Google unveils Android's new 'Ice Cream Sandwich' OS

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Google unveils Android's new 'Ice Cream Sandwich' OS

At a glitzy unveiling in Hong Kong, Google executive Andy Rubin said Android’s latest “Ice Cream Sandwich” operating system demonstrates innovation “that works on phones and tablets and everything in between.”

Rubin said features like Android Beam and Face Unlock showcased Ice Cream Sandwich’s capabilities. Android Beam allows transfer of data between two smartphones by holding them together, while Face Unlock uses facial recognition technology to activate smartphones, rather than conventional passwords. However, during a demonstration at the Hong Kong unveiling, the Face Unlock feature failed to activate the Galaxy Nexus.

The Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich is a major update meant for Android based smartphones and tablets that will bring more simplistic and unified experience. With all its new look and feel, the Android 4.0 brings face unlock, resizable widgets, LED notifications, interactive lock screen, multitasking and several other improvements in the native applications.
Andy Rubin, Senior Vice President for Android said, “Android 4.0 ICS is an open invitation for everyone to join in.” Apparently, the Android 3.0 Honeycomb source code was not released as open source and Google wishes to rectify the same with Android 4.0 ICS.

With Android 4.0 ICS, Google wants an operating system that runs on every smartphones, tablets and embedded devices. One of the most useful features is the comprehensive graphical presentation of and analysis of data usage. Major revamp has taken place with the way users can multi-task or kill the background applications. For instance the new apps button shows the apps running in background and users can hold and swipe those app preview tabs to right or left for killing it. There is better voice recognition and deeper integration of the speech-to-text engine that allows users to interact with the smartphone without typing anything.

New ‘Face Unlock’ is the security feature that makes use of the front facing camera to recognize the owner and unlock the phone. Other significant features include resizable widgets and folders, new people app with social network integration, built-in photo editor, and improved copy-paste.
Finally Android platform gets native screenshot capturing support by pressing the volume down button along with Power button. The Near Field Communication chip will be utilized to exchange the data content by simply tapping two devices using Android Beam feature.

Google has not announced a specific date for Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich roll out. But at the Google I/O, the company had clarified that the recent devices will get Android updates for 18 months.