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Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich Review

0. phoneArena posted on 06 Dec 2011, 07:21

The Mountain View company recently undertook a complete redesign of its platform. A bit risky, you say? Probably quite a few analysts have quoted the “if it ain't broke, don't fix it” saying, but you know what? In our opinion, Ice Cream Sandwich is probably the best thing that has ever happened to Android...

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1. HTCiscool posted on 06 Dec 2011, 07:25 20 3

It really is completely AMAZING

Best name of any Android addition thus far
Most complete android addition thus far
Best looking android addition thus far

Well done Google!

P.S. Yes I did read it!

9. karanstyle posted on 06 Dec 2011, 08:11 4 32

addition or edition?? OMG you android fans!! LMAO!!

15. kshell1 posted on 06 Dec 2011, 08:31 4 1

i think he may have been employing addition as the next version or something like that. maybe not sure but maybe.

16. Dmann posted on 06 Dec 2011, 08:31 11 2

I´m a civil engineering student.and english is not even my first language. But I write/speak better than many north americans.

And I love Android.

What´s your point?

I can even use commas, something an Apple fan I know (I believe you all know who I'm talking about) can´t do.

There was even one who wrote "Makes since". Maybe as an android hater he couldn´t say/write Sense.

27. terabyteRouser posted on 06 Dec 2011, 10:15 3 2

Who cares?

23. XiphiasGladius posted on 06 Dec 2011, 09:06 5 1

What a Jerk, as if he's perfect. . .

42. roscuthiii posted on 07 Dec 2011, 01:19 3

Addition or edition easily work in either instance here if you think about it. Troll harder next time.

55. ILikeBubbles posted on 10 Dec 2011, 18:29 2

I'm pretty sure that Addition or Edition would both make sense. when i think of an "addition" its something that's been added or upgrade. an "edition" makes me think of a "special edition limited-time only" sort of item. im pretty sure they both would have worked in this situation but personally i prefered Addition. ESPECIALLY since every version's icon is "added" to the front of building 504 (404?) i think the grammar is proper. :) nice try though. ^^

20. HTCiscool posted on 06 Dec 2011, 08:45 10 1

Ok calm down for the spelling mistakes, I'm sorry no need to flay me alive

22. Ray.S posted on 06 Dec 2011, 08:54 4 3

I do appreciate it! :)

36. wakingup posted on 06 Dec 2011, 18:42 2

Its a great OS update and this was a good review. But there were so many things which wer left out of this article. Face unlock? Wheres that. That is one of the less known highlight features of ICS.

56. ILikeBubbles posted on 10 Dec 2011, 18:30 2

less known? hmm thats the only think i really knew about before this article lol :) i guess they may not have mentioned it was because it was too good and worked off of a picture of the person and not just the face... so secure? yes... but bulletproof.. i don't think so.

61. Larry_ThaGr81 posted on 21 Dec 2011, 16:24

Maybe they're still adding the finishing touches because of the potential security issues that are posed by people simply taking a picture of the individual's face and showing it to the front facing camera.

2. bobfreking55 posted on 06 Dec 2011, 07:31 18 1

I like it when they say Android is Maturing as an OS. Well done indeed since it looks very original and distinctive from iOS, Symbian, Bada, WP7 and other OSs.
Imagine what Jellybean to Zebracake will do.
iOS 22 vs Zebra Cake. :) lol

3. kshell1 posted on 06 Dec 2011, 07:34 8 1

i love zebra cakes O.o and i love android. omg the perfect combo

63. ILikeBubbles posted on 26 Dec 2011, 21:34

yum. :p

4. ZEUS.the.thunder.god posted on 06 Dec 2011, 07:44 4 1

amazing. good jobe done google. a nice read.

5. arcq12 posted on 06 Dec 2011, 08:03 7 2

cant wait for xda to finish baking ICS for my baby..

10. iamcc posted on 06 Dec 2011, 08:13 4 1

Yeah i'm current running a custom ROM on my GT10.1 with a ICS theme just to remind me it's coming ;)

17. Dmann posted on 06 Dec 2011, 08:36 5 1

I´m holding myself not to do that so I can have a bigger Wow factor. When it comes it~s gonna be a huge difference!

It's like not watching movie trailers so the movie is not spoiled.

12. harsh_732006 posted on 06 Dec 2011, 08:23 4 2

u have ported ics to ur real baby?..lol jk

19. arcq12 posted on 06 Dec 2011, 08:44 5 3

hey clown its very funny..

31. harsh_732006 posted on 06 Dec 2011, 12:25 3 4

so try to make a lil more sense next time,.

