The EEE Pad Transformer is an impressive and versatile tablet, and just because Asus is preparing a successor with an insane quad-core processor doesn’t mean it should be left behind. Fortunately, that does not appear to be the case: Pocket-lint is quoting a source inside Asus that says the original Transformer will be upgraded to Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. Unfortunately, the source didn’t give a timeframe for the software update.
Despite running on hardware that’s nearly a year old in development terms, the original Transformer is no slouch when it comes to specifications. The 1GHz Tegra 2 processor and a full gigabyte of memory handle Honeycomb just fine, and should be up to the task of Ice Cream Sandwich without any problem. It’s encouraging to see Asus confirm that ICS is coming to its current customers, especially after chairman Jonney Shih hinted that the upgrade could come before the end of the year.
Currently Google is expected to release the Ice Cream Sandwich open-source code two weeks or so after the Galaxy Nexus launches, and as we’ve been hearing for months, the new operating system is designed to play well with both smartphones and tablets. With the Transformer 2 announcement coming November 9th, it’s entirely possible that we could see the first Ice Cream Sandwich tablets hitting the market before New Years. We’ll keep you updated on the upgrade options for the Transformer and other Honeycomb tablets as news breaks.
Check out our hands-on looks at the Galaxy Nexus and Ice Cream Sandwich below:
Galaxy Nexus Hands-on
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Ice Cream Sandwich Hands-on
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[via Engadget]
