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See what ICS will look like on the Droid RAZR

See what ICS will look like on the Droid RAZR

Posted: 20 Feb 2012, 09:47, by Scott H.

Categories: Verizon Verizon Motorola Motorola Android Android Software updates Software updates Bookmark

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See what ICS will look like on the Droid RAZR

Over the weekend someone posted screen caps of a new build of Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) for the Droid RAZR. The source of the images stayed mum on where they came from, but the build was vetted by several top developers. This build is quite a bit further along that the initial leaks we reported on back in January, and it appears we are looking at something approaching a final build, at least in terms of appearance.

In general this seems to be the least intrusive version of MotoBlur yet. Motorola has added plenty of custom icons, and current Motorola users will recognize the theme on the dialer and call-in-progress page. As we suspected back in January, Motorola will be bringing some of their app-tray special sauce to the party, adding custom app groups within the launcher - although they otherwise have wisely gone with the stock app tray. The launcher also appears stock, albeit with custom dock icons. There is also a new camera app, and some fancy shenanigans going on with the lock screen.

Since the Droid RAZR and Droid RAZR MAXX are the same phones internally, we expect that owners of both will see this update around the same time. Hopefully the engineers at Motorola are hard at work squashing bugs for the release, but in the meantime here is a sneak preview of what to expect when Google's latest dollop of Android goodness winds up on Motorola's latest Droid.

Droid RAZR ICS Screen Grabs

1. Blurred ICS Lockscreen

Right away users will get a different experience, although it's hard to see all the differences, since this lock screen seems to be using keypad for a password (saftey first!)

2. Home Screen - Incoming Call

The incoming call screen cap shows off a circular Honeycomb/ICS-based unlock graphic that will let you choose between taking the call, ignoring it, or sending out a custom message. We suspect the circular swipe to unlock will feature on the default lock screen as well, since it appears to be safer from lawsuits than the linear swipe to unlock gesture. On the other hand, earlier builds showed off a different variant on the circular unlock (see image 6 here)

3. Blurred ICS Home Screen

Surprise! It's basically stock ICS, with Motorola's custom icons. And a healthy dose of Verizon's bloatware installed, free of charge!

4. Folders

If you haven't experience Ice Cream Sandwich folders yet, you are in for a treat! They can de-clutter any ones home screen, and are dead-simple to use.

5. Blurred ICS Dialer

This should be familiar to owners of any recent Motorola Droid model...ICS apparently won't knock you out of your comfort zone when using the dialer.

6. App Tray

It's mostly the normal ICS app tray, although Motorola retained the ability to create custom app groups that has been featured since their first Gingerbread updates.

7. App Tray - Widgets

It looks like Motorola will be sticking with the ICS method of adding widgets from your app tray, rather than a long press on the home screen.

8. New ICS Camera App

Motorola continues its trend of providing custom camera apps. This one looks nice enough, but we hope it has the performance and responsiveness of the stock ICS camera app.

9. Updated Core Apps

Droid RAZR owners will of course be treated to the 4.x versions of all of Google's core apps, including the new Gmail app, which is a pleasure to use.

10. ICS Settings Menu

Motorola has added their own colorful icons to the settings menu in place of the more restrained black and whites icons of stock ICS. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder we suppose...

11. Phone Information Page

Still Android 4.0.3, the same version as we saw in the less-advanced leak in January, and the version we'd expect to see hit the Droid RAZR/MAXX when the update rolls out.

source: droidrzr via Droid-Life

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1. Whateverman posted on 20 Feb 2012, 10:53 5 0

Not bad, but I wish they would have made a video instead.

7. SuperAndroidEvo posted on 20 Feb 2012, 11:41 1 0

I know what you mean. It’s always better to see the OS in motion as opposed to just plain old pictures.

27. Vadermando posted on 20 Feb 2012, 16:11 0 3

it is very good for slow conections like mine. i hope they keep using it in the future. thanks P.A.

