The Cell Phone Junkie

Google Tuesday detailed Ice Cream Sandwich, its latest version of Android.  The OS will bridge the Gingerbread and Honeycomb OS’es together into one OS that works on both smartphones and tablets.  Google says ICS has “an entirely new look and feel”, with a new Roboto font and many new features.

Roboto - clean, geometric design extends to the rest of the OS, which now sports more clean lines, subtle animations and ditches UI elements that have been deemed “unnecessary.”

Lock screen -  now used to unlock the phone or launch the camera.  Users can also access notifications directly by sliding down from the top of the screen.

Buttons - “Back,” “Home” and “Menu” are now part of the Android virtual user interface and hardware buttons are no longer needed.

Widgets – now resizable and movable to anywhere on any screen.

Screenshots -  users simply hold the home button and tap the volume-down key.

Folders – now can be created and edited in the same manner as iOS.

Keyboard - improved error correction, better suggestions and an in-line spellchecker, and cut/copy/paste is now also consistent throughout Android 4.0.

Face Unlock – unlock the device using facial recognition software to check the users face and unlock if a match is found.

Web Browsing – now a much improved fuller experience that more closely resembles the desktop.

Social – deeper integration with social networking services

Android Beam – a new way to share content with other Android users using NFC to tap 2 phones together.

Camera – redesigned UI, now provides zero shutter lag, new effects, native panorama and other photo effect such as changing backgrounds and twisting images.

Google Talk – the app has been updated to take advantage of HD video where available.

Voice typing – watch text instantly appear as you speak with voice input.  Touch the mic on the keyboard and talk to your phone to type emails, SMS or other text anywhere in the UI.

Browser - Android 4.0 has new tab management and users can keep up to 16 tabs open, view a live preview of each and quickly switch between them. Tabs can be closed by flicking them off of the screen a la webOS.  Google auto syncs bookmarks to your Android browser from Chrome, and allows pages to be saved for offline reading.

Gmail -updated with two-line previews and now has an action bar for quickly composing a message and searching.  Offline search is now in Gmail too.

Data usage – ICS provides users with monthly data usage figures, complete with warnings for when a user surpasses a certain data allotment. It can automatically cut off all mobile data should you pass the cap, too.  Further, you can drill into a specific period of time to see why a certain amount of data was being used.  The user can then make changes to foreground and background behavior to best suit their needs.

People – A new ‘People’ application pulls in contact information and photos from social networks for your whole address book. Whenever a contact updates their info, it is also automatically updated on your phone. Any social network can access the new People app using Google’s Android 4.0 APIs. The contacts are also easily accessible from a fully revamped phone application.

The Galaxy Nexus is the first device to run Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, and will be released in November.  ICS will be rolled out to select existing devices a couple of weeks following the new Nexus launch.  The SDK is available for all Android developers and android.com.

Full Gallery of screenshots from the OS:

Source: Phonescoop and BGR (Photos via Google OS Blog)