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Google shows off Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich

By on October 18, 2011 at 11:00pm in Mobile News

As expected, during the D8Asia conference in Hong Kong, Google has announced Android 4.0, Ice Cream Sandwich. Combining the tablet features of Android 3.0 Honeycomb and the robust phone features of Gingerbread into a unified, open-source operating system, ICS has some major changes.

The update brings an aesthetic overhaul to Google’s mobile OS, along with improved notifications and multitasking, both of which are inspired by the less intrusive, visual cues implemented in Honeycomb. Along with full hardware acceleration throughout the OS, there are neon blue accents littered throughout, with a sleek new app drawer, improved widget implementation and a translucent notification bar.

One of the most important features that iOS had over Android was its myriad typefaces: fonts tended to be smoother and cleaner, and more readable. Google has announced Roboto, a custom-made typeface tailored specifically to high-resolution displays like the Galaxy Nexus’ Super AMOLED HD. ICS incorporates virtual context buttons that rotate with the phone, and disappear when watching video.

A popular use method in Android was the touch-and-hold but this is being replaced, for the most part, with the swipe. Widgets have been made resizable throughout the OS, and folders, like in iOS, can be created by dragging one icon on top of the other. The app drawer icon is surrounded by a flexible Favorites tray, which can hold individual icons or folders.

Another request from users, screen captures, are being implemented into the OS natively. Hold power and the volume-down button and there you go!

The keyboard has been overhauled as well as the notification system, which can be set for individual applications, and each notification can be swiped away direction from the notification bar. The keyboard has better-implemented copy-and-paste, made more consistent throughout the OS (finally!). There is improved talk-to-text, though it’s unknown whether you need an active 3G connection to use it like with Siri in iOS.

Face-recognition has been implemented to allow for unlocking your handset with no user interaction.

The browser has received an overhaul, allowing for up to 16 tabs, and to swipe between them like the new multitasking menu. Bookmarks can be synced between your Chrome account and your mobile device, and there is a switch to go between desktop and mobile versions of the same page. You can also save entire pages to your phone for offline reading.

To the Gmail app, it too has been totally changed. You can swipe between messages and a person’s email address is now a “chip” with pictures and names. In fact, every native Google app, such as the Calendar, Messaging, Maps, Google+ have seen UI improvements and tweaks.

The Camera app has been redone to include instant shutter and touch-to-focus. There is intelligent face detection, and with third-party apps you can touch the photo to share it instantly. Along with a new Gallery, there is a built-in photo editing suite and filters to change the look of your pics before you post them.

Google has created a native photo stitching feature for true panorama shots. Video has continuous autofocus and zoom-while-recording, finally catching it up to iOS in the camera UI field.

There is a new People app, which doubles as a Contacts portal and a social hub. Your most-contacted “buddies” are off to the side, surrounding by Me — actually you — at the centre. Each contact has a big profile photo next to his or her name, much like a magazine masthead. The effect looks really cool, and professional.

Like in previous Samsung devices, Google has implemented a quick-dismiss list of messages you can send to someone you don’t want to talk to. I never really used this feature on the Galaxy S II but it’s nice to have.

Something very cool Google has done is to include a feature called Android Beam which allows two NFC-enabled devices to bump one another and share content such as web pages, contacts, map locations, etc. If you’re inside an app that doesn’t support Beam, it will send the other person the link to that app in the Android Marketplace.

The Android 4.0 SDK is available today for developers to start working on.

Thanks to The Verge for lending us your images, and your awesome livestream!

Related posts:

  1. Google I/O 2011: Ice Cream Sandwich, 100 million Android activations & 200,000 available apps
  2. October 19th: Samsung and Google to unveil Nexus Prime & Android Ice Cream Sandwich
  3. Samsung and Google announce the Galaxy Nexus with Ice Cream Sandwich
  4. Video: Android Ice Cream Sandwich statue arrives on Google’s lawn

Discussion

44 comments for “Google shows off Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich”

  1. Really excited for ICS! Hopefully it doesn’t look bad and can run on the Nexus S.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 37 Thumb down 3

    Posted by Jason | October 18, 2011, 11:02 pm
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    • So far I’m digging the new UI, the marriage of Android and Honey Comb UI, including the new lock screen, the multitasking card system for closing apps & tab browsing, the panoramic photos, 1080p video, the zero camera shutter lag, the Roboto font, Android Beam (ala NFC content sharing). the native support for 720p rez on screen, people app, data usage management app, new gmail app, revised cut/copy/paste, face recognition unlock, resizable widgets, instant screen shot save & share, new keyboard w/inline spell checker, improved voice to text. Need I say more?