33. networkdood posted on 06 Dec 2011, 15:23 2 1

ICS working great on my captivate :-)

6. SlimSoulja86 posted on 06 Dec 2011, 08:04 3 4

"Samsung's TouchWiz, on the other hand, needs to be both simplified and beautified, as it's still having that iPhone for kids look", I don't think that was neccessary [that sound subjective than objective] #JustA_Thought

13. remixfa posted on 06 Dec 2011, 08:24 6 6

i agree. the personal attack on touchwiz was unessisary. Personally, I like the color coated look of TW, its meant to show off the high saturation of super amoled screens.. and on that, it works quite well. I also prefer it over something like Sense as it takes far less system resources and is much easier to get rid of, if you so desire.

25. alegarrido posted on 06 Dec 2011, 09:28 6

TouchWizKhalifa

32. TerryCrowley posted on 06 Dec 2011, 13:56 7 2

The irony is that the iOS already looks like it's for kids.

43. TalkingTechy posted on 07 Dec 2011, 10:02

Yeah, maybe it could have been worded differently, but it's a decent point he makes. For arguably the first time, ICS brings a very attractive UI from stock. With TouchWiz's current offering, it would be a step backward in styling.

7. protozeloz posted on 06 Dec 2011, 08:04 5 1

I think ICS looks great, I hope this encourages manufacturers to create app instead of full changes, since most the important stuff is already covered or can be covered from an added app

-Lanucher
-Sync tools
-Social network

all those could make apps instead of having something deeply integrated in the OS making it more simple to update and also more secure.

I think The TW UX might have being going almost the right way. but they need to turn everything into an app, this also helps them update single app issues easier (a la android market)

8. plgladio posted on 06 Dec 2011, 08:11 2 1

Ice Cream Sandwich delicious..

11. baldilocks posted on 06 Dec 2011, 08:19 2 2

Google. Please let us remove the Google Search bar and use that space for widgets. Why fix something that wasn't broken??

30. ojdidit84 posted on 06 Dec 2011, 10:56

Hopefully the Google search bar is still a widget like its always been.

34. networkdood posted on 06 Dec 2011, 15:26 3

You can remove the Google search bar :
Hit the Menu key while on the homescreen, and navigate to Manage Apps > All > Google Search.
From within the App info screen that follows, select Disable.

14. mozes316 posted on 06 Dec 2011, 08:31 5 3

"Samsung's TouchWiz, on the other hand, needs to be both simplified and beautified, as it's still having that iPhone for kids look." lol Love it!

18. baldilocks posted on 06 Dec 2011, 08:40 3 5

At least Touchwiz lets us put all of the apps in the app tray into folders. Having to scroll or swipe through lists is tedious. I can't wait for Touchwiz overlay of ICS.

21. bloodline posted on 06 Dec 2011, 08:47 11 1

I have had the galaxy nexus for nearly a week now and I can tell you ICS is awsome.

It just looks futuristic, I compared it to my iphone and it just looks so much better and feels so much better. You can just see the quality and diversity google have added and it really does look, feel and is a quality OS.

I give credit to google they done a great job and im looking forward to all the future innovative updates google will bring to ics.

Keep up the good work google

Im curious to see what win8 will bring and Im sure google are to

24. alegarrido posted on 06 Dec 2011, 09:27 2

Cat's and Dog's are irrellevant to this review

28. terabyteRouser posted on 06 Dec 2011, 10:16 2

I think this article would be better titled, "Ice Cream Sandwich Impressions" or something like that. It didn't seem like a comprehensive review.

29. Dmann posted on 06 Dec 2011, 10:51 2 2

Watch out, wee have a down thumber over here!

http://weknowmemes.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/watch-out-we-got-a-badass-over-here-meme.png

39. Cwebb posted on 06 Dec 2011, 21:37 1

Taco's ghost? Or is it just Miz

35. KingKurogiii posted on 06 Dec 2011, 17:11

i love how the same people that are getting worked up over a little personal comment about TW have been bagging on Motorola's interfaces for the past year even though there's really a lot to like about it. i like TW4 a lot and i also like Motorola's UI. when it comes to aesthetic taste i believe we should all be as 100% personal and picky as possible but as far as sucking up CPU neither Motorolas nor Samsungs do that now but i think we can all agree that Sense needs to lighten up...a lot. the reasons i don't want to get a Galaxy Nexus is i don't like it's Build Quality and i want to see what Motorola does with ICS because i bet it's going to be pretty slick.

