Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich: everything you need to know

http://www.techradar.com/news/mobile-computing/android-4-0-ice-cream-sandwich-everything-you-need-to-know-954464

By Dan Grabham

MOBILE COMPUTING NEWS

20 hours ago | Tell us what you think [ 18 comments ]

  Page 1: Android 4.0: everything you need to knowPage 2: Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich: old rumours 

The new version of Android is called Ice Cream Sandwich

Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich is now official.

Here's what you need to know about the latest version of Google's mobile OS which combines the best of the Android 2.x phone interface with the Android 3.x Honeycomb tablet interface.

Ice Cream Sandwich is designed for use with both phones and tablets.

Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich features

Android ICS offers a massive array of improvements over its predecessors bringing the best of both Gingerbread and Honeycomb while providing a raft of new innovations.

The company says 4.0 is a complete rethink of Android's image and is part of a push to make the OS "Enchant me, Simplify My Life, and Make Me Awesome."

"Android 4.0 builds on the things people love most about Android," says Google in a post on the Android Developers Blog. "Easy multitasking, rich notifications, customizable home screens, resizable widgets, and deep interactivity — and adds powerful new ways of communicating and sharing."

Minor improvements include better copy and paste, data logging and warnings and, at last, the opportunity to easily grab screenshots by holding down the power and the volume buttons.

The keyboard and dictionaries have also been revamped, says Google. "Error correction and word suggestion are improved through a new set of default dictionaries and more accurate heuristics for handling cases such as double-typed characters, skipped letters, and omitted spaces. Word suggestion is also improved and the suggestion strip is simplified to show only three words at a time."

"To fix misspelled words more easily, Android 4.0 adds a spell-checker that locates and underlines errors and suggests replacement words. With one tap, users can choose from multiple spelling suggestions, delete a word, or add it to the dictionary."

The new OS is designed to bring common actions to the fore, with better animations and an entirely new typeface - more on that shortly.

Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich Galaxy Nexus

Google kicked off its launch event by announcing the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, which will be the first device to run Ice Cream Sandwich and will be launched in November. Check out Samsung Galaxy Nexus: what you need to know.

Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich update

Google has confirmed it is working on an Android 4.0 update for the Samsung Nexus S and other Android devices.

Director of Android operating system User Experience Matias Duarte told Engadget that Google is. "Currently in the process for releasing Ice Cream Sandwich for Nexus S. Theoretically it should work for any 2.3 device."

Motorola confirmed to TechRadar that the Motorola Razr will launch in the UK with Android 2.3, but that there will be an update to 4.0in 2012.

Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich Roboto

Among the first new features championed by Google at the Hong Kong media event was a brand new typeface for Android in the shape of the easy-to-read "Roboto."

Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich System Bar and Action Bar

At the launch event, Google showcased a host of virtual buttons that appear at the bottom of the screen in some apps and allow users access to areas of the device like phone and contacts.

These are located in the System Bar - present in all apps - and enables you to navigate instantly to Back, Home, and Recent Apps. Virtual buttons are present across all apps, but can be dimmed by applications for full-screen viewing.

You can also access the contextual options for each app in the Action Bar at the top of the screen.

Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich voice control

Android 4.0 introduces new voice input engine, You can dictate the text you want, for as long as you want. After dictating, you can tap the underlined words to replace them from a list of suggestions.

Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich multitasking

Multi-tasking has also been given a boost and with ICS it's easier to see which apps you've been using recently. If you decide you're done with using one, you can easily flick it away to close.

Google says it has made multitasking "even easier and more visual" on Android 4.0. The Recent Apps button lets users jump instantly from one task to another using the list in the System Bar. The list pops up to show thumbnail images of apps used recently — tapping a thumbnail switches to the app.

Android 4.0 Ice Cream Face Unlock

Perhaps the most 'Star Trek' of all the new Android 4.0 features is a new piece of functionality called Face Unlock which, as the name suggests, unlocks your handset based on facial recognition tech.

You can also do more without unlocking. As in iOS 5 you can jump straight to the camera. You can also pull down the notifications window.

Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich Home Screen folders

Like iOS before it, Android is now getting home screen folders too. You can group apps or shortcuts together and, as with iOS, you can do this just by dragging icons on top of one another.From the All Apps launcher, you can now drag an app to get information about it or uninstall it should you wish.

Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich notifications

Notifications have also been improved. On larger devices - tablets - the updates appear in the System Bar, while on phones the notifications roll down from the top of the screen as before.

Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich favorites tray

On phones and other "smaller screen devices" (that's Google speak), there's now a customisable favorites tray. You can put anything you want here - apps, folders, shortcuts - whatever you want - check out this screen:

Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich widgets

As in Honeycomb, you can now resize widgets on phones too. As in that OS, the widgets in 4.0 are designed to be far more interactive, enabling you to flick through appointments, play music and more.

Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich data

Android 4.0 includes new graphical displays so you can see how much data you're using and how much you've used over Wi-Fi or cellular. You can also see the amount of data used by each running application.

Warning levels can also be specified, as well as determining how much background data apps can use.

Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich camera

Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich also brings some much-needed improvements to Google's camera UI, which the company says it has been working on with Samsung.

ICS devices, and the newly announced Samsung Galaxy Nexus in particular, will have 1080p video, zero shutter lag, a new picture-stitching panorama mode, easier sharing and Instagram-esque filters.

In the panorama mode, you can start taking the picture and then move the camera. The phone assembles the full range of continuous imagery into a single panoramic photo.

"When taking pictures, continuous focus, zero shutter lag exposure, and decreased shot-to-shot speed help capture clear, precise images," says Google. "Stabilized image zoom lets users compose photos and video in the way they want, including while video is recording. For new flexibility and convenience while shooting video, users can now take snapshots at full video resolution just by tapping the screen as video continues to record."

There's also built-in face detection as well as tap to focus.

There are also various editing tools included, too, while there's sharing via Google+, message, Bluetooth, email or Picasa upload.

There's also an improved gallery widget, as well as new album layout with larger thumbnails.

Thankfully you can also now take screenshots - this is going to make our job a whole lot easier!

For video, there's also Live Effects you can apply to distort faces or alter backgrounds.

Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich apps

The People app does what many manufacturers have been doing on Android for ages - bringing together various social networking feeds into one place,

This offers richer profile information, including a large profile picture, phone numbers, addresses and accounts, status updates, and a new button for connecting on integrated social networks.

The Calendar app has also been updated to bring together different calendars, while the email app can now autocomplete responses and is able to store oft-used replies.

Android 4.0 now also supports visual voicemail.

The web browser is also improved - especially in terms of speed - and now allows up to 16 windows. You can now sync it with Google Chrome and the browser supports offline browsing - it can save versions of web pages you choose.

There's also a new NFC-based app called Android Bump, which allows two phones to exchange a wealth of information, just by holding them together.

It can be used to share websites, maps and start games.

Here's a video of the Android 4.0 launch event if you have the time - it's an hour long!

iphone 4s review

The iPhone Finds Its Voice (Re-posted, to see original article http://allthingsd.com/20111011/the-iphone-finds-its-voice/ )

OCTOBER 11, 2011 AT 6:03 PM PT

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Sometimes, as we all know, looks can be deceiving. While Apple’s latest iPhone doesn’t look different, and may not be the kind of blockbuster people expect from the late Steve Jobs’s company, it thinks different, to quote one of Apple’s old ad slogans. Inside its familiar-looking body there lurks a nascent artificial-intelligence system that has to be tried to be believed.

Apple’s fifth-generation iPhone, the $199 iPhone 4S, goes on sale Friday with a new operating system and a new cloud-synchronization service called iCloud. But, while its insides have been significantly improved, the phone’s exterior design is identical to that of last year’s iPhone 4, which Apple says is the best-selling smartphone in the world.

IPhone 4S’s 8-megapixel camera takes the best photos seen on a phone.

