Google's first Ice Cream Sandwich smartphone, its third Nexus device, is arguably the world's most anticipated Android phone. To add to the hype, it turns out that the handset's 720p screen will be branded as a "Super AMOLED HD" display, suggesting that Samsung will be the manufacturer, according to BGR.
Google's Nexus One, manufactured by HTC, was released running Android 2.1 (codenamed Éclair) on January 5, 2010 and set the standard for Android devices in 2010. Google's Nexus S, manufactured by Samsung, was released running Android 2.3 (codenamed Gingerbread) on December 16, 2010 and is attempting to do the same for the platform in 2011. It's a little odd that Samsung is reportedly being chosen once again by Google, not because the company makes poor products (quite the contrary) but because we would expect the search giant to continue rotating OEMs (Motorola or LG could have been next).
The current codename for the device is Prime, and it's possible that the phone will launch as the Google Nexus Prime. It's also being speculated that Google could be working with multiple carriers and multiple OEMs on their own exclusive Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) halo devices, and that they may all launch around the same time.
Google's third Nexus phone is rumored to ship around Thanksgiving, powered by an OMAP 4460 processor. There won't be physical Android menu buttons below the display --- everything is said to be software-based. Other rumored specification include a 4G LTE radio, 1GB of RAM, 1080p HD video capture and playback, a 1-megapixel front-facing camera, and a 5-megapixel rear camera "delivering class-leading image quality in addition to superior low-light performance."
Android (codenamed Ice Cream Sandwich) is slated for a Q4 2011 release. The big change with Ice Cream Sandwich will be that it works on all devices. That means Google will be porting features from Android 3.x to the smartphone, including the holographic user interface, more multitasking, the new launcher, and richer widgets.