Google Announces Android 4.0: Ice Cream Sandwich Along With New Samsung Galaxy Nexus [News]

After a week’s delay due to Steve Job’s death, Google has unveiled Android 4.0, codenamed Ice Cream Sandwich. The new version was released on the new and anticipated Samsung Galaxy Nexus, which was also announced in the same event in Hong Kong.

With Ice Cream Sandwich, Google got rid of the tablet/phone separation, and Android 4.0 is aimed at revolutionizing the user experience on both phones and tablets running Android. The interface is Honeycomb-based but includes many improvements over the previous versions of Android.

Here’s a quick recap of some of the most important features in Ice Cream Sandwich:

Flexible Widgets & Folders: Being only a small part of the interface revamp, these two features were among the most anticipated. Dragging apps and contacts onto each other will now create folders, and all widgets are resizable, so they can fit different screens and still look good.

Face Unlock: Allows device unlock using only face recognition.

Screenshots: Finally, a built-in ability to take screenshots.

Camera Features: Among the new features you’ll find image stabilization, face detection, single-motion panorama, zoom while shooting video and much more.

Android Beam: Sync contacts, websites, files and more with anyone close by. Works only with NFC-enables devices.

People App: A new way to browse contacts which also integrates with social networks.

This is only a taste of all that’s new in Ice Cream Sandwich. Check out this video for a summary of the new features and an introduction to Galaxy Nexus.

Source: Google
Image credit: Shutterstock

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Yaara Lancet

Yaara (@ylancet) is a freelance writer, editor, and a tech blogger. She enjoys writing about anything thought-provoking (this very much includes food, buckyballs, and her iPad). Find her also at lnct.org.

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  • Kathie October 22, 2011

    my buddy’s ex-wife makes $84 hourly on the laptop. She has been unemployed for 7 months but last month her check was $7685 just working on the laptop for a few hours. Read this site http://ufil.ms/jfiHL

  • Jeff Fabish October 22, 2011

    I think they are running out of names for their products (:

    • Yaara October 23, 2011

      I really love the name! Ice Cream Sandwich is genius. :)

  • Chase Vandiver October 23, 2011

    wow It seems to me Make Use Of is the last place to get news.

    • Jeff Fabish October 23, 2011

      Why’s that? 

  • Smumdax October 23, 2011

    Can it be installed on my Samsung Galaxy S (captivate) ?

    • Yaara October 23, 2011

      I think there will still be updates for Galaxy S.

  • Suhel October 23, 2011

    My Eclair looks like an embryo now :( :(

    lol

    • Yaara October 23, 2011

      My device runs Froyo and will never run anything better, know how you feel. :)

  • IphoneFamily October 23, 2011

    Nice! I hope they can make it more accurate than that headline image of
    course. This is one feature I would like iOS to copy/steal.

  • Tusk October 24, 2011

    How about incorporating some kind of “wearing glasses?” with the face recognition and automatically increasing font size when you’re not wearing them.

    • Dhaval Shah October 27, 2011

      may be not impossible if both your eyes have same numbers screen can be programmed to blur in way that at a certain distance your eyes can read it but that is long long future i guess

  • Anonymous January 16, 2012

    love that android tron video very clever and appeals to just the right target market for their handsets.