I’ve been testing the 4S for about a week to see how it differs from the previous model. I also evaluated the key features added by the new operating system, called iOS 5, including a new, free text-messaging service; deep integration with Twitter; and the ability to edit photos right on the phone. This new software will be available as a free upgrade for owners of the iPhone 4 and the 2009-vintage iPhone 3GS, as well as for Apple’s iPad tablet and its iPod Touch.

Apple’s Siri system can answer spoken restaurant requests.

I focused on the handful of new features unique to the 4S, notably the new voice-controlled artificial-intelligence system called Siri; a brilliant new camera for stills and videos; and faster, 4G-class download speeds. The iPhone is now available from Sprint, AT&T and Verizon, but I tested the AT&T version, because it is the only one which offers the faster download speeds.

The standout feature, not available in other iPhones, or in any other phone I’ve seen, is Siri. It answers questions and provides information using natural language and an intelligent understanding, not just of words, but of context and colloquial phrasing. It isn’t perfect, and is labeled a beta, but it has great potential and worked pretty well for me, despite some glitches.

Despite Siri, the iPhone 4S isn’t a dramatic game-changer like some previous iPhones. Some new features are catch-ups to competitors. I sense Apple chose to focus more on software and cloud service than on hardware. But, in my tests, the iPhone 4S performed very well. It’s a better iPhone for the same $199 entry price, at a time when some competitors are pricing their flagship smartphones starting at $299.

…and queries about calorie counts.

While some analysts and commentators were disappointed the new iPhone didn’t offer an external redesign, consumers so far don’t seem to care. Apple announced Monday that pre-orders for the iPhone 4S hit one million in the first 24 hours, a record that was 67% higher than the previous single-day high set by the iPhone 4 last year.

My advice is that owners of the iPhone 4 needn’t rush to upgrade; they can get the new operating system. But owners of older iPhone models, or those with basic phones, will find this latest iPhone a pleasure and a good value.

Artificial Intelligence

Some other phones, including earlier iPhones, have rudimentary voice recognition, for limited terms and responses. But Siri does much more. It offers too much to fully describe here, but it isn’t a simple voice-command system. It understands a wide variety of ways to ask a question, grasps the context, and returns useful information in a friendly way, either audibly or by displaying results on the screen. It learns your voice as it goes along.

It starts up when you either hold down the home button—even from the phone’s lock screen—or when you place the phone up to your ear when you’re not making a phone call.

Siri can find information in Wikipedia, Yelp and Wolfram Alpha. It successfully answered when I asked it, “Who’s the president of Iran?” (though it misunderstood me the first time) and “Who stars in ‘Boardwalk Empire?’ ” When I asked for a “French restaurant in Bethesda, Maryland,” it instantly returned a list from Yelp, ranked by user reviews.

In my tests, I was able to dictate emails and text messages, even in the car over Bluetooth, without looking at the screen. Accuracy wasn’t perfect—about 20% of the time I had to try twice to get all the words correct. But, in most cases, Siri didn’t make more errors than I do typing on a virtual keyboard.

Siri can read incoming text messages and let you reply via voice. If the message is about a date, Siri will even consult your calendar and tell you if you’re busy at that time, and then remember to return to the message reply.

The system understands multiple, colloquial forms of a question. I asked, “Will the weather get worse today?” and Siri answered, “I don’t think the weather is going to get worse” and displayed a weather chart. You can check stock prices, addresses, map directions and much more. It also answers in a friendly fashion, saying things like “Coming right up” or “I’m not sure what you said, Walt.” And it has some cute answers built in. When I asked it “What’s the best phone?” it said, “Wait… there are other phones?”

Siri has limitations, in addition to imperfect accuracy. It can’t read the contents of email. It can’t provide flight information or movie times. But Apple says it intends to link Siri to more databases over time. Also, Siri can reveal private data you’d rather it didn’t unless you adjust your passcode permissions.

Hardware

The iPhone 4S now comes with the same, dual-core processor found in the iPad 2. I didn’t notice a dramatic speed gain, but the phone operated rapidly and surely, with smooth scrolling and swiping.

