What’s interesting is that the HTC Sensation is also on the list, being promised Android ICS + Sense 3.5 in March, while the Galaxy S II will get its Ice Cream Sandwich next month as well via OTA and Kies. Android 4.0.4 brought quite a bunch of interesting features, such as higher volume, better performance, better overall speed, it got rid of some bugs in the connectivity area, so it’s overall a good piece of software. Android 4.0.5 is not expected to be so revolutionary, other than the usual Google fixes.

With Samsung Galaxy S II spotted recently running the official ICS build, it’s no wonder we’re so close to the official update, at least in France. Hopefully, the rest of the world will be as fast as SFR when providing updates. It’s very probable that the Android 4.0.5 update will come to the GSM Galaxy Nexus first, since the Verizon model only got its copy of the 4.0.4 software this weekend, so there’s a certain priority for the GSM units.

They also made a video showing their experience, that you can check out below. The Galaxy S II runs Android 4.0.3, apparently with an improved TouchWiz, that to me looks exactly the same. Also, the handset is now more stable, it’s really fast, smooth and even the battery life improved. Android 4.0 has arrived on this phone before, via custom ROMs, so we know what to expect here. The Robot font looks nice on the crisp Super AMOLED Plus display and the Exynos dual core 1.2 GHz CPU seems to fit the experience like a glove.

Well, Gingerbread may have become sluggish if you had a ton of updating widgets enabled, but that’s in the past now, courtesy of ICS. The performance upgrades are also pretty clear, as shown by everyday use (Video below) and a couple of benchmarks, generating 6257 points in AnTuTu, 4225 in Quadrant and 2517 in SmartBench. I guess that it’s only a matter of time till all the Galaxy S II (tens of millions) units get the update to the latest Android, which Samsung promised for Q1 by the way.

You can watch the ad below and know that this 90 second piece of work cost Samsung $10 million. Well, I guess they’ll spend anything to get rid of the stigma of being Apple copycats, as they’ve been branded through the many lawsuits from last year. Frankly, this ad puts too little emphasis on the functions of the 5.3 inch dual core Exynos smartphone/tablet and too much on how much fun people can have (with or without this device). At least they show what the stylus can do…

And once again, a pretty good Samsung product reaches the USA too late, if you ask me. It’s already been available in Europe from last fall and only now it enters Apple-land. Will it sell well? Considering, it already moved some millions of units worldwide, I guess it will. What’s not to like about it? It has a good 8 megapixel camera, solid CPU, enough RAM, enough storage, great stylus, Android 2.3 works fine, ICS is coming… what more could you want?

This leak matches the one from a couple of days ago, that reached Sprint’s Nexus S 4G. being the same software version. Users at XDA Developers are working on an unofficial changelog as we speak and it appears that the main function of this update is easing the switch between 4G and 3G and increasing efficiency. A new radio firmware is rumored here and we also get a brand new power menu, that has been available to those with a 4.0.3 ROM. Multitouch works better and speed is greater, according to the guys who tested the software.

You might be wary of installing this leaked ROM, as it’s not something that everyone is comfortable with, especially those who usually rely on official software. The source link below have all the details on this update and information on how to get the ROM. Here’s a short list of some of the improvements found by XDA Developers: better signal strength, faster boot up time, better auto brightness functionality, faster autorotate, better browser performance, increased volume (!!!), keyboard fixes.

The design of the Galaxy S Advance looks like a combo between the Galaxy S II and Galaxy Nexus, including a curved display. The handset comes with a 4 inch Super AMOLED display, a 1GHZ dual core processor and 768MB of RAM. There’s also 2GB of internal storage, a 5 megapixel camera and a case that measures 9.7mm in waistline. The phone has a solid feel, weighs 120 grams and you’ll see it in Vietnamese stores from the end of this month with a price tag of around $450, without subsidies.