2. aztaxia12295 posted on 20 Feb 2012, 11:09 7 0

Wow it actually looks kinda like stock

3. taz89 posted on 20 Feb 2012, 11:13 3 1

very impressive so far the best skin that is very similar to stock ics

4. pooked posted on 20 Feb 2012, 11:16 5 0

Still looks kinda crowded and the settings menu with those icons looks so tacky!!!

19. PAPINYC posted on 20 Feb 2012, 12:19 3 2

There's nothing crowded about it because of the massive screen.
If it had a 3.5" iScreen iWould have to agree with you.

Besides, when you hook up a DROID RAZR™ to an HD Widescreen TV nothing can ever be crowded since, HDMI FULLY STRETCHES and mirrors the phone's display to TV; something no other phone or iDud can do.

21. bigboy029 posted on 20 Feb 2012, 12:39 3 1

Awesome. I bought the phone, and immediately went to best buy and picked up an nice HD TV. Now i just cary my phone AND my TV around in my briefcase so that I never feel crowded. -____-

24. PAPINYC posted on 20 Feb 2012, 13:46 2 0

Yes, and don't forget the HDMI cable; you can just tuck that in one of the four corners of your brief case.

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40. bigboy029 posted on 21 Feb 2012, 02:51 1 0

ah yes. i forgot about that. thanks for reminding me pal.

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5. imkyle posted on 20 Feb 2012, 11:27 5 0

This is how you implement you're customizations with ICS. Sammy pay attention and give us something good! :)

9. danwatson posted on 20 Feb 2012, 11:49 1 0

I'm not as worried about Sammy. HTC is usually who has a habit of making a completely new launcher with almost no similarities to stock. Sammy keeps some of the original.

17. imkyle posted on 20 Feb 2012, 12:15 0 0

Agree with that. HTC makes nice phones. Their build quality is fantastic but their Sense over ICS will be interesting to see.

28. jroc74 posted on 20 Feb 2012, 16:15 0 0

Yea....if you seen the leaks of the HTC Ville and ICS...wow... kinda hard to tell its even running ICS.

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6. theBankRobber posted on 20 Feb 2012, 11:32 1 0

Wow that looks really good, can't wait to get it on my phone. I wonder how much performance boost they have now, that's all that matters to me is how smooth the phone is running with this new update. Hardware acceleration is really going to be a big deal about ICS.

8. A.aoudi posted on 20 Feb 2012, 11:44 0 0

it is actually a good layout but i was expecting something a little more on the razr anyway you never know until you use it. Sense 4.0 is more appealing and Samsung touch wiz 5 is not out yet so it is a bit confusing now.

10. KingKurogiii posted on 20 Feb 2012, 11:51 0 0

Oooo! the King Like! ;)
i just kind of wish they would take the app labels away from the icons in the dock.

11. remixfa posted on 20 Feb 2012, 11:52 0 0

it looks like stock with a lil theming. I hope the unseen internals are mostly untouched as well. that could bode good things to come for motos updates in the future. considering blur is probably the most heavily customized under the hood of all the UIs, if its not heavily modded that gives me hope for the other UIs as well.

12. KingKurogiii posted on 20 Feb 2012, 11:59 1 0

i'd actually say it's on of the least modified. it's less modified than TW and especially Sense. it's kind of like what they've done with the Honeycomb experience and it feels good so i assume something similar is going on here.

13. remixfa posted on 20 Feb 2012, 12:04 0 0

u have a misunderstanding of blur then. Blur is by far the most modified under the hood, not graphically. blur runs through motos "blur servers" to retrieve mail, status updates, and all sorts of nonsense for the stock mail/facebook/ect options. No other UI does that. It also has added in exchange functionality that tops the other UIs as well.
There are a lot of positives about blur, especially for business use with all the extra modifications. Unfortunately, in the android world, thats a double edged sword when it comes to updates.