There is now an 8-megapixel rear camera, with a greatly improved sensor, a new five-element lens and a wider aperture. Other phones boast 8-megapixel cameras, but the 4S takes the best pictures and high-definition videos I have seen on a phone. The colors were gorgeous, everything was sharp and the camera can detect up to 10 faces. Plus, it’s fast, both in taking the first shot and subsequent pictures.

Also, Apple finally has matched some competitors by allowing you to quickly get to the camera, even when the phone is locked, by just pressing the home button twice; and by letting you use the volume button to snap the picture. (These features are part of the free software and aren’t unique to the 4S.)

When combined with the new software feature that allows editing right on the phone, the iPhone 4S offers a camera experience I find unmatched on any other phone.

Though the 4S isn’t labeled as a 4G phone, and the Verizon and Sprint models can’t use those carriers’ 4G networks, the AT&T model, in my tests, achieved 4G speeds in areas where AT&T has deployed its 4G network.

In numerous tests at three different locations in the Washington suburbs, I averaged download speeds of nearly 7 megabits per second—better than in prior tests on Sprint and T-Mobile 4G phones. By contrast, a colleague’s tests of the Verizon version of the iPhone 4S yielded average download speeds of less than 1 mbps.

All models of the iPhone 4S are “world phones,” meaning even the Verizon and Sprint versions, which use a technology rare outside the U.S., can switch to the global standard cellphone technology and be used in most other countries.

Apple claims to have improved voice-call reception in the iPhone 4S, allowing the phone to switch between two antennas to pick up the best signal. But my AT&T model dropped too many calls, just as earlier AT&T iPhones do. My colleague’s Verizon iPhone 4S dropped none.

But ask Siri about, say booking a flight from Dulles to San Francisco and Siri says ‘sorry.’

In my tests, voice quality was very good, even on conference calls and over Bluetooth in the car. Apple says the 4S has as good or better battery life than the prior model. While I didn’t run a formal battery test, the phone lasted all day, every day, even when I was doing heavy testing and, thus, using it more than I typically would.

Also, there is a 64-gigabyte model of the iPhone 4S, for $399. A 32 GB version is, as in the past, $299.

Software

Apple claims the new iOS 5 operating system has 200 new features. These include some catch-ups, like a pull-down panel that combines your notifications of alerts and reminders, and new messages, plus a stock ticker and weather info. Also, like some other phones, the new system will allow you to swipe on an alert and go to the content, even if the phone is locked.

You can Tweet from within many apps, like photos, maps and the Web browser. The new, free, texting system, called iMessage—similar to BlackBerry Messenger service—lets you text to anyone with an iOS5 device, and automatically detects if they have one.

A new Reminders app seems like any other task list, but, on the iPhone 4 and 4S, it allows you to use location instead of time to trigger a reminder. For instance, you can tell it to remind you to call your spouse when you leave work. If it knows your work address, it will trigger the reminder when it detects you’ve left.

Perhaps the nicest feature is on-phone photo editing, which allows you to crop, and auto-enhance any photo. In my tests, it worked great.

Bottom line

The iPhone 4S is one of Apple’s less dramatic updates, but, when combined with the Siri, iOS 5 and iCloud features, it presents an attractive new offering to smartphone users. Some may be content to skip the new hardware and just enjoy the software and cloud features with older models. But those buying the phone will likely be happy with it.

Kindle Fire Review

The new Kindle Fire with the silk browser is an incredible innovation. The Kindle fire does not come with 3g nor microphone. However it has wifi for connectivity. Kindle fire works on the android platform. Amazon has modified the os to meet its requirement and would be releasing apps specifically meant for Kindle Fire.

Silk browser has an AI. It would remember the sites that its user frequently visits and would pre-load them. This enable the Silk browser to offer silky smooth browsing experience. For this innovation Amazon would be using their cloud platform.

Cloud is the future...more updates coming soon...

Samsung Galaxy S2 User review

Samsung has hit bulls eye with Galaxy S2. S2 is a solid well built smart phone. I have to admit it hasn't quite yet reached that iphone finesse. However, it is much more capable that iphone 4. I have been using Samsung Galaxy S2 for the past two weeks and the journey with S2 have been pleasant so far. Every phone has its issues. So for S2 its about battery. Ok don't worry it not about battery draining quickly rather about the charging time. The 4 hr charging time is due to the higher capacity battery, still 4 hrs is a long time.

