Getting To Know Android - 2/2 - Android Police - Android News, Apps, Games, Phones, Tablets

Nov

[Getting To Know Android 4.0, Part 5] Everything Changes In Contacts, Even The Name!

Posted by Ron Amadeo in Features, Getting To Know Android, Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0

Last Updated: August 10th, 2012

GTKA4.0 is back! (That's right. We're cool enough to abbreviate now.) Welcome to Part 5: Contacts. The Contacts app has seen the biggest change of any app from Gingerbread to Ice Cream Sandwich. Everything is different. It's not even called "Contacts" anymore, It prefers to be called the "People" app. We've got a lot to cover.

Unfortunately, unless you have a Nexus device (I don't), it's almost impossible to get a hold of a fully functional, stock Gingerbread contacts app. The closest I can get is a non-syncing emulator, which doesn't have enough options, and the Cyanogenmod 7 contacts, which has way too many options.

Nov

[Getting To Know Android 4.0, Part 4] Calendar's New Suit

Posted by Ron Amadeo in Features, Getting To Know Android, Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0

Last Updated: August 10th, 2012

We're back with more Ice Cream deliciousness! I've exhausted most of the working Gapps, so we're down to the regular stuff in the emulator. Today we're looking at Calendar.

If you've just joined the series, we're taking a look at what Ice Cream Sandwich has to offer. Earlier we examined Gmail, Google Talk, and YouTube. The ICS screenshot are from the emulator, which gives a good approximation of what everything will look like, but has the occasional rendering issue.

We're all nice and upgraded to the latest system app leak: ICL23D. For those of you following this series, I can confirm there's been no meaningful changes to Gmail, Talk, or YouTube in ICL23D.

Oct

[Getting To Know Android 4.0, Part 3] YouTube Grows Up

Posted by Ron Amadeo in Features, Getting To Know Android, Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0, News

Last Updated: August 10th, 2012

YouTube is the ugly duckling of the Gapps family. That's right, I said it.

The 100% black design and horrible gradients make it look like a 13 year old boy's geocities page. It certainly doesn't look like it's from a professional company. It's only saving grace it that, since it's a video app, you aren't subjected to the UI that often when you are using at it. Thankfully, with the arrival of Ice Cream Sandwich, amateur hour is over.

You should know the drill by now. We're picking apart Ice Cream Sandwich and comparing it to the previous phone version of Android, Gingerbread.

Oct

[Getting To Know Android 4.0, Part 2] Google Talk Gets A Facelift

Posted by Ron Amadeo in Features, Getting To Know Android, Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0, News

Last Updated: August 10th, 2012

Google Talk is one of my favorite parts about Android. If you have other Googly friends, between Android, Gmail, and G+, they are almost always available. In Android 2.3.4, Google Talk got a big upgrade in the form of voice and video chat.

There will be many similarities to the to the Ice Cream Sandwich version of Gmail, which was the subject of Part 1 of this series. So go read about it or risk falling behind the rest of the class. Just like that article, Gingerbread is on the left, Ice Cream Sandwich is on the right. The ICS pictures are all from the emulator, which has the occasional rendering issue, so don't judge too harshly.

Oct

[Getting To Know Android 4.0, Part 1] Gmail: Android's Most Important App

Posted by Ron Amadeo in Applications, Features, Getting To Know Android, Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0

Last Updated: August 10th, 2012

For many people, Gmail is Android's killer app. It's the best email app on any platform, and one of the biggest draws to Android. So anytime there is a change, it's pretty big news. With Ice Cream Sandwich, Gmail got a huge revamp. Every inch of the app has changed. Today we're going to find out just what is so different.

I'm sure you've read other articles on the new ICS apps, but those are just rehashing what was shown in the Hong Kong demo. With the recent system apps dump and some SDK shenanigans, we can sit down with a real, working version of Gmail 4.0 and uncover its secrets.