ics - 17/26 - Android Police - Android News, Apps, Games, Phones, Tablets

Feb

[Download] Notion Ink Adam Gets A Shiny New Android 4.0 Beta ROM

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in News, Notion Ink

The Notion Ink Adam has had a long sordid history. The 10" tablet that promised a full-color LCD display in the same housing as a transflective display that provides e-ink-like readability without a backlight looked great but failed to catch on in the market. The device still has its share of devoted followers, though. If you're among them, then we've got a tasty treat for you: an Ice Cream Sandwich beta.

^{Simulated image.}

The new build is being created by third-party devs, but Notion Ink is promoting it on their official blog. It's unclear how much Notion Ink is involved in the process, but it's nice to see Google's latest software come to the tablet that the blogs forgot.

Feb

[Download] Leaked Android 4.0 Build FB09 For Epic 4G Touch, See It In Action In A 16-Minute Hands-On Video

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in Epic 4G Touch, News, Samsung

The poor, neglected Galaxy S series of phones may have earned Samsung a reputation for being slow to update their devices, especially here in the states. Today, however, a build of Ice Cream Sandwich for the Epic 4G Touch was leaked that suggests Samsung is making decent progress on the ICS front. So, while Sammy may be a touch on the slow side, at last they're working on it! That's something, right?

QBKing77 has put together a 16-minute walkthrough video of the build demonstrating all the major ICS features running on an E4GT including continuous voice-transcription, face-unlock, the new multitasking carousel, and swipe-to-dismiss notifications and apps.

Feb

HTC Announces Ice Cream Sandwich Updates For Some North American Phones - Thunderbolt, Rhyme, Droid Incredible 2, And Raider All Make The Cut

Posted by Cameron Summerson in HTC, Incredible 2 (Vivow), News, Rezound, Rhyme, Thunder, Thunderbolt (Mecha)

Last week, HTC detailed the Android 4.0 update for several handsets, but many U.S. models were noticeable absent form the list. Today, the Taiwanese manufacturer has taken to its Facebook page to highlight some of the North American handsets that will see the update, most of which are on Verizon. It's a shorty, but goodie:

Thunderbolt
Rhyme
Droid Incredible 2
Rezound
Raider (Rogers and Bell in Canada)

Sadly, HTC left out any timeline details, so we really have no idea of knowing when to expect these update to roll out.

Stay tuned for more info on HTC's ICS update releases, as it has yet to announce Sprint, AT&T, and T-Mobile device update plans.

Feb

[Update: More Info] Acer America Announces Android 4.0 Update For A500 And A100, Coming In Mid-April

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Iconia A100, Iconia Tab A500, News

Over the weekend, Acer started pushing the Android 4.0 update to the Iconia Tab A200. Yesterday, Acer ANZ announced that the Ice Cream Sandwich update for the Iconia Tab A500 would be rolling out in April in Australia and New Zealand. Today, in an attempt to roll a turkey, Acer America followed suit and announced the ICS update for not only the A500, but the A100 along with it:

To all Acer Iconia Tab A500 and A100 users, please expect an Ice Cream Sandwich upgrade in mid-April! Thank you for your patience.

— Acer America (@AcerAmerica) February 15, 2012

It's good to see Acer providing a [somewhat] timely update, especially to the seemingly forgotten 7-inch A100.

Feb

Bump Gets Updated To "Totally New" Version 3.0, Includes New Design, Mutual Friends, And More

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Applications, News

Bump, a wildly popular wireless transfer app for Android and iOS, got an update to version 3.0 today, bringing several enhancements to the table. Perhaps the most notable among these is the completely redesigned interface, which Bump Technologies Inc. describes as both simple and beautiful. The UI appears to have been updated to a more ICS-cohesive design, bringing a tabbed interface and "action overflow" button to enhance functionality.

Besides the new UI, Bump has made contact transfer touch-free, enabled the transfer of "as many photos as you want" in one bump, and added an interesting feature that allows users to discover mutual friends by scanning through both parties' phonebooks.