Ok, I would add mores reviews soon. Ciao... :)

Top 5 Phones That Could End Samsung Galaxy S2's Dominance

By IB Times Staff Reporter | September 6, 2011 8:15 AM EDT

Samsung is facing substantial competition from other Android smartphone makers. Its long-awaited flagship Galaxy S2 will soon arrive in the United States, but some contenders will try their best to spoil the party.

Galaxy S2, which runs onAndroid 2.3 Gingerbread OS and sports Samsung's TouchWiz UI, comes with an 8-megapixel camera with flash and can record HD video in 1080p offering the richest video content on a smartphone. The phone also has the front-facing 2-megapixel camera for video chat.

Samsung Epic 4G Touch on Sprint comes with a 129.5 x 68.6 x 9.6 mm dimension and weighs 129 g, while the T-Mobile version, fondly known as Hercules, has 131 x 70 x 9 mm dimension. As the AT&T version retains 4.3-inch display, it is expected to feature 125.3 x 66.1 x 8.5 mm and weighs 116 g.

T-Mobile and Epic Touch 4G version of Sprint has 4.52-inch display screen whereas AT&T version retains 4.3-inch screen of original Galaxy S2 version sold worldwide. It is powered by a dual-core 1.2 GHz ARM Cortex-A9 Mali-400MP GPU Orion chipset. The phone comes in 16/32GB internal memory configuration with 1GB RAM.

But, does Samsung Galaxy S2 has enough firepower to challenge the top 5 new 'super' smartphones that run on Google Inc.'s Android?

Google Nexus Prime

The Nexus Prime will most likely be the first smartphone to run on Android 4.0 "Ice Cream Sandwich" and will likely be launched in October, according to the Korean-language Web site Electronic Times. Ice Cream Sandwich will combine the best features of Honeycomb (Android tablet OS) and Gingerbread (Android smartphone OS).

The Google Nexus Prime has been called an "absolute beast" among smartphones and there is a very good reason. The smartphone will boast a dual-core Snapdragon processor that will include Krait chips from Qualcomm, and a 1GB RAM.

It is not yet known if the processor will be of either 1.2GHz or 1.5GHz. The Krait-based Snapdragon processor will have the ability to run at a lightning speed of 2.5 GHz per core at the least, which will make it more than 100 times faster than a normal ARM-based CPU.

Tech Web site BGR had offered an exclusive sneak peek into the features of the next Nexus model, which was called Nexus 4G. According to BGR, it was an "absolute beast" and would feature a next-generation dual-core 1.2GHz or 1.5GHz CPU as well as an OMAP 4460 or a, ultra low-power 28nm Krait-based Snapdragon.

The report had said the Nexus phone will feature a 720p HD “monster-sized" display, a 4G LTE radio, 1GB of RAM, 1080p HD video capture and playback, a 1-megapixel front-facing camera, and a 5-megapixel rear camera.

Britain's Telegraph reported that the Nexus Prime is reportedly being built by Samsung and that it may sport a 1.5GHz dual-core processor as against the single core, 1GHz processor in the Nexus S. The display will be upgraded to a 4.5-inch 720p Super AMOLED HD screen, whereas the Nexus S display is 4-inch and with lower resolution, the report said. The industry rumors suggests that the Nexus Prime will be unveiled in October.

Motorola Droid Bionic

Motorola’s Droid Bionic is another smartphone with its 4G powered LTE support that is sure to make waves on its release. The launch of the Motorola Droid Bionic is finally drawing near after several postponements and numerous leaks about the device.

Verizon Wireless confirmed on its Twitter page that the new beast of the Motorola Android phone will be unleashed on Sept. 8, as previously rumored by numerous sources.

No official specs have been confirmed yet for the Motorola Droid Bionic but after constant leaks there’s a widespread belief about what’s coming.

