ANDROID 4.0 first running phone

Android 4.0 for Users

Simple, beautiful, beyond smart

Android 4.0 builds on the things people love most about Android — easy multitasking, rich notifications, customizable home screens, resizable widgets, and deep interactivity — and adds powerful new ways of communicating and sharing.

Refined, evolved UI

Focused on bringing the power of Android to the surface, Android 4.0 makes common actions more visible and lets users navigate with simple, intuitive gestures. Refinedanimations and feedback throughout the system make interactions engaging and interesting. An entirely new typeface optimized for high-resolution screens improves readability and brings a polished, modern feel to the user interface.

Virtual buttons in the System Bar let users navigate instantly to Back, Home, and Recent Apps. The System Bar and virtual buttons are present across all apps, but can be dimmed by applications for full-screen viewing. Users can access each application's contextual options in the Action Bar, displayed at the top (and sometimes also at the bottom) of the screen.

Multitasking is a key strength of Android and it's made even easier and more visual on Android 4.0. The Recent Apps button lets users jump instantly from one task to another using the list in the System Bar. The list pops up to show thumbnail images of apps used recently — tapping a thumbnail switches to the app.

The Recent Apps list makes multitasking simple.

Jump to the camera or see notifications without unlocking.

For incoming calls, you can respond instantly by text.

Rich and interactive notifications let users keep in constant touch with incoming messages, play music tracks, see real-time updates from apps, and much more. On smaller-screen devices, notifications appear at the top of the screen, while on larger-screen devices they appear in the System Bar.

 

The All Apps launcher (left) and resizable widgets (right) give you apps and rich content from the home screen.

Home screen folders and favorites tray

New home screen folders offer a new way for users to group their apps and shortcuts logically, just by dragging one onto another. Also, in All Apps launcher, users can now simplydrag an app to get information about it or immediately uninstall it, or disable a pre-installed app.

On smaller-screen devices, the home screen now includes a customizable favorites trayvisible from all home screens. Users can drag apps, shortcuts, folders, and other priority items in or out of the favorites tray for instant access from any home screen.

Resizable widgets

Home screens in Android 4.0 are designed to be content-rich and customizable. Users can do much more than add shortcuts — they can embed live application content directly through interactive widgets. Widgets let users check email, flip through a calendar, play music, check social streams, and more — right from the home screen, without having to launch apps. Widgets are resizable, so users can expand them to show more content or shrink them to save space.

New lock screen actions

The lock screens now let users do more without unlocking. From the slide lock screen, users can jump directly to the camera for a picture or pull down the notifications window to check for messages. When listening to music, users can even manage music tracks and see album art.

Quick responses for incoming calls

When an incoming call arrives, users can now quickly respond by text message, without needing to pick up the call or unlock the device. On the incoming call screen, users simply slide a control to see a list of text responses and then tap to send and end the call. Users can add their own responses and manage the list from the Settings app.

Swipe to dismiss notifications, tasks, and browser tabs

Android 4.0 makes managing notifications, recent apps, and browser tabs even easier. Users can now dismiss individual notifications, apps from the Recent Apps list, and browser tabs with a simple swipe of a finger.

A spell-checker lets you find errors and fix them faster.

A powerful voice input engine lets you dictate continously.

Improved text input and spell-checking

The soft keyboard in Android 4.0 makes text input even faster and more accurate. Error correction and word suggestion are improved through a new set of default dictionaries and more accurate heuristics for handling cases such as double-typed characters, skipped letters, and omitted spaces. Word suggestion is also improved and the suggestion strip is simplified to show only three words at a time.

To fix misspelled words more easily, Android 4.0 adds a spell-checker that locates and underlines errors and suggests replacement words. With one tap, users can choose from multiple spelling suggestions, delete a word, or add it to the dictionary. Users can even tap to see replacement suggestions for words that are spelled correctly. For specialized features or additional languages, users can now download and install third-party dictionaries, spell-checkers, and other text services.

Powerful voice input engine

Android 4.0 introduces a powerful new voice input engine that offers a continuous "open microphone" experience and streaming voice recognition. The new voice input engine lets users dictate the text they want, for as long as they want, using the language they want. Users can speak continously for a prolonged time, even pausing for intervals if needed, and dictate punctuation to create correct sentences. As the voice input engine enters text, it underlines possible dictation errors in gray. After dictating, users can tap the underlined words to quickly replace them from a list of suggestions.

 

Data usage controls let you monitor total usage by network type and application and then set limits if needed.

