Asus confirms Android 4.0 update for tablets

TAIWANESE HARDWARE MAKER Asus has announced its Eee Pad line of tablets will get an upgrade to Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS)

Although Asus hasn't set a date for the upgrade, it will be good news for existing Eee Pad owners. It also makes it more likely that its upcoming Transformer Prime will come pre-loaded with the latest version of Google's mobile operating system (OS).

Asus said in a statement, "Are you waiting for Ice Cream Sandwich? Good news for ASUS customers. Google recently announced the latest update for Android, Ice Cream Sandwich, which brings some exciting new features and capabilities. We're delighted to confirm support for Ice Cream Sandwich on the ASUS Eee Pad Family - our aim is to bring the latest Android update to the Eee Pad Series, but at this time we are unable to set a date for its release. Please stay tuned for more news on our Ice Cream Sandwich upgrade plans."

The Eee Pad tablet range consists of the Transformer and the Slider. Both have either integrated or detachable keyboards. At present they run Android 3.X Honeycomb.

If Asus manages to get ICS onto the Transformer Prime then it is likely that it will be the first tablet to come with the OS. We were given a sneak preview of the tablet last week and we know it will come with an Nvidia Tegra 3 'Kal-el' quad-core processor.

The tablet will be announced by Asus on 9 November, whilst ICS will make its debut on the Galaxy Nexus smartphone, which is also due for release early next month. µ