Google Nexus Prime said to be first Android Ice Cream Sandwich phone

The next flagship Android phone will be made by Samsung and called the Google Nexus Prime, according to the word on the street. The latest version of Android, called Ice Cream Sandwich, will make its debut on the Google-branded smart phone sometime this autumn.

As the flagship device showcasing the most up to date version of Android, the Prime is undoubtedly going to be a behemoth of a smart phone. It will sport a Super AMOLED screen with 720p high-definition resolution. Inside will be an OMAP4460 dual-core processor. Boy Genius Report also reckons the Nexus Prime will do away with physical buttons, with everything happening on the high-res screen.

With those specs, the next generation of Android phones look to have set the bar high for the forthcoming iPhone 5 and iOS 5 software.

Ice Cream Sandwich is the next generation of Google's Android software for mobile devices. It hasn't been officially unveiled yet, but it's likely to absorb features from Honeycomb, the version of Android that was designed specially for tablets. ICS will unite the tablet and phone versions of Android into one, making it easier for developers to build apps that work on either type of device.

The first phone for new versions of Android often carries the Nexus name. The current version, Gingerbread, came fresh out of the oven on the Google Nexus S, also built by Samsung. Android 2.0 was ushered in by the Google Nexus One in January 2010, made by HTC. Click here for our complete guide to all the different versions of Android.

It seems highly likely that Ice Cream Sandwich will appear quickly on a range of phones from different manufacturers, such as HTC, Motorola and LG, and on different networks too. That's great news for update-hungry Android fans.

Are you screaming for Ice Cream? What features would you like to lick in the next Android update? Let us know in the comments section or on our Facebook page.