Google unveils Android 4.0 ‘Ice Cream Sandwich’

By on Oct 18, 2011 at 10:09 PM
Breaking October 18, 2011

During a press event in Hong Kong on Tuesday, Google officially took the wraps off of its latest Android operating system dubbed “Ice Cream Sandwich,” alongside the Samsung Galaxy Nexus. Android 4.0 combines several of the features already available in the tablet-focused Android 3.x (Honeycomb) OS with the smartphone features available in Android 2.3 (Gingerbread). It will power both tablets and smartphones, and it offers several enhancements. For example, users can unlock an Ice Cream Sandwich device using face recognition. Android 4.0 also has a new cleaner “Roboto” typeface and an extensive UI makeover. Read on for more.

The lock screen in Android 4.0 can be used to quickly unlock the phone or launch the camera, and users can also access notifications directly. “Back,” “Home” and “Menu” are now part of the Android virtual user interface and hardware buttons are no longer needed. Button presses have been replaced in many cases by gestures, too. Users can add revamped and resizable widgets, similar to those available on Android 3.x (Honeycomb). Just like in iOS, users can drag icons on top of one another to create folders on the desktop. Ice Cream Sandwich also adds native screenshot capturing; users simply have to hold the home button and tap the volume-down key. The keyboard has improved error correction, better suggestions and an in-line spellchecker, and cut/copy/paste is now also consistent throughout Android 4.0.

Android 4.0 has a new tab management system in the Web browser. Users can keep up to 16 tabs open, view a live preview of each and quickly switch between them. Tabs can be closed by flicking them off of the screen much like webOS or RIM’s tablet OS. Google also automatically syncs bookmarks to your Android browser from Chrome, and users can save pages for offline reading. Gmail has been updated with two-line previews, an action bar for quickly composing a message, searching and more. Finally, Google has added offline search to Gmail in Android 4.0, and YouTube, Maps, Music and Google+ have also been updated.

Ice Cream Sandwich will also provide users with monthly data usage figures, complete with warnings for when a user surpasses a certain data allotment. It can automatically cut off all mobile data should you pass the cap, too.

The camera application offers a revamped sharing UI for quickly sending photos to social networks, and the camera has zero shutter lag. Ice Cream Sandwich also comes equipped with photo editing tools tools for removing red eye, cropping and more. The photo album has a new “magazine style” layout that can be organized by people, geotagged locations or by album.

A new “People” application pulls in contact information and photos from social networks for your whole address book. Whenever a contact updates his or her info, it is also automatically updated on your phone. Any social network can access the new People app using Google’s Android 4.0 APIs, and contacts are easily accessible from a fully revamped phone application.

The Galaxy Nexus is the first Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich phone and the SDK is available now for all Android developers.

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114 Comments

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  • Matthew Rosidivito

    Why does everyone get such a hard-on about this “they stole this feature” thing? There are only so many logical and practical ways for a technology to evolve, you’re bound to see some similarity between all the devices. Did auto-makers go through this with power-windows and the sunroof? No.

    4.0 looks like it’s a great evolution in the Android OS. I think it improved on previous ideas in the industries, and managed to introduce a few new ones. Devices like the 4S and the Nexus drive competition and thus innovation, and as consumers we win.

    • Alex

      Apple is an actual company, Android is considered a open source project funded by Google and others.  Apple came up with the original stuff and if you where to see the coding for these “stolen” features they would be identical to Apple’s.  Apple wants the credit and licensing fees.  As for your stupid questions about vehicles, Nissan Motor Co has a patent on sunroofs they were acquired in 1982, and every car maker who uses it has to pay Nissan a licensing fee.  As for power windows Honda Motor Corp has the patent on those.  

      • Matthew Rosidivito

        I appreciate what you’re trying to say, but my point was not specific to patents and legal stuff. I was talking along the lines of “Android creates folders the same way as iOS – they stole the idea” and “iOS has a drag-down notification bar – they stole the idea” In other words, did when Ford first put a sunroof in one of their cars, were people talking about how they clearly “stole” the idea from Nissan?

        Anyway, since you clearly did your homework on my question, I assume you can also post this coding you speak of that is apparently identical to Apple’s.

        Finally, friend, your reply would have been just as (if not more) effective if you had not resorted to using the word “stupid”. It really served no point other than making you look pretty immature.

  • Anonymous

    The coverage of Android sucks on BGR.

    • Anonymous

      Are you surprised? lol

  • Anonymous

    You have got to be kidding me with this non-geekness.

  • Bratan

    Wake me when Android phones’ battery life last more than a few hours

    • Alex

      You’ll be in a nursing home before their batteries are actually useful.

  • Anonymous

    I have a sudden craving for an ice cream sandwich
    anon-web.edu.tc

  • Sarah J.

    Features apple will be adding in their next release and tout as groundbreaking…

  • Bringit

    Unfortunately, only 2 of the 14,040 different Android phone models will have access to this “new” crap.

    • Anonymous

       as opposed to 1 crappy phone having access to ios?

    • Guest

      wait , only one phone have siri. why dont yall think before you write this bullshit ? your just upset that apple turned into the new blackberry

      • Alex

        Android sucks anyways, and at least Apple is original.  I’m sorry but Android voice recognition blows harder than your girlfriend.

      • Guest

        Your taking this somewhere else, I don’t talk to you fake ass Internet thugs. You sit behind your desk and say shit to people that you normally wouldn’t say face to face. Cause I think you know you’ll get the shit beat out of you, with that said, go play somewhere else.

      • Anonymous

        You have fun talking to your phone and when I am out in public and see you doing that I will be the first pointing at you and laughing when everyone else is doing their own thing and you can’t do a simple google search and have to have your phone do it for you=)

    • Anonymous

      you are by far the biggest idiot of them all

  • Bignified

    These comments…is BGR a subsidiary of Fox News?

    • Alex

      FOX NEWS sucks!!!

  • Retrofreak

    Does anybody know if this will be available for the Galaxy S II?

  • Anonymous

    I was waiting for the Nexus Galaxy, but got the iPhone 4S instead. Even though the iPhone 4S is showing up to the Halloween party this year in last years costume, i’m pretty happy with the purchase.

  • Alex

    So happy I switched to iPhone 4S, Android is always last to acquire new OS features, and they usually still suck.  And the whole photo editing bit sounds quite familiar, oh yeah because they’re copying Apple.

  • Alex

    So happy I switched to iPhone 4S, Android is always last to acquire new OS features, and they usually still suck.  And the whole photo editing bit sounds quite familiar, not so original.  Android is slow.

    • Anonymous

      so apple with the new notifications that took them 4 years and copied from android is any faster? Not to mention ios didnt even have mms when the iphone came out and feature phones had that capability. Another clueless fanboy.

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