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Nexus One denied Ice Cream Sandwich, becomes official relic of Android's yesteryears
If you're still clinging fast to Google's first ever Nexus device, now might be the time to start eyeing an upgrade. While the search giant's solidly confirmed an Ice Cream Sandwich destiny for owners of its penultimate Android flagship, the Nexus S, the same cannot be said for its HTC-made progenitor. It's not as though Mountain View's lost any love for its game-changing dev phone, rather that handset's 2010 guts just aren't up to snuff for the 4.0 polish. Besides, there are plenty of other more attractive and able-bodied smartphones to help you through the mourning process.
Nexus S port of Ice Cream Sandwich is available, if you can stand some rough edges
Why wait to get an official bite of Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich when you can load it on your Nexus S right now? After a quick tease a few days ago, an early preview is available to all thanks to a few hard working developers, although beezy's post on Android Central warns you may have to live without WiFi and Bluetooth for the time being. His build is only tested on the Sprint Nexus S 4G, although concurrent work posted at XDA-Developers should give 3G Nexus S owners a shot at the port as well. As usual with these early tester ROMs YMMV, but those who enjoy life on the bleeding edge can hit the source links for more info. [Thanks, Dan]
Nexus One takes a bite out of Ice Cream Sandwich, chews slowly
The Nexus One, grandaddy of Android's latest pure-bred wonder, appears to have some fight left in it. Developer drl33tmd has managed to coax the old man into running an early port of Ice Cream Sandwich, although it's not perfect. The somewhat unstable build is a bit sluggish, and suffers from media playback issues and a distinct lack of WiFi. Check out the demo after the break to see the original Google smartphone struggle up some increasingly steep software stairs.
Ice Cream Sandwich supports USB game controllers and HDMI, turns your phone into full game console
Take that, Xperia Play. USB gamepads are already supported in Honeycomb, so we had plenty of hope that Android 4.0 -- also lovingly referred to as Ice Cream Sandwich -- would offer the same functionality. We finally have the answer, and it's a resounding yes, courtesy of Google framework engineer Romain Guy's Twitter account. The cool part, though, is that HDMI's playing nice as well. In short, you could hook up an external gamepad to a USB-to-microUSB adapter on the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, connect it to your TV and transform your handset into a fancy portable gaming console. It's definitely something we can see developers flock towards, and we'll expect some cool stuff to come out of it. Just in case you thought the Nexus wouldn't let you get anything else done around the house already, this pretty much seals the deal. Move below the break to see a screenshot from the SDK.
Switched On: Android's tablet traversal
Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology. At AsiaD this week, Google's Andy Rubin noted that there were at least six million Android tablets in use. That number included only those running Google services. One could question whether the briskly selling Nook Color -- which is not open to Android apps at large -- is relevant to that tally, at least from a developer perspective. It will certainly be the case, though, that the Kindle Fire -- also expected to be a hot seller -- will be an important addition to the number moving forward. Still, Rubin conceded, it was a tally far behind that of the 30 million cumulative units of the iPad, which broke open the modern-day tablet category, extended its lead with the iPad 2, and will likely see another revision this coming spring. When Apple introduced its tablet device, it set a precedent for third-party developers by rewriting core applications to take advantage of the iPad's larger display with "HD" versions. And while there are still far fewer native iPad apps than iPhone apps, Apple is far ahead in the race for native tablet software. But not everyone wants to join that race.
Android Ice Cream Sandwich includes native stylus support
Styli and Android haven't exactly been strangers as of late -- with devices like the HTC Flyer and Samsung Galaxy Note offering pen-based input -- but it looks like that option will soon be even easier to implement with Ice Cream Sandwich. As noted on Reddit, Google's recent overview of some Android 4.0 platform highlights includes a small tidbit towards the end that details the "full support for stylus input events" in the OS -- including features like pressure sensitivity and the ability to distinguish motion events from different sources (i.e. a pen and your finger). Of course, it still requires some hardware-level assistance from tablet and smartphone makers, but native support in the OS could well open up some interesting possibilities, especially when it comes to third-party apps.
Ice Cream Sandwich already unofficially ported, Nexus S 4G gets first dibs
Well, that was fast. Just two days (barely) after the Android 4.0 SDK was released, a resourceful dev claims to already have the code up and running on a handset that isn't the Galaxy Nexus. Android Central forum user Breezy is working on delivering a taste of Ice Cream Sandwich to the Nexus S 4G. It's already pretty clear that particular handset will be getting the upgrade at some point, but we know how impatient you can be. Breezy hasn't released his ROM just yet, because there's still some bugs to work out -- like the non-functioning WiFi, Bluetooth, cellular data and the wonky touchscreen. So, while you wait for him to get the kinks ironed out, enjoy the additional photo after the break, which sports the same alternate orange theme.
