Hi,
I have been experimenting the same problem.
I have built my PhoneGap app using 1.9 for iOS first, then moved the code to Android. I tested it in both the AVD of the Google Nexus and Nexus 7. I have a Galaxy Nexus at home on 4.0.2 and it works flawlessly. After publishing it to the Google Play Store, friends reported that exact same problem with their Nexus 7 and the Galaxy Nexus on 4.0.3.
Have you tried with PhoneGap 2.0? I will have to try it this week as I've run out of ideas. Sad thing, is that I have to update all my plugins and some code too.
Thanks!