30 Awesome new features in Android 4 'Ice Cream Sandwich'
 

source: http://betanews.com/2011/10/18/30-aw...ream-sandwich/

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In Hong Kong today, Google and Samsung unveiled Google's new flagship Android device, the Nexus Prime, a 4.65" Super AMOLED-toting, 1.2GHz LTE and HSPA+ smartphone. However nice the hardware of the new device is, it is second to the fact that it is the first device to run Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS), the newest build of Android that unifies tablets and smartphones under a single OS for the first time.

"People like Android, they need Android…but they didn't LOVE Android," said Google's Matias Duarte in today's presentation. To remedy this, Google has not only introduced new and practical functions to ICS, but gave it a slicker look, faster responsiveness, and some extremely impressive bells and whistles.


Here are 30 of the most interesting new features:

1. "Roboto," Android's own font

2. Even more live wallpapers

3. Newly-designed lock screen

4. Disappearing homescreen command buttons

5. Tabbed apps/widgets drawer similar to Honeycomb

6. Resizeable homescreen widgets

7. Redesigned foldering capabilities

8. Hardware accelerated 2D drawing

9. Wi-Fi Direct support

10. "Favorites Tray" at the bottom of the screen that travels across the different homescreens

11. Native Screen grab capability (Press Power+Volume Down)

12. Improved notification bar, customizable notifications

13. New Music player notification in tray controls player

14. Improved keyboard

15. Improved typing error correction

16. In-line spell check and suggestion mode

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17. Cut/Copy/Paste similar to Honeycomb, but with animated dragging and dropping

18. Speech for text entry has been improved with no delay

19. "Face Unlock" facial recognition for unlock screen (Did not work in demo)

20. New Browser (Includes new tab management feature. "request desktop site" feature, syncs to chrome, save pages for offline reading)

21. New Gmail (New action bar with compose, search, labels, refresh; offline search by default that searches the last 30 days of email)

22. New Calendar with pinch-to-zoom

23. Updated all of the native Google apps: YouTube, Maps, Google+, Google Music

24. Mobile data usage metrics in system controls, allows users to self-limit their mobile data consumption, and track data usage down to individual app level

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25. All-new camera app with slider zoom, facial detection, "zero shutter lag" speed, launchable from home screen

26. Photo editing tools in "edit" menu in the camera

27. Native panoramic camera shot, similar to Sony's "Sweep" panorama

28. 1080p video capture, continuous focus, includes the ability to zoom while recording

29. Incredible new Time Lapse photography feature

30. New tile-based "People app" interface for contacts, very similar to Windows Phone

31. "Android Beam" NFC-based content sharing with multiple ICS phones (Web Addresses, contacts, maps, YouTube videos, app sharing)



Developers can get their hands on ICS right now to begin taking advantage of these new features, or to customize their existent apps and widgets to use the new UI components, styles, and of course the new font.

Consumers, however, will have to wait until November to get their hands on ICS, when the Nexus Prime launches worldwide.

Re: 30 Awesome new features in Android 4 'Ice Cream Sandwich'
 

I realu like it and I thing that the next one will be Nexus or Galaxy III

Re: 30 Awesome new features in Android 4 'Ice Cream Sandwich'
 

The new ICS android version is interesting. I don't think it's groundbreaking, but it plays on android's strenghts and patches up some of its weaker points. I rather like the new launcher's looks, and I really dig the new dictaphone like talk thingy. If it can transcribe in multiple languages seamlessly it will be a killer.

However, I did not see any revamps in multitasking like I had hoped. That's what would really make me look android again. I find that switching between programs in my hero was a clunky experience, far behind what the N900 could do, and let's not even talk about the N9. If Google implemented something similar to android 3.0's sidebar, then I would look at the new Nexus seriously... especially considering it will probably be out in Greece before the N9...and it could well be cheaper too.

Re: 30 Awesome new features in Android 4 'Ice Cream Sandwich'
 

they are doing it right, as opposed to other manfacturers who keep ditching their os's -.-

Re: 30 Awesome new features in Android 4 'Ice Cream Sandwich'
 

Sorry but i need to ask... It's possible to port to N900? So much smartphones with Gingerbread are updateables to 4.0 Sandwich...

Re: 30 Awesome new features in Android 4 'Ice Cream Sandwich'
 

have you seen the video on how easy it is to multitask in Android 4.0 ICS? lower left button is back. center is home and right is recent apps list aka multitask button. it is like in honeycomb that has the thumbnail views of the recent apps. but you can swipe the running apps left or right to kill the app. the view is like the single column task switcher but with the webos functionality of swiping to kill apps.

Re: 30 Awesome new features in Android 4 'Ice Cream Sandwich'
 

if only they had decent multitasking

Re: 30 Awesome new features in Android 4 'Ice Cream Sandwich'
 

Only if they had an even better UX, true multitasking, and full-support for Qt applications...

...and a better variety of hardware (can i haz tilting modular fone?)

Re: 30 Awesome new features in Android 4 'Ice Cream Sandwich'
 

The N900 can already do a lot of those things so errrm, yup they're catching up. :p

If you think about it the N900 could do some of that modular stuff too, with a bit of key mapping within games and if you could modify the keyboard so it clips in you could certainly have the gamepad.