The Motorola Droid Bionic is powered by Android 2.3 and it looks similar to Droid X2, which is another dual core smartphone without 4G support. Droid Bionic has a huge battery power, and 4G LTE.

It is rumored to sport 4.3-inch or 4.5-inch qHD display with 960x540 pixels screen resolution. It is surmised that it will be powered by a Texas Instruments OMAP4430 1.2 GHz processor optimizing 1GB RAM. Droid Bionic is expected to feature Li-ion 1930 mAh battery and will feature an 8MP camera.

The Droid Bionic's expected specifications include Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, DLNA, Wi-Fi hotspot (connects up to 8 devices and when on 3G connects up to 5 devices), Bluetooth version 2.1 with A2DP and EDR technology, microUSB version 2.0, touch-sensitive controls, multi-touch input method, accelerometer sensor for UI auto-rotate and proximity sensor for auto-turn-off.

Motorola Photon 4G

The Photon 4G is Sprint’s seventh Sprint ID-capable handset. The Sprint ID delivers number of applications, shortcuts, widgets, ringtones and wallpapers. The pack provides free-to-download stuff under its Everything Data plan, and users are allowed to download five packs at a time.

Motorola Photon 4G has 4.3-inch qHD capacitive touchscreen (960x540 pixel resolution), multi-touch input method, accelerometer sensor for UI auto-rotate, proximity sensor for auto turn-off, touch-sensitive controls, 16GB storage (up to 32GB with microSD support), 1GB RAM, 2GB ROM, WiFi, Bluetooth, 8-megapixel camera (with dual-LED flash, autofocus and geo-tagging features), secondary VGA camera for video chat, Android 2.3 OS (Gingerbread), 1 GHz NVIDIA Tegra 2 AP20H dual-core processor and HDMI port.

Moreover, the Photon 4G for Sprint is a world phone which means the consumers have international GSM roaming so that they can access their email, calendar and contacts from anywhere. As the phone includes enterprise-tailored security, it may attract corporate users. It also has Webtop application which was featured in Motorola Atrix 4G.

Motorola Photon 4G is priced at $199 on Sprint with a two-year contract, but Amazon Wireless offers the phone for $99.99 for new Sprint customers.

Reviews of the Photon 4G have been positive. Engadget gave the device a 8/10, saying it "comes very close to dethroning Samsung's mighty Galaxy S2 as king of the Android hill." CNET UK gave the device a favorable review of 4.0/5 and described it as "a Sprint iteration of the Atrix 4G because of similar specs."

HTC Holiday

The Holiday is rumored to boast a 4.5-inch display, supposedly the first of a new wave across the Android landscape with 4.5-inch displays.

The recent breed of Android phones found expression in 4.3-inch displays. The trend seems to highlight that the next barrage of Android phones will follow the 4.5-inch form factor. The arrival of such a piece from HTC is cause for concern for Samsung.

HTC Holiday is expected to have 1.2 GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon processor with 1GB RAM, Android 2.3 Gingerbread OS, 4.5-inch qHD display with 960x540 screen resolution, 8MP dual-LED flash rear-facing camera with 1080p video playback, 1.3MP camera for video chat, HSDPA up to 21 Mbps, HSUPA up to 5.76 Mbps, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n DLNA support, advanced Bluetooth version 4.0 with A2DP and EDR, and microUSB version 2.0. The HTC Holiday is expected in early or mid-September with a price-tag of $199 to $249 at AT&T.

HTC Vigor

The phone from the HTC camp which is due to hit Verizon's 4G LTE network is rumored to sport a 1.5GHz dual-core processor. The phone, which is touted to be a replacement for the HTC Thunderbolt, is expected to don a 4.3-inch display with 1280x720 screen resolution.

Vigor is surmised to be fitted with an 8 MP camera. It will run on Android Gingerbread juice. Also it is expected to offer 1GB RAM, 16GB internal storage and is also surmised to incorporate Beats Electronics Technology - best known for the high-performance line of headphones backed by hip-hop artist /producer Dr. Dre. Leaked pictures of the phone were recently posted on Droid Life