HTC has just started rolling out the Ice Cream Sandwich update for its erstwhile flagship, the Sensation XE. This veritably sets the ball rolling with respect to non Galaxy Nexus devices. The update also comes with Sense 3.6, HTC’s custom layer on top of Android. At the moment, the update is being rolled out only in Germany and a few select European countries, but a full Europe and global rollout is expected soon since HTC is normally quite quick to update its devices once the process begins.
The Sensation XE was HTC’s flagship Android device before the Mobile World Congress 2012 where it unveiled the HTC One series. Featuring a 4.3 inch S-LCD display with qHD resolution, the devices packs a 1.5 GHz dual core processor/Adreno 220 GPU along with 768 MB RAM and an 8 MP camera.
Archos is an unlikely company to be expected to provide a quick update to the latest and greatest Android has to offer, but reports have started trickling in that the Archos G9 series has started receiving the Ice Cream Sandwich. Earlier, Archos had stated that the G9 ICS update would start rolling out in February. Though the date is a bit off, it is nevertheless welcome news. The Archos G9 series consists of two tablets: the Archos 80 G9 and Archos 101 G9. The former comes with an 8 inch screen of resolution 1024×768 and a 1.2-1.5 GHz dual core CortexA9 processor for the turbo 250 GB and 16 GB versions and a downclocked 1 GHz dual core processor for the Classic version (all three are sub variants of the 80 G9). The 101 G9 is simply a larger variant of the 80 G9 and features a 10.1 inch screen of resolution 1280×800. The processor clock speed on the 101 G9 series follows the same pattern as that on the 80 G9 series.
In other news, Android now enjoys a 48.6% market share in the United States according to latest data by ComScore. Apple holds the second spot with 29.5% and RIM is at third place with 15%. Bringing up the rear is Microsoft with 4.4% and Symbian with 1.5%. Among companies, Samsung retains the top spot with just over 25% market share, followed by LG at 19.7%, Motorola at 13.2% and Apple at 12.8%. The US smartphone market has also crossed 100 million users as per the latest statistics.
