A number of original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) such as Samsung, Sony Ericsson and Motorola Mobility have announced devices and time schedules, by which these firms will be updating their tablets and smartphones to the latest version of Android - Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS).

Motorola Mobility revealed its lengthy list of smartphones and tablets at the beginning of the year, but has now decided to shorten that list.

Good news for local Motorola users is that the Xoom 2 tablet and Motorola Razr ICS updates are still planned for Q2 2012 for the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region. The Motorola Xoom Wi-Fi-only MZ604 ICS update is also scheduled for Q2 2012, whilst the Xoom Wi-Fi + 3G MZ601 and Motorola Atrix (MB860/MB861) updates are currently still being evaluated by the Google owned firm. The updated device listing can be found here.

“You may be wondering why all devices aren’t being upgraded to Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich). Here’s the deal. We work very closely with Google and cell phone carriers for every software update. And, obviously we want the new release to improve our devices. If we determine that can’t be done—well then, we’re not able to upgrade that particular device,” a post on the company’s official blog read.

Although Google showcased its latest and greatest version of the Android mobile operating system (OS), version 4.0 ICS in October last year already, the OS hasn’t made it onto a great many mobile devices. According to the latest version usage information figures for Android, ICS currently powers just under 5% of all Android running devices.

In related news, Samsung recently announced the local availability of the Android Ice Cream Sandwich software upgrade for the Galaxy SII, whilst LG unveiled a new user interface (UI) for its Android ICS powered mobile devices.