Android 'Ice Cream Sandwich' arrives Oct. 19 in Hong Kong

Computerworld - The big Google-Samsung event to launch Ice Cream Sandwich -- postponed at CTIA earlier this week -- will take place next Wednesday in Hong Kong, according to an invitation sent by the two companies.

It will be held Oct. 19 in Hong Kong at 10 a.m. local time, which translates to 10 p.m. ET on Tuesday in the U.S.

While Android 4.0 was always rumored to be the subject of the event, it now seems certain, since the invitation shows off an Ice Cream Sandwich in the shape of the familiar Android creature.

Also, recent reports pegged Verizon Wireless as the exclusive carrier for the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, which would run on 4G LTE and Android 4.0. (The Galaxy nexus is also known as the Nexus Prime.)

That device is expected to include a Texas Instruments OMAP 4460 dual-core 1.2GHz processor, putting it at the top of recent smartphones in speed. It's also expected to sport 1GB of memory and 32GB of internal storage, far ahead of most recent smartphones, and two cameras. One of the cameras is expected to be a 5-megapixel version, though that is below the 8-megapixel rear-facing camera in the iPhone 4S.

The iPhone 4S goes on sale Friday.

The somewhat impressionistic tickler advertisement for the Galaxy Nexus shows a curved device with a curved face.

A livestream of the Galaxy-Samsung event will be posted online.

Next week's event was delayed as a tribute to the death of Steve Jobs, Google officially said.

A Google official who asked not to be identified later said the delay was solely because of Jobs' death, not due to technical or patent concerns as some had suggested.

Matt Hamblen covers mobile and wireless, smartphones and other handhelds, and wireless networking for Computerworld. Follow Matt on Twitter at @matthamblen or subscribe to Matt's RSS feed. His e-mail address is mhamblen@computerworld.com.

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