Galaxy Nexus barometer explained, Sam Champion not out of a job
Google's Galaxy Nexus may be a lot of things: the fourth-coming of Android, an HD Super AMOLED showcase and iPhone 4S competitor. But weather forecaster? Alright, so it won't give you hourly atmospheric updates with an air swipe, but the built-in barometer that's got so many of us scratching our heads has a much different purpose. Android engineer Dan Morrill took to the social pages of Google+ to clarify the confusion. Turns out, Sammy added the barometer to help the device more rapidly acquire a GPS lock by delivering altitude coordinates to the required latitude and longitude GPS equation. Morrill goes on to note that the original Xoom also packed a similar feature, so if anything, this Nexus is simply following that Moto tab's lead. Next quandary Morrill needs to solve? Why, that would be the omission of carrier release dates.
ASUS says Eee Pad Transformer tablet will get ICS upgrade... sometime
We've already gotten some information about which phones will be getting the Ice Cream Sandwich update and when, and we're now starting to get some official word on tablet upgrades as well. Speaking with Pocket-lint, an ASUS rep said that the Eee Pad Transformer "will be getting [the] update to ICS," but that the company "can't provide a schedule at this stage." Still no word from other Honeycomb tablet manufacturers, unfortunately, but we'll keep you posted. Of course, this also leads us to believe that the freshly-unveiled Transformer Prime will likely have Android 4.0 right from the factory, but we'll have to wait (presumably, anyway) until November 9th to know for sure.
Sony Ericsson bringing Ice Cream Sandwich to Xperia handsets?
HTC may be busy pondering its Android 4.0 future, but Sony Ericsson is apparently ready to take a bite out of Google's Ice Cream Sandwich. Yesterday, in a post on its Facebook page, Sony Ericsson's Dutch branch stated that it will indeed upgrade its Xperia lineup to the latest Android OS, though it didn't offer any details on release dates. We reached out to the manufacturer for confirmation, and received the following statement: Sony Ericsson is currently rolling out the upgrade to Gingerbread 2.3.4 across its entire 2011 Xperia smartphone portfolio. This software upgrade will be available through a phased roll out in select markets. Beyond Gingerbread 2.3.4, we plan to upgrade our 2011 Xperia smartphone portfolio to the next Android platform made available to us. The company went on to say that all official software announcements will be posted on its blog, so we'll let you know as soon as we have more details.
ASUS' Jonney Shih: Android 4.0 hitting tablets by year's end, ultrathin netbook is coming
We just witnessed quite the interview between ASUS chairman Jonney Shih and Walt Mossberg at AsiaD, and outside of revealing the Transformer Prime (and affirming that the impending Padfone would ship with Android 4.0), he also dropped a few other nuggets worth mention to the audience here in Hong Kong. For starters, he finally caved to Walt's pestering about who his main competition was, specifically related to the new Zenbook. "The Mac[Book] Air," he stated, chuckling slyly afterwards, but quickly continuing on to plug his own machine based on its own merits. Not surprisingly, he also expressed his confidence that Android tablets still had a lot of life left in the market, and he stated that ASUS is still on track to move its target -- around two million -- Android tablets this year. Moving onto the topic of netbooks, Shih noted that rather than being buried, netbooks are simply "evolving." More importantly, however, was his subtle confirmation that a new ASUS netbook is en route: "You'll see on our new netbook, it'll be very thin." In fact, he even suggested that the design may follow that of the Zenbook, but just... smaller. When asked about his thoughts on people replacing laptops less frequently, and perhaps shifting disposable income to smartphones and tablets, Jonney maintained that all of those markets were key to ASUS' success, and that none were taking a backseat. "We believe that this a very critical time, transitioning from the personal computing era to the ubiquitous cloud computing era." Sounds a bit like another mantra we heard, truth be told, but ASUS has been riding the cloud bandwagon long before most other consumer companies even knew what it was. The original spate of Eee PCs had next to no internal storage; rather, they relied on accessing the web in order to deliver the bulk of their functionality. Jonney also noted that ASUS is attempting to tackle an interesting problem with its products, which is that few people can truly separate work and entertainment -- in other words, you need products that adequately handle both worlds. We're guessing a Padfone + Transformer Prime + Zenbook is his preferred trifecta to do just that.
