Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich Has Arrived

Google and Samsung just announced in Hong Kong the Galaxy Nexus phone running the new Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS) operating system. This is the flagship Google phone with high-end specs running the latest software. The phone boasts very impressive specs including a 1280 x 720 pixel super AMOLED display and face recognition unlock. It will be available in November with Verizon LTE and HSPA+ depending on the region. The full specs are as follows:

• HSPA+ or 4G LTE, depending on region
• 1.2GHz dualcore processor
• 4.65 inch 720p HD Super AMOLED display
• Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich
• 5mp autofocus camera with LED flash, autofocus, no shutter lag and fast shot2shot
• 1080p HD playback and recording at 30 FPS
• Bluetooth 3.0
• USB 2.0
• WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n
• NFC chip
• Accelerometer, compass, gyro, light and proximity sensors, barometer
• 1GB of RAM
• 16GB or 32GB internal storage
• 135.5 x 67.94 x 8.94 mm, 135 grams
• 1,750 mAh li-ion battery

What’s the most exciting about this event besides the Galaxy Nexus phone is the release of Ice Cream Sandwich. This version of the Android software will be able to run on all mobile device, including tablets, and has been redesigned with the user experience in mind. A main talking point was how how the new OS would have a magazine style feel. There are a lot of great features and it will be exciting to test them out on a tablet. Here are some of the highlights of  the new ICS:

• Roboto – new typeface built to look better on mobile device
• Controls – button are gone and incorporated in the UI
• Flexible Widgets – widgets are all resizable
• Screen Shots – take screen shot of your mobile device
• Folders – can create folders on the home screen or tray icon
• Notifications – revamped with more content and customizable
• Face Unlock – unlock your device with face recognition software
• People App – phone owner’s profile and info sourced from social sites
• Camera – photo retouching, enhancement, and editing
• Calendar – redesigned UI with pinch-to-zoom
• Browser – up to 16 tabs, offline page viewing, request desktop site
• Talk-to-Text – enhanced talk-to-text allowing pauses and symbol recognition
• Gmail – two-line previews, swipe left and right, offline viewing up to 30 days and notification bar with most used actions
• Android Beam – NFC sharing platform that let’s you share anything on your mobile device screen by simple touching devices together

Needless to say, there is lot of improvement and features packed into ICS. It will be very exciting to test out the new OS on both phones and tablets. No timeline has been given as to which mobile devices will get ICS in the future. I hope that Google and manufactures will do a good job of updating devices soon and not making us wait too long. I can’t wait to get ICS on my Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1. How about you? What do you think of the new Android Ice Cream Sandwich?