This price is very reasonable, considering these specs, that unless some other phone maker will surprise us at MWC with an even more appealing phone. With the Galaxy S II Plus being rumored over the past days, as a CPU upgrade for the original Galaxy S II, it’s harder and harder to tell Samsung smartphones apart and decide which one actually suits one’s needs. I’ll tell you what suits my needs: the Galaxy S III and its quad core CPU, but that’s an entirely different story.

Other devices such as the Nexus S 4G and the Motorola Xoom Verizon version disappeared. Google posted an update explaining that “technical reasons” caused this removal, as CDMA telephone is handled by binaries provided by the carrier in newer devices. The problem is that different signatures are associated with the APKs and the components may not work properly. When a developer created a custom build from the AOSP source code, they won’t use the same signing key used by carriers to identify certain devices.

This can cause problems in devices with customized software. but now GSM/HSPA+ is the way to go, till the CDMA problems are figured out. Google still promises to make available as many closed source binaries for the CDMA handsets as possible. The Nexus phones will still have the bootloaders unlockable, at least.

The specs floating around the source site for this leak include a 4.6 inch AMOLED Plus 3D screen, with 1280 x 720 pixel resolution, a 12 megapixel camera, 2GB of RAM and a very slim design. This could be a prototype, a mockup, a photo editing job or maybe just a piece of plastic shaped in the right way to portray a futuristic phone. I say that the future Galaxy S will only bring hardware changes and won’t risk going into uncharted territories, such as flexible body and even 3D.

We saw how crappy the HTC EVO 3D and LG Optimus 3D were in the 3D aspect, so why risk the same mistake with a flagship Samsung phone? On the other hand, if the device is real and it gives the proper experience, it will be solid gold, especially if the battery life is decent, preferably better than the one of the Galaxy S II.

So, if you live in USA and want a LTE phone, go to US Cellular and get the Aviator model, that gives you a 4.3 inch WVGA Super AMOLED+ display, an 8 megapixel camera and Android 2.3 Gingerbread. It also has a front camera and HDMI port, but the real appeal here is that you get a handset with the latest connectivity standard available. Speculations say that this model has a single core CPU, but I’m really rooting for a dual core one. Only the 1GHz frequency is confirmed at the moment.

The Galaxy Tab 10.1 doesn’t offer anything extra aside from the usual specs. I sure hope it comes without the annoying TouchWiz software layer that bugged me on the Samsung tablets. I’d have Honeycomb stock version over this any day, thanks! The tablet comes to US Cellular in March, while the Aviator will arrive in April, so you’re in for quite a wait. No trace of prices yet.

So… what’s the deal with this device? As you can see, it incorporates the Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich capacitive buttons at the bottom and has a reminder on the screen for Samsung’s conference at MWC. I can’t notice other changes compared to the Galaxy S II, at least not right now, so this is probably the rumored Galaxy S II Plus, with that upgraded dual core 1.5GHz Exynos processor spotted in recent benchmarks. I’m curious if Sammy also tweaked the storage, RAM, connectivity, resolution, camera or thickness…

I wouldn’t mind seeing a 720p version of the Galaxy S II, with LTE and better CPU plus Android 4.0 as default OS, but we already have a similar device available in Asia, so what would be the point? Let’s just wait and see, as we’ll be part of MWC 2012 and we’ll give you live feedback from Barcelona. Till then it’s all leaks like this one…

This supposed newcomer was also leaked through a benchmark, just like the Galaxy Nexus with extra GPU power. Benchmark An3DBenchXL is responsible this time, unveiling a device that’s called the Samsung Galaxy S 2+, with a dual core 1.5GHz processor, an upgrade to the original 1.2GHz dual core Galaxy S II. Other features of the device remain identical to the original model, including the not so impressive 480 x 800 pixel resolution and Android 2.3.4.

I wonder if the CPU inside the new Galaxy S II is the same as the one on the Galaxy Nexus and maybe Samsung wants to try out some new solutions before putting out a really fresh batch of processors. However, odds are that these are different chipsets, since the Galaxy S II is all about Exynos, while the Galaxy Nexus has TI OMAP as choice, so the Galaxy S II + will probably get a slightly upgraded Exynos.