Control over network data

Mobile devices can make extensive use of network data for streaming content, synchronizing data, downloading apps, and more. To meet the needs of users withtiered or metered data plans, Android 4.0 adds new controls for managing network data usage.

In the Settings app, colorful charts show the total data usage on each network type (mobile or Wi-Fi), as well as amount of data used by each running application. Based on their data plans, users can optionally set warning levels or hard limits on data usage or disable mobile data altogether. Users can also manage the background data used by individual applications as needed.

Designed for accessibility

A variety of new features greatly enhance the accessibility of Android 4.0 for blind or visually impaired users. Most important is a new explore-by-touch mode that lets users navigate without having to see the screen. Touching the screen once triggers audible feedback that identifies the UI component below; a second touch in the same component activates it with a full touch event. The new mode is especially important to support users on new devices that use virtual buttons in the System Bar, rather than dedicated hardware buttons or trackballs. Also, standard apps are updated to offer an improved accessibility experience. The Browser supports a script-based screen reader for reading favorite web content and navigating sites. For improved readability, users can also increase the default font size used across the system.

The accessibility experience begins at first setup — a simple touch gesture during setup (clockwise square from upper left) activates all accessibility features and loads a setup tutorial. Once accessibility features are active, everything visible on the screen can be spoken aloud by the standard screen reader.

Communication and sharing

  

Contacts and profiles are integrated across apps and social networks, for a consistent, personal experience everywhere — from incoming calls to emails.

Designed for the way people live, Android 4.0 integrates rich social communication and sharing touchpoints across the system, making it easy to talk, email, text, and share.

People and profiles

Throughout the system, a user’s social groups, profiles, and contacts are linked together and integrated for easy accessibility. At the center is a new People app that offers richer profile information, including a large profile picture, phone numbers, addresses and accounts, status updates, events, stream items, and a new button for connecting on integrated social networks.

The user's own contact information is stored in a new "Me" profile, allowing easier sharing with apps and people. All of the user's integrated contacts are displayed in an easy to manage list, including controls over which contacts are shown from any integrated account or social network. Wherever the user navigates across the system, tapping a profile photo displays Quick Contacts, with large profile pictures, shortcuts to phone numbers, text messaging, and more.

Unified calendar, visual voicemail

To help organize appointments and events, an updated Calendar app brings together personal, work, school, and social agendas. With user permission, other applications can contribute events to the calendar and manage reminders, for an integrated view across multiple calendar providers. The app is redesigned to let users manage events more easily. Calendars are color-coded and users can swipe left or right to change dates and pinch to zoom in or out agendas.

In the phone app, a new visual voicemail features integrates incoming messages, voice transcriptions, and audio files from one or more providers. Third-party applications can integrate with the Phone app to add their own voice messages, transcriptions, and more to the visual voicemail inbox.

Capture the picture you want, edit, and share instantly.

Rich and versatile camera capabilities

The Camera app includes many new features that let users capture special moments with great photos and videos. After capturing images, they can edit and share them easily with friends.

When taking pictures, continuous focus, zero shutter lag exposure, and decreased shot-to-shot speed help capture clear, precise images.Stabilized image zoom lets users compose photos and video in the way they want, including while video is recording. For new flexibility and convenience while shooting video, users can now take snapshots at full video resolution just by tapping the screen as video continues to record.

To make it easier to take great pictures of people, built-in face detectionlocates faces in the frame and automatically sets focus. For more control, users can tap to focus anywhere in the preview image.

For capturing larger scenes, the Camera introduces a single-motion panorama mode. In this mode, the user starts an exposure and then slowly turns the Camera to encompass as wide a perspective as needed. The Camera assembles the full range of continuous imagery into a single panoramic photo.

After taking a picture or video, users can quickly share it by email, text message, bluetooth, social networks, and more, just by tapping the thumbnail in the camera controls.

A Photo Gallery widget on the home screen.

Redesigned Gallery app with photo editor

The Gallery app now makes it easier to manage, show, and share photos and videos. For managing collections, aredesigned album layout shows many more albums and offers larger thumbnails. There are many ways to sort albums, including by time, location, people, and tags. To help pictures look their best, the Gallery now includes a powerful photo editor. Users can crop and rotate pictures, set levels, remove red eyes, add effects, and much more. After retouching, users can select one or multiple pictures or videos to share instantly over email, text messaging, bluetooth, social networks, or other apps.

An improved Picture Gallery widget lets users look at pictures directly on their home screen. The widget can display pictures from a selected album, shuffle pictures from all albums, or show a single image. After adding the widget to the home screen, users can flick through the photo stacks to locate the image they want, then tap to load it in Gallery.

