But like any big tech announcement, some questions were left unanswered. Here's what I'm still curious about after soaking up all the Ice Cream Sandwich and Galaxy Nexus news:
So far, the only wireless carrier confirmed to get the Galaxy Nexus are NTT Docomo in Japan, and Vodafone, O2, and Three in the United Kingdom. No U.S. wireless providers have weighed in on the Galaxy Nexus, although a suggests Verizon affiliation. Galaxy Nexus pricing is still unknown, but $200 or higher seems like a safe bet.
And word leaked out on Tuesday that , as well as the company's current Transformer tablet, would run Ice Cream Sandwich.
Google's original vision for Nexus phones included the ability to buy unlocked hardware at an extra cost, but that idea never got much traction. The original unlocked Nexus One was only available through AT&T and T-Mobile, and the unlocked Nexus S was T-Mobile-only. With Verizon support rumored for the Galaxy Nexus, it's unclear what the unlocked options will be for U.S. consumers.
With new Ice Cream Sandwich features like folders, resizable widgets, and built-in photo effects, phone makers are running out of reasons to mess with the stock Android experience. Will phone makers tone down their user interface tweaks, or go to extremes to differentiate?
Matias Duarte, Google's Director of Android User Experience, says most Gingerbread phones are "" capable of supporting Ice Cream Sandwich, but so far, the response from phone makers has been mixed. Motorola says it'll in early 2012, but hasn't commented on other phones such as the Droid Bionic.
HTC was less committed, saying it's currently figuring out its upgrade plans, and is "committed to maintaining every phone's performance and usability first." No word yet from Samsung or LG. We're sure to hear more about upgrade plans from all phone makers in the coming weeks and months.
To cram 720p resolution into the Galaxy Nexus, Samsung had to use a whopping 4.65-inch display. Not everyone wants such a huge phone. Phone makers will eventually figure out how to fit more pixels in tinier displays, enabling 720p on smaller devices. The question is when.
The greatest weakness of Android Honeycomb is its lack of great tablet apps. Andy Rubin, Google's senior vice president of mobile, that he's working to fill in the "missing pieces" of Android tablets, but avoided discussing whether Ice Cream Sandwich would lead to more tablet-optimized apps. Google needs a clear app strategy if Android is going to have any chance of taking on Apple's iPad.