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 2 Thumb down 2

      Posted by aka | October 19, 2011, 12:10 am

  2. WOW! Take that Apple! I want one! My HTC Sensation 4G is now for sale!

    Siri, can you beam my game to the next iphone? ”Sorry, my licence agreement doesn’t let me do that”

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 62 Thumb down 10

    Posted by Francois | October 18, 2011, 11:04 pm
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  3. looks like we(Canada) will be waiting till after Christmas for this phone, i knew that was gonna happen.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 18 Thumb down 4

    Posted by Abe | October 18, 2011, 11:07 pm
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    • fingers crossed though that it will get the same treatment as the S2 which became the Hercules when it finally came to Telus in Canada

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 4 Thumb down 3

      Posted by Jay | October 18, 2011, 11:15 pm

  4. well looks like its time to upgrade my mytouch 4g
    ice cream is amazing

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 7 Thumb down 5

    Posted by ActivesiN | October 18, 2011, 11:08 pm
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  5. Well this just sets the bar a lot higher. Ice Cream Sandwich just destroys any other mobile OS out there. So much you can do with it, they put a lot of thought on making the OS feel personalized and unique.

    Now, please give me some good news on availability in Canada + frequencies! Hope they get an AWS band version out

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 18 Thumb down 6

    Posted by Manuel | October 18, 2011, 11:10 pm
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  6. DROID DOES YET AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!…….wow just wow my atrix is gnna be up for sale aswell…….Google……you BEAST!!!!

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 17 Thumb down 3

    Posted by Danny | October 18, 2011, 11:10 pm
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  7. Anyone to buy a brand new Galaxy sii?

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 4 Thumb down 5

    Posted by jules | October 18, 2011, 11:10 pm
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  8. When is the release date for Ice Cream Sandwich?

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 3 Thumb down 1

    Posted by AndroidBoyFam | October 18, 2011, 11:10 pm
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  9. Hopefully this 5 MP will shut people up.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 10 Thumb down 3

    Posted by Ann Monis | October 18, 2011, 11:11 pm
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  10. Man. I thought we were getting this soon. Soon is probably Christmas or later. I need this now! lol :(

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 7 Thumb down 2

    Posted by Blue1k | October 18, 2011, 11:12 pm
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  11. silly people. this isn’t apple. you don’t have to give up your current phone to get all the nice new features (excluding nfc). SDK is out now. let the hacking begin!

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 16 Thumb down 3

    Posted by Victor | October 18, 2011, 11:12 pm
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  12. what’s the name of that phone again i…what??? HOLY SH*T!! i just watched live the release of the galaxy nexus it is an Excellent phone with the best OS 4.0 ever!!! They improved EVERYTHING and made it BETTER #ByAnyMeans. Definetely getting one :D

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 11 Thumb down 5

    Posted by nexus | October 18, 2011, 11:13 pm
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  13. Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 13 Thumb down 65

    Posted by Alex | October 18, 2011, 11:13 pm
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  14. Yessss!!! Can’t wait! Awesome upgrade!

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 17 Thumb down 3

    Posted by ELNY | October 18, 2011, 11:13 pm
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  15. and RIM chose today to be overshowed by Droid RAZR, then by ICS. I might actually get this phone… a worthy upgrade from Nexus One.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 19 Thumb down 2

    Posted by kenypowa | October 18, 2011, 11:14 pm
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  16. I’m with Bell. We’ll never see ICS. We don’t even have the 2.3.4 update for the GS2 yet ff sakes!!! >:(

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 5 Thumb down 1

    Posted by Fortmacdroid | October 18, 2011, 11:16 pm
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  17. I’m not normally a big Android fan, but that was a very impressive presentation. Those are some pretty serious quality of life improvements being implemented there. Some are kinda gimmicky (the not really working face unlock) but I like an awful lot of what I saw.

    Nice to see Google step it up a notch.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 18 Thumb down 2

    Posted by jellmoo | October 18, 2011, 11:19 pm
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  18. this was a quick product launch.. I never recalled google mentioning that ICS will be ported to nexus one or S.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 2 Thumb down 1

    Posted by Mark | October 18, 2011, 11:20 pm
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    • I already read it was coming to the S soon… apparently any device that can run 2.3 can run 4.0

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 5 Thumb down 0

      Posted by Gab | October 19, 2011, 8:22 am

  19. HTC really needs to make a Desire sequel (Desire S doesn’t count)

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 2 Thumb down 2

    Posted by boojay | October 18, 2011, 11:23 pm
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  20. ICS look to me like a new Android OS.
    I mean it’s not smoothing edges of previous versions, it’s a new UI vision and experience. In that sense, for me, ICS is introducing a lot of rough edges that will need to be polished in next versions.