Android Ice Cream Sandwich: What will it look like on a tablet? (video)
Is there such a thing as too much Ice Cream Sandwich? We didn't think so either, and booted up Google's own Android Emulator to play around with version four-point-oh -- in tablet proportions. We don't know whether manufacturers will end up slathering their own interpretation of Ice Cream Sandwich on top of the vanilla original, but this is probably very close to what we'll be dealing with when it arrives on tablets sometime this quarter. Scrollable, resizeable widgets are here, as is a tabbed, synchronizing web browser. There are some minor niggles; we hope they'll make some adjustments to the comically over-sized native keyboard, but the main thing we took away from this stuttering simulation is that the UI is nigh-on identical to what we were using on the Galaxy Nexus. Android looks like it has any future convergence issues in order -- this version will feel at home on both your phone and tablet. Android Beam has never sounded better. If you can forgive the low-performance emulation, check out the video after the break for more Ice Cream Sandwich, king-size.
Motorola RAZR to get updated to Ice Cream Sandwich in early 2012
We know that Samsung has the first crack at Android 4.0 with the Galaxy Nexus, but it'll only be a matter of time before we begin seeing it show up on rival devices. HTC has already made an official statement on its plans (or lack thereof), and now it's Motorola's turn. Alain Mutricy, SVP Portfolio and Product Management, was in Germany talking up the European announcement of the RAZR, and slipped in a few details about Ice Cream Sandwich. Mutricy mentioned that while the company's new flagship device was designed for Gingerbread, plans have been set to introduce the latest version of Android in the start of 2012, with a more precise date naturally on its way. Given past experience, however, it's probable that the unbranded version of the device will get the refresh ahead of the Droid RAZR on Verizon, so US users may need to exercise a wee bit of patience here. Regardless, it's time for the competition to step up -- if the RAZR is next in line to get the OTA update, the Galaxy Nexus will have the spotlight all to itself for a fair amount of time.
Galaxy Nexus, Ice Cream Sandwich roundup: specs, details and insight, oh my!
Couldn't stay awake for Samsung and Google's Ice Cream Sandwich event? Fear not, because we were there, documenting and analyzing every second of it on the internet. You can either re-live the magic at our Homeric liveblog, or check out the links below to get educated and up to speed. Galaxy Nexus Samsung's Galaxy Nexus gets official: Android 4.0, 4.65-inch HD Super AMOLED display (video) Samsung's Galaxy Nexus launches in November on NTT Docomo, Verizon, and more Samsung Galaxy Nexus vs. Droid RAZR by Motorola: the tale of the tape Samsung Galaxy Nexus with Ice Cream Sandwich hands-on (video) Google confirms Nexus S will get Ice Cream Sandwich -- for real this time (Gingerbread devices, too) Samsung Galaxy Nexus vs. Galaxy S II, Nexus One and Nexus S (macro hands-on) Samsung Galaxy Nexus camera and 1080p video samples Samsung: the LTE version of the Galaxy Nexus will be 'a little' thicker Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich now official, includes revamped design, enhancements galore Roboto font and the new design philosophy of Android 4.0, Ice Cream Sandwich Android Ice Cream Sandwich adds Face Unlock feature Ice Cream Sandwich revamps Android camera and gallery features Google announces NFC-based Android Beam for sharing between phones (video) Google Ice Cream Sandwich (Android 4.0): a hands-on screenshot gallery HTC: We're reviewing Ice Cream Sandwich and determining our plans Ice Cream Sandwich face unlock demo (video) Android Beam takes us to the future of close-proximity data exchange (video) Google's 'very close' to launching a digital download store with 'a little twist'
Google's Andy Rubin: 'six million' Android-based tablets out there
Google's Andy Rubin kicked off the opening keynote here at the Asian branch of All Things D (that's AsiaD, if you're curious), and he finally cleared up a figure we've been wondering about for eons. During a back-and-forth with Walt Mossberg about the proliferation of the iPad and whether or not Android was "a flop" in the tablet market, he affirmed that around six million Android-based tablets were "out there." Of course, that's only tablets that access Google services, as those are the only ones Google can account for with any degree of certainty. For comparison's sake, Apple pushed 15 million iPads onto the market in 2010 alone, selling three million in just 80 days after the launch of the original. In fact, Apple sold 11.12 million iPads in its most recent quarter (9.25 million the one before that), which represented a 166 percent increase year-over-year. Moral of the story? Apple still owns the tablet market, but hey, at least we now know the score.
Liveblog from AsiaD: Andy Rubin, SVP of Mobile at Google
Thought today's festivities were over from Hong Kong? Think again. While Samsung and Google tag-teamed the morning with the introduction of the Galaxy Nexus, the first-ever AsiaD conference is kicking off as the sun sets over Victoria Harbour. The opening keynote is quite the impressive one, with Google's own Senior Vice President of Mobile, Andy Rubin, on the docket. Mr. Rubin's no stranger to these events -- in fact, we've liveblogged his interviews twice from All Things D events -- and we're expecting quite the talk tonight following the official unveiling of Ice Cream Sandwich. Join us after the break for the liveblog!
