The Samsung Unpacked event that was expected to introduce the Google Nexus Prime smartphone next week has been delayed. Samsung and Google have jointly decided to postpone the launch to a later date. The likely reason for the delay? Respect for the untimely passing of Steve Jobs, says AllThingsD.
Delaying the product launch, however, won’t likely impact sales as the expectation was for a product announcement more than an actual product that could immediately be purchased. While many smartphone enthusiasts were interested in the new Samsung phone, even more are curious to see what the next version of Android will bring. Dubbed Ice Cream Sandwich, Google has said the new software will unify Android on both smartphones and tablets.
While the event cancellation may be disappointing to Android fans, there have been recent specification leaks indicating what type of handset the new Samsung will be. If correct — and they appear believable — the phone will have a large 4.65-inch screen with 1280×720 resolution, a fast dual-core processor, 32 GB of storage and an LTE mobile broadband radio for Verizon’s network.
We’ll have to wait for a rescheduled event to get validation on the phone’s hardware, but in the meantime, Ice Cream Sandwich looks very tablet-like on this video demo uploaded by Mobilissimo.ro:
My first thought was that the video was an elaborate fake; perhaps with a custom ROM on existing hardware. But after seeing just three capacitive buttons on the bottom of the screen, I suspect this is the real deal.
Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.
- Mobile Q2: Smartphone growth surges; iPad’s rule continues
- A Global Mobile Handset Platform Forecast, 2011 – 2015
- Tablets wars: Apple is from Venus, Amazon is from Mars
