a tablet running Android 4.0 before Verizon fixes the bugs in their Galaxy Nexus and releases it later this year.”
Maybe, says IntoMobile, but remember-- ASUS hasn’t confirmed the date yet.
“Unfortunately, ASUS hasn’t said a thing about an official launch date, so users will just have to pre-order it and wait for the thing to ship (hopefully sooner than later).”
If the date’s accurate, this will be a big week for Android, with the Droid 4 and Galaxy Nexus rumored to arrive on December 8th and 9th.
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