Over the last year, HTC has established a reputation for fragmenting its proprietary Sense UI even within the same version of Android. Why, Gingerbread alone is the foundation for at least three different iterations (2.1, 3.0 and 3.5) of the firmware. The bump to Ice Cream Sandwich is no different, with legacy devices getting an update to Sense 3.6 and the One series (and presumably any future devices) benefiting from version 4.0.
When we previewed Sense 3.6, we were disappointed at its similarity to previous versions and the sloppiness of its integration with key features in ICS. Even though it marked an improvement in functionality and performance, it seemed as if the OS and customized UI were at war with each other.
Sense 4 is a different story. It's lighter, cleaner and much more visually appealing than older versions of the user interface, and it has the full suite of ICS goodies to go along with it. HTC also throws in its own imaging technology, dubbed ImageSense, to offer some cool new enhancements to the camera. Ultimately, HTC has successfully tweaked Sense's design in a way that keeps the spirit of stock Android 4.0 alive, while still offering something familiar to loyal HTC fans. The tour is about to begin, so park yourself in your favorite chair and join us.
It's been nearly four months since the Samsung Galaxy Nexus arrived, bearing the latest version of Google's mobile OS, known to most of us as Android 4.0 or Ice Cream Sandwich. In this span of time, only a handful of smartphones and tablets have been blessed with an upgrade to this iteration. Why? One word: differentiation. The majority of mobile manufacturers are determined to come up with their own brands and tweak the open-source OS to their whimsy as a means of standing out from the rest of the crowd. But doing so involves several months of designing, programming and testing -- for each individual device. Sadly, this means we're left waiting impatiently for most outfits to come out with their own customized skin.
Since the latest iteration of Android meant a considerable adjustment to the OS' design -- as well as an endless list of new features, bug fixes and other improvements -- the lengthy wait has left us only able to speculate and theorize what types of adjustments HTC will make to its own adaptation of Android's user interface, nicknamed Sense. What's more, it was recently revealed that there would actually be not one but two versions of the UI running on ICS: Sense 4.0, the skin of choice for the One lineup, and 3.6, the option for whichever legacy HTC devices are lucky enough to be on the upgrade list. Even though both run Android 4.0, the two builds look drastically different. We only had a very limited amount of time to spend with the former at MWC, but we were given the opportunity to experience the latter on a Sensation XE. Now we can finally have our questions answered at long last: how will HTC integrate ICS into its Sense UI? How different will it look and feel? What features will the company dish up or throw in the trash? Uncover the mysteries with us as we offer an extensive preview of Sense 3.6 after the break.
We're pretty excited about Google Wallet, but the service is currently only available for Nexus S 4G phone owners, leaving most of you waiting for broader implementation. Well, how would you like to skip the line, getting to test it out on a Nexus S 4G of your very own? Google has supplied us with five phones to give away -- the company is even throwing in $1,000 (yes, one THOUSAND dollars) of prepaid credit to help fund those first few dozen taps. There's one catch: you'll need to use your Nexus S 4G with a Sprint plan, though the carrier is throwing in one month of demo service to get you started. Check out our in-depth preview for a detailed look at the service, and simply leave a comment after the break to be entered to win -- after checking that you meet the entry requirements, of course.