Re: 30 Awesome new features in Android 4 'Ice Cream Sandwich'
 

I won't believe it's "true multitasking" until someone confirms it in no uncertain terms or I get my hands on one for a tryout. Way too many OS's nowadays give you a false impression of true multitasking with their pretty multitasking views when you're really not in complete control of what dies and what stays open.

Re: 30 Awesome new features in Android 4 'Ice Cream Sandwich'
 

i have the moto xoom and multi tasking is a breeze on it. not as well to switch screens on n900 but up to par. given the multitask is based on honeycomb, which xoom runs, it comes down to hardware the can do it not the software. i can play 3d game switch to facebook, respond to email and back without lagg or jitters.

Re: 30 Awesome new features in Android 4 'Ice Cream Sandwich'
 

Nice to see that android gets some stuff that other OS' already have, but where are the 30 awesome features advertised in the thread title?

Re: 30 Awesome new features in Android 4 'Ice Cream Sandwich'
 

Still a ******** Java VM and the multitasking is crap. I own a Acer Iconia Tab a500 running android 3.2 and the only thing better then the N900 for my usage pattern is the bigger screen.

My post may sound like a zero sanity fanboyish rant but its a result of a boiled up frustration after many months of using it and the non existent device for my needs on this market.

Re: 30 Awesome new features in Android 4 'Ice Cream Sandwich'
 

Android 4.0 really improved their multitasking with just 1 click and that button is always visible on the screen with the 3 screen buttons below. I have a gingerbread device and switching between apps is a pain in the arse unlike on the n900. But with ICS you are in control of what to kill and what stays open,and you will not need a task killer. Like I said you can swipe left or right to kill the app. Cannot wait to get my hands on the galaxy nexus or an ICS device :-)

Re: 30 Awesome new features in Android 4 'Ice Cream Sandwich'
 

Where do some people get the idea that just because you can switch between apps that are currently displayed on the dashboard, you're multitasking, or tat you've got more than 1 app open at the same time.

To be multitasking those apps need to be working on projects simultaneously. A prime example of multitasking was the Commodore Amiga way back in the 80s. I used to do a lot of 3D work where I would be working on 3D objects in Imagine while the 3D world was rendering in the background in Vista Pro.
Just having more than one app open is in no way multitasking.

Re: 30 Awesome new features in Android 4 'Ice Cream Sandwich'
 

yep that is true. that's why iOS attempt on multitasking is a failure because when it switches between apps it just freezes the app. I believe android leaves the app running when you switch or run another app. unless you manually kill it or automatically gets killed by the system due to insufficient memory it will continue to run in the background. That is why many android users uses task killer apps because its to bothersome to kill running apps in android 2.3 and below.

Re: 30 Awesome new features in Android 4 'Ice Cream Sandwich'
 

iOS and Android both use the same freeze state multitasking method.
Example, open a youtube video in your browser or application, open another tab in the browser or start an application, the youtube video will pause - Android 3.2

Re: 30 Awesome new features in Android 4 'Ice Cream Sandwich'
 

aha. now that you mentioned it. I tried it myself and buffering froze and the video froze too. n900 is still king of multitasking. guess the new recent apps list of 4.0 is for aesthetics only and be user friendly.

Re: 30 Awesome new features in Android 4 'Ice Cream Sandwich'
 

i guess N9 with Alien Dalvik would be better...

Re: 30 Awesome new features in Android 4 'Ice Cream Sandwich'
 

N900 with Alien Dalvik would be better too. Why (why why why why why) we are not able to get that incredible feature? I wouldn't be needing an Android device for anything. Oh, got it, that's why. :(

Re: 30 Awesome new features in Android 4 'Ice Cream Sandwich'
 

If only!



.

Re: 30 Awesome new features in Android 4 'Ice Cream Sandwich'
 

Re: 30 Awesome new features in Android 4 'Ice Cream Sandwich'
 

And: while switching between browser and WiFi settings on an Galaxy Tab 10.1 (still Honeycomb 3.1), the browser always lost its open tabs content somehow, i.e. i just got a browser back that was like newly opened. If ICS shows the same behavior, good night.

I can update feeds and packages using Preware while at the same time preload a Youtube video while at the same time load several tabs in the Browser over a slow connection while at the same time play a session of Glow Hockey HD. Show me that, Android. Only thing, that pushing a game / program in the background seems to mute the audio. Maybe there will also be a community patch for that; it's PulseAudio after all.

Even webOS which has decent but still improvable multi-tasking (there's a patch to "un-pause" videos" btw, so no counter-argument here!) is not _that_ good for let's say more than 4 windows (sorry, "cards") opened.

The only feature that Android seems to have positively over webOS is home screens / widgets. Maybe additionally BT tethering to (other) devices / phones, but Honeycomb also sucked here in my and my colleague's tests.

Re: 30 Awesome new features in Android 4 'Ice Cream Sandwich'
 

Hope I'm not asking something too RTFM-ish, but what happened to this? >.< I thought android compatibility with Alien Dalvik was "promised". Is it just not done, or has it been scratched?