source: http://betanews.com/2011/10/18/30-aw...ream-sandwich/



In Hong Kong today, Google and Samsung unveiled Google's new flagship Android device, the Nexus Prime, a 4.65" Super AMOLED-toting, 1.2GHz LTE and HSPA+ smartphone. However nice the hardware of the new device is, it is second to the fact that it is the first device to run Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS), the newest build of Android that unifies tablets and smartphones under a single OS for the first time.

"People like Android, they need Android…but they didn't LOVE Android," said Google's Matias Duarte in today's presentation. To remedy this, Google has not only introduced new and practical functions to ICS, but gave it a slicker look, faster responsiveness, and some extremely impressive bells and whistles.


Here are 30 of the most interesting new features:

1. "Roboto," Android's own font

2. Even more live wallpapers

3. Newly-designed lock screen

4. Disappearing homescreen command buttons

5. Tabbed apps/widgets drawer similar to Honeycomb

6. Resizeable homescreen widgets

7. Redesigned foldering capabilities

8. Hardware accelerated 2D drawing

9. Wi-Fi Direct support

10. "Favorites Tray" at the bottom of the screen that travels across the different homescreens

11. Native Screen grab capability (Press Power+Volume Down)

12. Improved notification bar, customizable notifications

13. New Music player notification in tray controls player

14. Improved keyboard

15. Improved typing error correction

16. In-line spell check and suggestion mode



17. Cut/Copy/Paste similar to Honeycomb, but with animated dragging and dropping

18. Speech for text entry has been improved with no delay

19. "Face Unlock" facial recognition for unlock screen (Did not work in demo)

20. New Browser (Includes new tab management feature. "request desktop site" feature, syncs to chrome, save pages for offline reading)

21. New Gmail (New action bar with compose, search, labels, refresh; offline search by default that searches the last 30 days of email)

22. New Calendar with pinch-to-zoom

23. Updated all of the native Google apps: YouTube, Maps, Google+, Google Music

24. Mobile data usage metrics in system controls, allows users to self-limit their mobile data consumption, and track data usage down to individual app level



25. All-new camera app with slider zoom, facial detection, "zero shutter lag" speed, launchable from home screen

26. Photo editing tools in "edit" menu in the camera

27. Native panoramic camera shot, similar to Sony's "Sweep" panorama

28. 1080p video capture, continuous focus, includes the ability to zoom while recording

29. Incredible new Time Lapse photography feature

30. New tile-based "People app" interface for contacts, very similar to Windows Phone

31. "Android Beam" NFC-based content sharing with multiple ICS phones (Web Addresses, contacts, maps, YouTube videos, app sharing)



Developers can get their hands on ICS right now to begin taking advantage of these new features, or to customize their existent apps and widgets to use the new UI components, styles, and of course the new font.

Consumers, however, will have to wait until November to get their hands on ICS, when the Nexus Prime launches worldwide.

I realu like it and I thing that the next one will be Nexus or Galaxy III

The new ICS android version is interesting. I don't think it's groundbreaking, but it plays on android's strenghts and patches up some of its weaker points. I rather like the new launcher's looks, and I really dig the new dictaphone like talk thingy. If it can transcribe in multiple languages seamlessly it will be a killer.

However, I did not see any revamps in multitasking like I had hoped. That's what would really make me look android again. I find that switching between programs in my hero was a clunky experience, far behind what the N900 could do, and let's not even talk about the N9. If Google implemented something similar to android 3.0's sidebar, then I would look at the new Nexus seriously... especially considering it will probably be out in Greece before the N9...and it could well be cheaper too.

they are doing it right, as opposed to other manfacturers who keep ditching their os's -.-

Sorry but i need to ask... It's possible to port to N900? So much smartphones with Gingerbread are updateables to 4.0 Sandwich...

have you seen the video on how easy it is to multitask in Android 4.0 ICS? lower left button is back. center is home and right is recent apps list aka multitask button. it is like in honeycomb that has the thumbnail views of the recent apps. but you can swipe the running apps left or right to kill the app. the view is like the single column task switcher but with the webos functionality of swiping to kill apps.

if only they had decent multitasking

Only if they had an even better UX, true multitasking, and full-support for Qt applications...

...and a better variety of hardware (can i haz tilting modular fone?)

The N900 can already do a lot of those things so errrm, yup they're catching up.

If you think about it the N900 could do some of that modular stuff too, with a bit of key mapping within games and if you could modify the keyboard so it clips in you could certainly have the gamepad.

I won't believe it's "true multitasking" until someone confirms it in no uncertain terms or I get my hands on one for a tryout. Way too many OS's nowadays give you a false impression of true multitasking with their pretty multitasking views when you're really not in complete control of what dies and what stays open.