    For example, did you notice that many apps did have an option/menu button integrated in app UI? So what is then now the use of the device menu button?
    I noticed some other strange UI/experience inconsistencies during the show.

    Feature wise, ICS is really cool, but UI/experience wise, I was expecting a lot better.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 7 Thumb down 6

    Posted by jpbaril | October 18, 2011, 11:28 pm
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  21. If i didnt use honeycomb before i wouldve been impressed by this presentatiom

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 2 Thumb down 1

    Posted by Byron | October 18, 2011, 11:30 pm
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  22. With how awesome ICS looks, why on earth would you want ANY UI to be put on top of this?? Google should make it a requirement that phones are shipped naked and you get the option of downloading the UI from your manufacturer.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 2 Thumb down 0

    Posted by ELNY | October 18, 2011, 11:35 pm
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  23. when will ICS be released in canada for galaxy s2? I can’t wait for this update! i wonder how well the face-unlock will work since it didn’t work too well in the presentation. but the new look and features are awesome!

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 1

    Posted by Amar | October 18, 2011, 11:41 pm
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  24. Starting in November, Galaxy Nexus will be available in the United States, Canada, Europe and Asia. Check out the Nexus website for a product tour and more info.

    http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/10/unwrapping-ice-cream-sandwich-on-galaxy.html

    theres canada! WOOT! Now which providers?

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 0

    Posted by Nitin | October 18, 2011, 11:41 pm
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  25. The Android Beam demo made me s**t my pants

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 2 Thumb down 1

    Posted by Oydevil | October 18, 2011, 11:46 pm
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  26. COM’ON, CM8, COME TO DADDY

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 3 Thumb down 1

    Posted by FLANN | October 18, 2011, 11:48 pm
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  27. Pretty cool features but I’m very disappointed with the look of the new launcher. I think it’s trying too hard to look fancy and I very much prefer the simplicity of the Gingerbread launcher.

    As long as developers keep making simple to use launchers, I will have no problem with this new Android version. Zeam Launcher for the win!

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 2 Thumb down 1

    Posted by EraqEE | October 19, 2011, 12:01 am
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  28. Looking forward to trying this out on the Nexus S. And congratulations to Google for successfully managing live stream for this event, and allowing everyone to watch. There might have been a couple minor glitches, but unlike Apple, I respect Google for being so open and honest when they launch new things.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 3 Thumb down 2

    Posted by W B | October 19, 2011, 12:08 am
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  29. I am diehard iPhone advocate but this device looks awesome. Battery might be an issue though, can it support LTE?

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

    Posted by Mohammad Ali | October 19, 2011, 12:35 am
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  30. This looks really cool, but I’m hoping that Google has put a lot of time into backwards compatibility. Will my buttons for the Nexus S work? Will they be useless? Will they work on all apps and across the OS. I’m pretty sure that on devices with physical or virtual buttons they won’t get the onscreen ones. But how do you get to the multitasking launcher from the home screen? I’m hoping they’ve put the time in to get this right, because if they did it will be awesome. If not… not so awesome

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

    Posted by dutchman13 | October 19, 2011, 1:07 am
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  31. I hope you will not see the onscreen buttons while playing a fullscreen video.

    Would also be cool to hide them while browsing the web.

    What’s the point of getting a 4.65″ screen if .3″ is continously used by some buttons.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 2 Thumb down 1

    Posted by EAK47 | October 19, 2011, 1:37 am
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  32. May I just ask if a Regular Samsung Galaxy SII i9001 could be upgraded to Android 4.0?

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

    Posted by cococly | October 19, 2011, 3:32 am
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  33. It’s all about the iPhone.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 2 Thumb down 10

    Posted by Philippe | October 19, 2011, 7:47 am
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  34. I hope the virtual nav buttons on the bottom of the screen can be hidden in ICS. I already have physical nav buttons on my atrix. If they can’t, I won’t upgrade to ICS.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 1

    Posted by Blau | October 19, 2011, 9:15 am
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  35. Cool concepts, finally a decent UI, android might finally have something here that I appreciate.

    That said, They mentioned nothing of code optimization. Sadly, it looks like google is once again relying on hardware to overcome their apparent inability to code efficiently. That saddens me greatly. You’ll pretty much /need/ dual core just to keep the phone running at a normal pace.

    Overall though, I’ll port it over to my optimus 2x. Least until I get the galaxy nexus at some point.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

    Posted by briggs | October 19, 2011, 1:00 pm
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  36. love the phone….but whats with the excessively big screen

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 1

    Posted by Max | October 20, 2011, 10:51 pm
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