Ice Cream Sandwich face unlock demo (video)
When Matias Duarte tried to unlock his Nexus Galaxy on-stage at today's Samsung event things didn't go so well. Some combination of his makeup and the lighting conspired to keep him from getting into his device, but after spending a little time with one ourselves we can confirm that it does indeed work -- and quickly. To program the feature, go into the settings and it'll train itself to recognize your mug. As it locks in a ring of circles frames your face and, hey presto, it's ready. After that you set up a backup form of identification and you're good to go.Once it's ready we found it takes only a second or two to recognize and unlock the phone, meaning this should be even faster than swiping or punching in an unlock code. But, you still will need to do that from time to time, either when the lighting conditions are less than optimal or, apparently, when you weren't born with it and were relying a little too much on the Maybelline.
HTC: We're reviewing Ice Cream Sandwich and determining our plans
Samsung was awarded a precious head start in its upgrade path to Android 4.0, but how will its competition respond? HTC may have one of the most difficult jobs ahead, since it has integrated its Sense UI so deeply into the core Android user experience, but that doesn't mean the OEM isn't determining the best road it should take to get to the land of Ice Cream Sandwiches. The company released an official statement following this evening's announcement to confirm that it's looking over the update's new features and functionality, figuring out how to make it happen without forcing sacrifices to the usability and performance of each HTC product. We'll be interested to see what it comes up with, as many of the UI elements popular in Sense appear to now be a part of the stock ICS functionality. The company was careful not to commit to the new Android, nor did it give any particular timeframe or roadmap in the process. Check out the full statement below: We are excited about the latest update for Android, Ice Cream Sandwich, and are currently reviewing its features and functionality to determine our upgrade plans. Our goal for Android updates is to give every customer an improved user experience, which means balancing each phone's unique hardware, HTC Sense experience and the Android kernel. While our goal is to upgrade as many of our recent devices as possible, we are committed to maintaining every phone's performance and usability first. Please stay tuned for more updates on specific device upgrade plans.
Google Ice Cream Sandwich (Android 4.0): a hands-on screenshot gallery
Hello there, Ice Cream Sandwich! Google and Samsung just took the wraps off of the former's newest mobile operating system here in Hong Kong, and boy -- she's a beauty. Of course, we've known about ICS for months now, but outside of a few sneak peeks courtesy of Mr. Blurrycam, we didn't know precisely what to expect. Strangely, Motorola's recent introduction of the Droid RAZR only delivered the freshest offering of Gingerbread, but the Galaxy Nexus is oh-ficially the first smartphone in the world to launch with Android 4.0. Our test unit was actually running 4.0.1 for reasons unknown, but as we mentioned in our Galaxy Nexus hands-on, it was as smooth as ever. Without question, this is easily the slickest, most polished version of Android yet, and we invite you to take a tour yourself via the hands-on gallery below. Apologies for the quantity, but we wanted to explore every nook and cranny while we had the chance. %Gallery-136944%
Samsung Galaxy Nexus with Ice Cream Sandwich hands-on (video)
Galaxy Nexus HSPA+ first impressions (video) Ice Cream Sandwich coming to full Xperia lineup, Sony Ericsson confirms Android.com update introduces Ice Cream Sandwich on phones and tabletsRemember the Droid RAZR? That's so yesterday. Or, earlier today. Whatever. The point is, Samsung's just busted out the planet's first Ice Cream Sandwich-based smartphone here in Hong Kong, a few days late but hardly worse for the wear. The Galaxy Nexus (formerly referred to as the Nexus Prime) carries on the Nexus torch in spectacular fashion, and we've just spent a few quality moments with one here at the launch event. Design-wise, it's clear that the Nexus S DNA is here, though the rear reminds us most of the Galaxy S II. Those who abhor physical buttons will also be delighted, and while we'd gotten used to the whole Power + Home for a screenshot on the GSII, Power + Volume Down works just fine on this fellow.The 1.2GHz dual-core processor was startlingly fast. It actually felt a wee bit quicker than our Galaxy S II, and given that Ice Cream Sandwich and the Galaxy Nexus were apparently built for one another, we're assuming there's some deeply ingrained optimizations to thank. Swiping from pane to pane was faster than its ever been on Android, and the new Roboto font actually is super eye-pleasing. The touch response of the capacitive buttons -- much like those on the original Nexus One -- take a bit of getting used to, and we had to mash 'em just a touch harder than we anticipated to elicit a response. [Update: turns out our demo phone was a bit of an early build; we touched another model later in the day, and our response gripes were gone. Perfectly responsive. Hopefully that's the one that'll ship out.] Not necessarily a bad thing, just a thing worth noting. We've built our impressions after the break, replete with a video. Enjoy! %Gallery-136933%
