Android Ice Cream Sandwich: Rollout, Updates and App Support

Before ICS: Honeycomb and the first hints

Back at a mobile conference, Andy Rubin showed the future of Android after Gingerbread and the Nexus S. A prototype Motorola tablet with an NVIDIA dual-core processor ran a tablet-specific interface, with Gmail and the new Gingerbread Google Maps demonstrated. Honeycomb was due the following year for both phones and tablets.

The next step was Ice Cream Sandwich. The rumour was that it would unite the operating system into one stream for phones and tablets, with the Nexus Prime as the flagship. Google’s chairman Eric Schmidt said at a conference that the new system would come in October or November. The writer’s wish list was consistent interface elements and apps that no longer need separate APKs for phones and tablets.

What readers wanted in ICS

A reader poll ranked the features people wanted:

1. Honeycomb-style multitasking.
2. Data usage controls, which the writer considered the game changer on a small monthly plan.
3. Camera features, including panorama and editing.
4. Swipe to dismiss notifications.

Nine other votes asked for a unified platform with better looks, scrollable widgets, NFC payments, a better keyboard, getting away from iOS, and “everything”, mentioned four times. The writer also liked the instant voice transcribing.

The 4.0.2 update

The Galaxy Nexus already had two updates as it reached Verizon in the US. The 4.0.2 release, build ICL53F, listed these changes:

• Mobile hotspot optimized when used with VPN.
• Faster 3G and 4G data sessions.
• Fixed a wrong “data disconnected due to roaming” notification.
• Wi-Fi reconnects automatically to a known access point.
• Better special visual effects with the front camcorder and a nicer lock screen.
• Fixed some email attachments that would not open.
• DivX support removed, to return in a later upgrade.
• Louder Google Navigation turn-by-turn audio.

The writer was waiting for the Rogers version. By a later check, the majority of ICS devices were on 4.0.4, and ICS had reached 4.9% of devices, with growth expected once Samsung released ICS for the Galaxy line in the US.

Rollouts and delays in Canada

The site tracked which phones would get ICS in a shared spreadsheet and a database, mixing in some US phones when confirmation existed. The update was slow to arrive, and carriers moved dates.

Carrier or maker	Device	Status
Telus	Galaxy S II	"Soon", with no date
Bell	Galaxy Note	Pushed to May
SaskTel	Galaxy S II	Pushed to mid or late April
Telus	HTC Amaze 4G	Last-minute delay, expected end of the week; originally May or June
Samsung	Galaxy Note	Released in India first
Sony	Xperia Arc and Neo	Updates reported rolling out; Canadian confirmation asked for
Sony	Xperia S	ICS shown with the TimeScape interface, no timeline
Motorola	RAZR	Slated for the second quarter, three videos of ICS with MotoBlur

Motorola said it would be judicious about which phones got the update, skipping those where the hassle or a worse experience was likely. That explanation came after the Xperia Play was left off its update page.

The Desire HD is not getting it

After back-and-forth, HTC confirmed that the Desire HD would not receive ICS, and the decision was HTC’s, not Telus’. HTC said extensive testing showed the current Sense version gave the best experience on that phone. The writer guessed that the hardware could not handle ICS with Sense, which raises questions about manufacturer skins.

Tablets

• Asus Transformer TF101: first promised for late January, then pushed to an unofficial mid-February per Asus’ Facebook page. The writer noted a bet about whether the Xoom or the Transformer would update first, and that a mid-February date had passed without the update.
• Toshiba Thrive: its update began rolling out as an over-the-air download, taking it to 4.0.4.

Apps and keyboards for ICS

• ICS keyboard: an ICS-style keyboard was available for testing on phones only. It looked like the Gingerbread keyboard with an ICS theme, had modest and aggressive auto-correction, lacked next-word prediction, and later gained voice input.
• ICS Messaging: an app that brought ICS-style texting to Gingerbread phones and anything on Android 2.0 or newer, with mixed Market reviews.
• Swype beta: new beta with faster response, better key contrast, an orange trail, Swype Connect and add-ons, notably Dragon Go! speech recognition.
• Hotmail app: better ICS support and a fix for a sync bug that doubled items after a refresh.
• Dropbox beta: ICS-friendly menu, a streamlined interface and offline file access with starring.
• SketchBook Mobile: an update with improved ICS support and other fixes.

Adobe Flash on Android

Adobe began private beta testing of Flash Player for Android, with a public beta as the next step and a sign-up for notice. Google, RIM and Palm planned Flash versions later that year. After the Galaxy Nexus launched, Adobe said Flash Player 11.1 and AIR 3.1 did not initially support it, because partner devices ship on their own schedules, and promised a minor update in December. Flash Player 11 then received an update adding compatibility with Android 4 devices, performance gains and security and stability fixes. Adobe had said it would stop developing new Flash products for Android, but the updates continued.