Live Effects let you change backgrounds and use Silly Faces during video.

Live Effects for transforming video

Live Effects is a collection of graphical transformations that add interest and fun to videos captured in the Camera app. For example, users can change the background behind them to any stock or custom image, for just the right setting when shooting videeo. Also available for video is Silly Faces, a set of morphing effects that use state-of-the-art face recognition and GPU filters to transform facial features. For example, you can use effects such as small eyes, big mouth, big nose, face squeeze, and more. Outside of the Camera app, Live Effects is available during video chat in the Google Talk app.

Snapping a screenshot.

Sharing with screenshots

Users can now share what's on their screens more easily by taking screenshots. Hardware buttons let them snap ascreenshot and store it locally. Afterward, they can view, edit, and share the screen shot in Gallery or a similar app.

Cloud-connected experience

 

The Browser tabs menu (left) lets you quickly switch browser tabs. The options menu (right) gives you new ways to manage your browsing experience.

Benchmark comparisons of Android Browser.

Android has always been cloud-connected, letting users browse the web and sync photos, apps, games, email, and contacts — wherever they are and across all of their devices. Android 4.0 adds new browsing and email capabilities to let users take even more with them and keep communication organized.

Powerful web browsing

The Android Browser offers an experience that’s as rich and convenient as a desktop browser. It lets users instantly sync and manage Google Chrome bookmarks from all of their accounts, jump to their favorite content faster, and even save it for reading later in case there's no network available.

To get the most out of web content, users can now request fulldesktop versions of web sites, rather than their mobile versions. Users can set their preference for web sites separately for eachbrowser tab. For longer content, users can save a copy foroffline reading. To find and open saved pages, users can browse a visual list that’s included with browser bookmarks and history. For better readability and accessibility, users can increase the browser’s zoom levels and override the system default text sizes.

Across all types of content, the Android Browser offers dramatically improved page rendering performance through updated versions of the WebKit core and the V8 Crankshaft compilation engine for JavaScript. In benchmarks run on a Nexus S device, the Android 4.0 browser showed an improvement of nearly 220% over the Android 2.3 browser in the V8 Benchmark Suite and more than 35% in the SunSpider 9.1 JavaScript Benchmark. When run on a Galaxy Nexus device, the Android 4.0 browser showed improvement of nearly 550% in the V8 benchmark and nearly 70% in the SunSpider benchmark.

Improved email

In Android 4.0, email is easier to send, read, and manage. For composing email, improved auto-completion of recipients helps with finding and adding frequent contacts more quickly. For easier input of frequent text, users can now create quick responses and store them in the app, then enter them from a convenient menu when composing. When replying to a message, users can now toggle the message to Reply All and Forward without changing screens.

For easier browsing across accounts and labels, the app adds an integrated menu of accounts and recent labels. To help users locate and organize IMAP and Exchange email, the Email app now supports nested mail subfolders, each with synchronization rules. Users can also search across folders on the server, for faster results.

For enterprises, the Email app supports EAS v14. It supports EAS certificate authentication, provides ABQ strings for device type and mode, and allows automatic sync to be disabled while roaming. Administrators can also limit attachment size or disable attachments.

For keeping track of incoming email more easily, a resizable Email widget lets users flick through recent email right from the home screen, then jump into the Email app to compose or reply.

Android Beam lets users share what they are using with a single tap.

Innovation

Android is continously driving innovation forward, pushing the boundaries of communication and sharing with new capabilities and interactions.

Android Beam for NFC-based sharing

Android Beam is an innovative, convenient feature for sharing across two NFC-enabled devices, It lets people instantly exchange favorite apps, contacts, music, videos — almost anything. It’s incredibly simple and convenient to use — there’s no menu to open, application to launch, or pairing needed. Just touch one Android-powered phone to another, then tap to send.

For sharing apps, Android Beam pushes a link to the app's details page in Google Play. On the other device, the Google Play client app launches and loads the details page, for easy downloading of the app. Individual apps can build on Android Beam to add other types of interactions, such as passing game scores, initiating a multiplayer game or chat, and more.

Face recognition lets you unlock your phone with your face.

Face Unlock

Android 4.0 introduces a completely new approach to securing a device, making each person's device even more personal — Face Unlock is a new screen-lock option that lets users unlock their devices with their faces. It takes advantage of the device front-facing camera and state-of-the-art facial recognition technology to register a face during setup and then to recognize it again when unlocking the device. Users just hold their devices in front of their faces to unlock, or use a backup PIN or pattern.

