Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0 - 17/25 - Android Police - Android News, Apps, Games, Phones, Tablets

Oct

3 Years Of Android: A Look At Android's Home Screens - From Cupcake To Ice Cream Sandwich

Posted by David Ruddock in Android OS, Cupcake 1.5, Donut 1.6, Eclair 2.1, Froyo 2.2, Gingerbread 2.3, Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0, Jelly Bean 4.1

Oh, Android. How far you've come since the days of the G1. Actually, tomorrow, October 22nd, will mark 3 years to the day that Android has been available on consumer handsets in the United States, and the G1 on T-Mobile was concepción.

With Ice Cream Sandwich finally revealed, Android has gone through its seventh major iteration. How has Android changed? What better way to illustrate Android's evolution than its home screen, the hub of user interaction. Here's a look at the face of Android over the last 3 years.

Android 1.5: Cupcake

Android Version 1.5: Cupcake

Cupcake was step one for what was, at the time, Google's recently acquired mobile operating system Android.

Oct

[Updated] ASUS: Ice Cream Sandwich On Existing Tablets Before Year's End, Transformer Prime Info, Padfone in Q1 2012

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

ASUS has been hard at work on the successor to the company's first foray into the Android tablet market, the ASUS Transformer.

Transformer Prime

The Transformer's ~~yet-to-be-officially-named sequel~~ (Update: The name turned out to be... Transformer Prime) was shown off today by ASUS chairman Johnny Shih - and boy, is this thing thin. ASUS's next Android tablet will be a mere 8.3mm in profile and stick with the 10.1-inch screen form factor. Of course, it will have the detachable plug-in keyboard that made the Transformer a unique product in the marketplace. It will also have a next-generation NVIDIA quad-core "Kal-El" Tegra 3 processor, as had been expected.

Oct

Dan Morrill Reveals The Real Reason Behind The Galaxy Nexus' Barometer

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Galaxy Nexus, Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0, News

Since last night's announcement, there has been a lot of speculation surrounding the Galaxy Nexus. One of the most mysterious features of Samsung's latest Nexus device is its onboard barometer. Many have been questioning why Samsung would include a barometer in the Nexus' sleek chassis, citing possibilities from more accurate weather prediction to simple altitude detection (which is partially true).

In a Google+ post today, Android Engineer Dan Morrill gave us the scoop on what the barometer is actually for, and it's more interesting than you might think.

Morrill explains that the barometer is actually intended to speed up GPS location, because "locking onto a GPS involves numerically solving a 4-dimensional set of linear equations - 3 dimensions in space, and time."

That sounds a bit complicated, doesn't it?

Oct

Interview With Android UX Lead Matias Duarte: "Google Is Taking Design A Lot More Seriously"

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in Google, Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0, Interviews

Let's get the preliminary question off the plate first: who is Matias Duarte? Well for one thing, he oversaw the designing of a few small projects such as webOS, Sidekick OS, and Helio (the little carrier that could... be bought out). And, oh yeah, he also played a large part in Honeycomb's development.

Yesterday he sat down with Joshua Topolsky of This is my Next (soon to be The Verge) to discuss the "philosophy" of Android and, more specifically, Ice Cream Sandwich. It certainly provides some interesting insight into the man behind ICS' fancy new UI, and while we highly recommend you read the full interview, we'll be providing a few highlights below so as to save you some time (the unabridged version is quite lengthy).

Oct

Android Engineer: Ice Cream Sandwich AOSP Source Code Will Be Released, But Not Before Galaxy Nexus Goes On Sale

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Android OS, Galaxy Nexus, Google, Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0, News

Since I'm seeing questions inquiring about Android 4.0's source code drop every 5 minutes here and there, I thought it would be a good idea to point out this blurb in a recent post by an Android engineer Dan Morrill, aka morrildl:

To reiterate, these servers contain only the ‘gingerbread’ and ‘master’ branches from the old AOSP servers. We plan to release the source for the recently-announced Ice Cream Sandwich soon, once it’s available on devices.

Since the Galaxy Nexus is the first ICS device, rumored to go on sale sometime in the beginning to mid November, we shouldn't expect the source code to be publicized until about that time either.

Oct

There's A Bounty Out For The Kindle Fire: $200 For Reversible Root, $800 For "Basic" Honeycomb Or Ice Cream Sandwich Port

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Development, Honeycomb 3.0/3.1/3.2, Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0, Kindle Fire, News, Tablets

It looks like the HP Touchpad isn't the only tablet to have a bounty placed on its head - Kindle Fire Forum is now offering a substantial reward to the first person who's able to provide a reliable, reversible root method, or either a Honeycomb or Ice Cream Sandwich port for Amazon's Android tablet.

The forum is offering a prize of $200 for a root method, and a whopping $800 for a "Basic" Honeycomb or ICS port. The original post outlines the goals like so:

Reliable Reversable Root Method - This one is self explanatory.

Basic Android Port – The stock Android home screen and apps boot.

Oct

[Updated] Ice Cream Sandwich Is Finally Official, And Here's What To Expect

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0, News

Update: This post has been updated with links to a deeper look at each feature. Enjoy!

Holy crap. The Samsung/Google event ended just a little while ago, and I have to say, I'm pretty overwhelmed by the amount of awesome that I just experienced. The Galaxy Nexus is official, as is its counterpart OS: Ice Cream Sandwich. There is no doubt that ICS is the most polished version of Android to date. It's elegant, clean, and just downright gorgeous. Let's take a look at all the new features together, shall we?

Roboto

One thing that Google is definitely proud of in ICS is the new typeface, known as Roboto.

Oct

Samsung's Mobile President: The Galaxy Nexus Was Designed With Patents In Mind

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Galaxy Nexus, Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0, News, Samsung

It seems that these days, Samsung must constantly be on alert for new entries in the ever-growing list of patent disputes with Apple. Sensing this, Samsung's Mobile President, Shin Jong-kyun (who we heard from at last night's presentation) took a moment to stress the fact that the Galaxy Nexus was designed with patents in mind - specifically, it was designed to avoid trouble with Apple. While it is a rectangular device with a touch screen, not much else seems to put it in danger.

What's interesting is that Shin decided to speak to the subject at all. Gizmodo reports that Samsung's Mobile President "claims that no 'known' Apple patent was used in the Galaxy Nexus."

I find it somewhat curious that Shin would specify this regarding the Galaxy Nexus - does this suggest that patents were knowingly violated in the past?

Oct

Ice Cream Sandwich Feature Closer Look - The Dialer And People App: Yep, It's Still A Phone

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0, News

While we use our devices for everything from watching movies to browsing the net and checking social networks, let's not overlook the fact that, at their core, they're still called smartphones. As such, the dialer and contact app -- now called People -- in Ice Cream Sandwich have both received a major overhaul.

The People is, of course, based on the current Contacts app, but it has been totally redesigned to be more intuitive, easier to use, and provide all the information about your contacts in one centralized location. The main screen offers the typical list of contacts, but instead of being tabbed like the current version, it's swipe-able (like most things in ICS).

Oct

Ice Cream Sandwich Feature Closer Look - Android Beam Proves That NFC Isn't Just For Credit Card Payments

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0, News

Everyone has been making a big deal about NFC lately - which phones have it, where it can be used, etc. Until last night's announcement, many (including myself) didn't see much on the horizon except a fun way to pay for things using your phone. That perception has changed, however, thanks to Android Beam.

Beam utilizes NFC technology to quickly, seamlessly transfer data from one device to another. As demonstrated last night, one has only to touch the two devices together to send just about anything from web pages, to photos, to apps.