Techcitement Review: Will Android’s Ice Cream Sandwich Take the Cake?

While Techcitement has given a glowing, if quick, review to the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, one feature we only touched on is the operating system. Because I’ve been shopping around for a new operating system ever since HP decided to ditch the phone business, this is a good time to put Android 4.0 a.k.a. Ice Cream Sandwich through the paces. A caveat: ICS (as Android 4.0 will henceforth be called) is currently only available on the Galaxy Nexus and some lucky Nexus S phones (but not the 4G model we reviewed). Because the Galaxy Nexus is impressive hardware, what with the 720p HD screen and all sorts of bells and whistles, we can’t promise that ICS will run like this on all other machines.

I was a little disappointed that it wasn't a Chipwich.

Also, note that Google likes this version of Android so much that they are insisting any maker who wants access to the Android Market has to include the default theme of Holo in it. I’m not totally certain how this impacts custom skins like Samsung’s TouchWiz or HTC’s Sense, but it may mean they need to have it somewhere on the device and/or use the font and color scheme. Google  definitely feels strongly about this revision.

The Good
The appeal of the overall look and feel of ICS isn’t shocking when you realize that Android’s user experience director is Matias Duarte. Duarte previously held the role of VP of Human Interface and User Experience at Palm. Essentially, everything I loved about webOS’s look and feel was guided by him. While his hand was first felt on Android’s tablet OS, version 3.0 (Honeycomb), Duarte brought the webOS love to the ICS party.

Under previous versions, you had to clear everything if you wanted to get rid of a notification. Now, I can swipe away notifications like in webOS. I’m also fond of the instant settings shortcut that appears when I swipe down.

No one cares about Teaneck.

Another feature that brings the Pre to mind is the lack of physical buttons on the Galaxy Nexus. Instead, you get three virtual buttons on the bottom. These worked well for me with the exception of in the photo app, where only the central home key worked. This was annoying because I rather like the rightmost virtual button – the multitasking carousel.

You spin me right round, baby, right round

First introduced in Android 3.0, the carousel now adds my personal favorite feature — the ability to swipe an app to the left or right to close it. I get that Android manages apps just fine all by itself, but sometimes I just need the visceral pleasure of closing the app myself. Swiping can also be found in the improved browser, where tabs can be swiped away. There are also a bunch of other tweaks in the browser, like saving for offline reading, the ability to request a full desktop version, and other goodies. This is honestly the first revision of Android where I’ve felt comfortable spending prolonged periods in the browser.

Seriously, I had like 12 tabs open when I took this.