android 4.0

Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich review: Cool, confident, chaotic

The Ice Cream man has finally arrived.

Just two days ago, CNET's San Francisco team got its hands on the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, the flagship smartphone that's launching Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. More full-on visual revamp than simple update, an OS bump this deep and broad makes (as I've said before) Android 2.3 Gingerbread look like a stale cookie.

Ice Cream Sandwich is ambitious, and packed with such a laundry list of detailed changes, it's easy to drown in the minutiae. For that reason, I'm keeping this review focused on the bigger-picture features that are new to Ice Cream Sandwich. For more detail, the screenshots gallery will be worth several thousand words. Toward the end, you'll also find a list of Ice Cream Sandwich's neater tricks.… Read more

Samsung Galaxy Nexus, Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich review: The full monty

The buzz surrounding Google's release of its Ice Cream Sandwich operating system is similar to every release of the latest Android operating system on a single, debut device. The difference is: this one's a doozy.

The Samsung Galaxy Nexus is the first to introduce the Android 4.0 OS, better known as Ice Cream Sandwich (or ICS). Google redesigned or recoded nearly every element of the previous Android OS to create this power-packed software that melds the tablet-centric Honeycomb flavor for tablets with the alphabet of Google's Android smartphone treats.… Read more

Want Android 4.0? Wait 2 months, says Cyanogen

CyanogenMod, the project that lets people use new versions of Android even when their carriers or phone makers aren't caught up, has begun working on its version of Ice Cream Sandwich.

A simple tweet this week announced the work is under way: "And we're off. Check back in 2 months :) #cm9 #ics."

The #ics hashtag refers to Ice Cream Sandwich, aka Android 4.0. The #cm9 hashtag refers to CyanogenMod 9, the version of the software built with it.

One sore point for many Android phone owners is that they must wait for operating system upgrades … Read more

Android 4.0 arrives as Galaxy Nexus goes on sale

Samsung's Galaxy Nexus, the first phone with Google's Ice Cream Sandwich version of Android, has gone on sale in the United Kingdom.

The phone--a dual-core model that retains the curved-glass look of Samsung's earlier Nexus S phone--is a flagship device in a crowded Android market. It went on sale today at Phones4U in the U.K. and will arrive at Vodafone, 3, and O2 stores "in coming days," according to a Google Nexus tweet today.

And Samsung UK posted a photo of the "world's first Galaxy Nexus owner."

Specifications don't matter anymore, … Read more

HTC Ville rumored as first Sense 4.0 Android smartphone

A second unannounced HTC handset has surfaced in less than one week, this time in the form of the dual-core HTC Ville.

According to information obtained by Boy Genius Report, the Android 4.0 smartphone will make its debut in February at Mobile World Congress and will go on sale in April.

Hardware specifications point to a very impressive device that includes a dual-core 1.5GHz Snapdragon S4 processor, a 4.3-inch qHD Super AMOLED display, and an 8-megapixel camera. Like the HTC Edge leaked earlier in the week, the HTC Ville's camera will have a backside-illuminated sensor and will be capable of 1080p HD video capture. Additional details include 1,650mAh battery, HSPA+ connectivity, and an ultrathin chassis that's less than 8mm thick. … Read more

B&N's new Nook Tablet

Hard drive shortages and weak sales slow down the PC market, HTC announces phones that will get the Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich update, and Barnes & Noble takes on the Kindle with a new lineup, including the Nook Tablet and Nook Simple Touch.

Links from Monday's episode of Loaded:

Android 4.0 due in early 2012 for 7 HTC phones

HTC, which rose to smartphone prominence with Google's Android operating system, will begin offering the new Ice Cream Sandwich version in "early 2012," the company said today.

Expect Android 4.0 on some, but not all devices. HTC offered this preliminary list on its Facebook page:

HTC knows how excited our fans are to get their hands on Google's latest version of Android, Ice Cream Sandwich, so we're thrilled today to announce the first wave of HTC phones that will receive upgrades: We can confirm the brand new HTC Vivid, on sale beginning today, is … Read more

Galaxy Nexus launch date revealed

It looks like Europe could be getting the first bite of Android's Ice Cream Sandwich.

Reports from a Samsung event in London and a product page on Amazon.co.uk indicate that November 17 is the date the Samsung Galaxy Nexus will be released, first in Europe and rolling out to the rest of the world shortly thereafter. … Read more

Ice Cream Sandwich makes tough security taste better

There's more to Ice Cream Sandwich than just better camera controls, near-field communication support, and the redesigned interface. Google has also been working on making the latest version of Android the safest yet, and several of the features are mighty sharp for a melty brick of ice cream.

The biggest of them all is that you'll be able to fully encrypt your ICS device. This means that all your data will be on lockdown, inaccessible even to you until you enter in the passcode or personal identification number.

The benefit of this obvious: if lose your phone, you … Read more

Inside Google's Ice Cream Sandwich phones, tablets

While user-facing software is what usually makes or breaks a platform--and Google's Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich is no exception--underlying hardware can make the critical difference between a snappy and slow device. So what's going to power upcoming Android 4.0 phones and tablets?

Texas Instruments will be leading the way on Android 4.0. Its dual-core OMAP4460 chip is inside the Samsung Galaxy Nexus which, in turn, is the launch vehicle for Android 4.0.

This didn't happen overnight. TI and Google have been preparing for this week's Ice Cream Sandwich launch for a while. … Read more