37. remixfa posted on 06 Dec 2011, 20:55 3

KK, i hope they do nothing to ICS and take the opportunity to differentiate themselves by releasing mostly stock handsets and the constant promise of "near nexus speed" updates. Concidering how much we all bitch about everyone's pokey update speeds, that would get them a lot of positive attention. Keep doing the thin kevlar + SA+ screens, a long with that, and its a sure winner. :)

40. KingKurogiii posted on 07 Dec 2011, 00:01

i hope they do like what they've done with the XOOM 2 variants and only tweak little things like icons, widgets, the task bar, little things like that. that shouldn't keep up updates real long

44. TalkingTechy posted on 07 Dec 2011, 10:09 2

Agreed remixfa.

#Corrections
DROID RAZR doesn't have SAMOLED '+', its display is SAMOLED "Advanced."

38. sdorinphonearena posted on 06 Dec 2011, 21:31 1 2

What kind of twit writes this about Android? "From its humble beginnings until today, Android has walked a long and bumpy path, but has eventually become a robust platform, suitable not only for geeks, but regular consumers as well."

It's been a short, smooth road - thanks to rapid adoption by carries and subsequently 'regular consumers', hence now no. 2 in smartphone market share.

Completely f*cking ridiculous.

41. KingKurogiii posted on 07 Dec 2011, 00:04

if you're confused by the seemingly contradicting points one refers to the Platforms stability as a Platform and the other is referring to the growth and the adoption of the Platform.

45. kpfirefighter posted on 07 Dec 2011, 10:50

There are some things that I don't really like about the new ICS!
The pinch to zoom on a web page is really nice to have when trying to read the fine print so you don't get f**ked all the time!
Then this numb nuts was saying that some apps are having trouble with the new software! I hope they get this s**t figured out!

46. mnave5 posted on 07 Dec 2011, 20:32

i dont even understand it

47. jackhammeR posted on 08 Dec 2011, 02:59

Come on...android is finally resources effecient?
"everything runs buttery smooth, at least on a high-end phone like the Galaxy Nexus"
So android runs PRETTY smooth on high end but not always on lower models (and I mean 1ghz phones...not wildfire).
At last, android is smooth and fluid! Almost like IOS.
But why so late, why it needs so much powerful hardware? Why even wallpapers can cause lags?
I have a feeling that guys from google have never worked hard enough in optimalization department and resources management.
They don't have to. Manufacturers intruducing new dual/quad/xxx core chipsets almost everyday so they just don't have to.

48. jackhammeR posted on 08 Dec 2011, 03:03

I just don't understand why android needs so much power to work properly.
Have you ever considered it?
Dual core! 1 gig of ram! additional GPU! The only thing lacks is some cooling system:]
On paper those phones are more powerful than many computers, laptops, etc.
And they still have problems with some lags and choopines.
I just don't get it.

49. BlazinEmperor posted on 09 Dec 2011, 06:08

NO SMARTPHONE IS AS POWERFUL AS A COMPUTER! NOT EVEN A PENTIUM 3 PC! YOU GUYS KNOW LITTLE ABOUT PROCESSORS & R.A.Ms,... THERE'S MUCH MORE TO A CPU THAN IT'S CLOCK SPEED...

51. jackhammeR posted on 09 Dec 2011, 13:27

I wrote: "on paper". Read more careful.
My point was to compare pure numbers.

62. OSFantasma posted on 22 Dec 2011, 01:43

Agreed.. specially when you factor in the different technologies that go in to the works, e.g. x86, 64 BIT, ARM CORTEX, RAM ETC...

50. BlazinEmperor posted on 09 Dec 2011, 06:13

I Prefer Symbian Belle's UI to this default skin for ICS... This looks too basic, I hope OEMs will be allowed to put a customed skin on it.... Android LAGS pretty much on low & mid-range phones, but it goes quite unnoticed on High-End phones unless you're a power user, that's when u'll truly notice it.... But a few seconds of lag won't hurt anyone, so forget about it....

52. jackhammeR posted on 09 Dec 2011, 13:28

Yeah, won't hurt anyone but you see. hwen SYmbian has lags is the worst system on the planet. But when android has, it's normal.

53. henrickrw posted on 09 Dec 2011, 20:04 2

You clearly said that if it wasnt for ICS you wouldn't have given the nexus such a high rating. Based on this my petition is to review the international Exynos version of the gs2 with this OS when it's available. You should give it a 10.

54. BskidlyoJo posted on 10 Dec 2011, 18:13

But will it have screenshot capabilities?

57. louay_joumaa posted on 11 Dec 2011, 11:08 2

well done google..but ill stick with my gs2 4 now ;) hoping they gonna fix those widgets in the new touchwiz UI :)

58. KarlE posted on 12 Dec 2011, 20:21

iOS 22 vs Zebra Cake.....lol

the dell streak 5 dev crew is working on ics for the streak.....cant wait

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