Droid Prime rumored to be first with Ice Cream Sandwich

It's been rumored for some time that the Samsung Nexus Prime would be the next version of Google's developer's phone, and now more information about the device is beginning to leak. It will still have the moniker Prime, sport Android 4.0 or Ice Cream Sandwich but it won't be a Nexus, and it won't be across all of the Big 4 carriers, as had been rumored.

In fact, the report says, the Samsung Droid Prime is the phone that Verizon has skipped the Samsung Galaxy S II for. The report goes on to indicate that the reason Verizon has spurned the S II is that the carrier is concerned that the phone, which has sold 5 million units globally in 85 days, will be unable to compete with the iPhone 5.

Truly, the Galaxy S II has been around a few months, and without a hardware refresh (like the SoC upgrade for the Galaxy S II LTE), it might not be able to compete. That said, why not simply skip the S II for the S II LTE, Verizon?

According to the report, the Samsung Droid Prime will sport Android 4.0, with the model number of SCH-i515. It's been reported that the phone will launch in October.

Still, it's hard to believe that Verizon will launch the Droid Bionic in September, follow it with the HTC Vigor in October, and then the Prime, also in October. It's also questionable that they would call it the Droid Prime, since its latest developer phones have been labeled Nexus (One and S).

Finally, it would be hard to believe the Prime would be the first Ice Cream Sandwich phone for another reason: placing it on Verizon, and not a GSM carrier, would limit its usefulness to the developer community. The One and the S were both unlocked GSM devices, at least partly for that reason.

We'll see, but we're not sold on this. On the other hand, Verizon getting a version of the Prime along with the other U.S. carriers, as in the all four Big 4 carrier scenario, could make some sense, if the Prime is indeed the Ice Cream Sandwich pioneer phone.