Feb

Swype Beta Update Begins Rolling Out, Features Dragon GO! Integration And Support For Android 4.0

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Applications, News

A new beta update for Swype has begun rolling out and will hit tester's handsets over the next 72 hours. The big changes, if you couldn't tell by the title, are Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS) support and the integration of Dragon GO! - unsurprising, since Swype was purchased by Nuance and Dragon Dictation support has been rolled in since December. Specifically, the update adds functionality to the "Dragon" key which allows users to dictate speech using the infamous engine, as well as launch the Dragon GO! app.

Other improvements include improved prediction accuracy, and a few bugfixes regarding language modeling and dictionaries.

Feb

ASUS Singapore Indicates Delay For Ice Cream Sandwich Update On The Transformer, Again - Now Pushed Back To As Late As March

Posted by David Ruddock in ASUS, Eee Pad Transformer, Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0, News

ASUS Transformer owners will be forced to wait even longer for a promised update to Ice Cream Sandwich (Android 4.0), the company revealed on its Singapore Facebook page late last night. Here's the statement:

ASUS Singapore

Dear fellow Asus members, we would like to say that we appreciate all the support we see in our Asus Facebook page every day. It makes our contributions worthwhile and fulfilling.

We are informed that the ICS upgrade for TF101 will be ready within the Feb/March 2012 period. You will be able to receive the upgrade notification via FOTA once we have a confirmation date.

Feb

Motorola Adds the Droid 4, Photon 4G, Atrix, Atrix 2, Xyboard, And More To The List Of Devices Set To Receive Android 4.0, Provides A Vague Release Schedule For Some

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Motorola, News

Back in October of '11, Motorola confirmed the first devices set to receive Android 4.0: the RAZR, Bionic, and the XOOM. While the Wi-Fi XOOM is the only of the mentioned devices to have already received the update, Moto just added a slew of other devices to that list, including:

RAZR MAXX
Droid 4
Photon 4G
Atrix 4G
Atrix 2
Electrify
XOOM Family Edition
XOOM 2
XOOM (3G)
Xyboard 8.2 (Wi-Fi and LTE)
Xyboard 10.1 (Wi-Fi and LTE)
Admiral
Droid 3
Droid X2
Milestone 3
Pro+
MT917 (China)
XT928 (China)
MT870 (China)
XT605 (China)
Motoluxe/XT615/XT685
XT822 (China)

While the bulk of those devices are still "in evaluation and planning" (which means that they could be deemed too "underpowered" for ICS and dropped from the upgrade path altogether), an approximate release schedule is available for some.

Feb

[New App] Redditastic Is A Fantastic Way To Add Reddit To Your 3.0+ Homescreen

Posted by Brandon Lancaster in App Reviews, Applications

Okay, so Redditastic isn't technically an app, but it is a pretty sweet widget that lets you throw your favorite subreddits on one of your homescreens. Unfortunately it's only currently available for devices running Honeycomb or ICS, and it probably won't see any previous builds of Android simply because scrollable widgets aren't supported by them unless you use a custom launcher. That being said, if you do own a supported device, this Reddit widget is definitely one to check out.

Overview

What's cool about Redditastic is that it lets you create individual widgets for each of your favorite subreddits. You can also choose to have the feed populate with hot, new, top, and controversial threads.

Feb

[Download] First CM9 Builds Released For LG Optimus 2x And G2x – Get Them While They're Hot

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Android OS, Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0, Optimus 2X (Star, p990)

Earlier today, Ricardo Cerqueira (aka RC of the CM team) posted on Google+, teasing that a CM9 build for LG's Optimus 2x (P990) would be available soon. For some time now, the CM team has been keeping a spreadsheet on Google Docs, tracking the P990 build's progress, which indicates that, as of 2/9, ICS for the Optimus 2x is all but fully functional, carrying only "partial" functionality for the phone's camera and video playback capabilities.

About an hour ago, RC followed up with another post, linking users to download mirrors of the first CM9 builds for both LG's Optimus 2x and G2x (P999).