Wi-Fi Direct and Bluetooth HDP

Support for Wi-Fi Direct lets users connect directly to nearby peer devices over Wi-Fi, for more reliable, higher-speed communication. No internet connection or tethering is needed. Through third-party apps, users can connect to compatible devices to take advantage of new features such as instant sharing of files, photos, or other media; streaming video or audio from another device; or connecting to compatible printers or other devices.

Android 4.0 also introduces built-in support for connecting to Bluetooth Health Device Profile (HDP) devices. With support from third-party apps, users can connect to wireless medical devices and sensors in hospitals, fitness centers, homes, and elsewhere.

New Developer Features

Unified UI framework for phones, tablets, and more

Android 4.0 brings a unified UI framework that lets developers create elegant, innovative apps for phones, tablets, and more. It includes all of the familiar Android 3.x interface elements and APIs — fragments, content loaders, Action Bar, rich notifications, resizable home screen widgets, and more — as well as new elements and APIs.

For developers, the unified UI framework in Android 4.0 means new UI tools, consistent design practices, simplified code and resources, and streamlined development across the range of Android-powered devices.

Key Android 3.x developer features,
now for phones too

Core UI

• Fragments and content loaders
• Resizeable home screen widgets
• Rich notifications
• Multi-selection, drag-drop, clipboard
• Improved screen-support API
• Hardware-accelerated 2D graphics

Graphics and animation

• Property-based animation
• Renderscript 3D graphics

Media and connectivity

• HTTP Live streaming
• Bluetooth A2DP and HSP devices
• Support for RTP
• MTP/PTP file transfer
• DRM framework
• Input from keyboard, mouse, gamepad, joystick

Enterprise

• Full device encryption
• DPM policies for encrypted storage and passwords

Communication and sharing

Android 4.0 extends social and sharing features to any application on the device. Applications can integrate contacts, profile data, stream items, and calendar events from any of the user’s activities or social networks.

Social API

A shared social provider and API provide a new unified store for contacts, profile data, stream items, and photos. Any app or social network with user permission can contribute raw contacts and make them accessible to other apps and networks. Applications with user permission can also read profile data from the provider and display it in their applications.

The social API lets applications store standard contact data as well as new types of content for any given contact, including large profile photos, stream items, and recent activity feedback. Recent activity feedback is a standard way for applications to “tag” a contact with common activity, such as when the user calls the contact or sends an email or SMS message. The social provider uses the recent activity feedback as a new signal in ranking, such as for name auto-complete, to keep the most relevant contacts ranked closest to the top.

Applications can also let users set up a social connection to a contact from the People app. When the user touches Add Connection in a contact, the app sends a public intent that other apps can handle, displaying any UI needed to create the social connection.

Building on the social API, developers can add powerful new interactions that span multiple social networks and contacts sources.

Calendar API

A shared calendar content provider and framework API make it easier for developers to add calendar services to their apps.

With user permission, any application can add events to the shared database and manage dates, attendees, alerts, and reminders. Applications can also read entries from the database, including events contributed by other applications, and handle the display of event alerts and reminders. Using the calendar provider, applications can take advantage of event data sourced from a variety of apps and protocols, to offer innovative ways of viewing and managing a user’s events. Apps can also use calendar data to improve the relevance of their other content.

For lighter-weight access to calendar services, the Calendar app defines a set of public Intents for creating, viewing, and editing events. Rather than needing to implement a calendar UI and integrate directly with the calendar provider, applications can simply broadcast calendar Intents. When the Calendar app receives the Intents, it launches the appropriate UI and stores any event data entered. Using calendar Intents, for example, apps can let users add events directly from lists, dialogs, or home screen widgets, such as for making restaurant reservations or booking time with friends.

Visual voicemail API

A shared Voicemail provider and API allow developers to build applications that contribute to a unified voicemail store. Voicemails are displayed and played in the call log tab of the platform’s Phone app.

Android Beam

Android Beam is an NFC-based feature that lets users instantly share information about the apps they are using, just by touching two NFC-enabled phones together. When the devices are in range — within a few centimeters — the system sets up an NFC connection and displays a sharing UI. To share whatever they are viewing with the other device, users just touch the screen.

For developers, Android Beam is a new way of triggering almost any type of proximity-based interaction. For example, it can let users instantly exchange contacts, set up multiplayer gaming, join a chat or video call, share a photo or video, and more. The system provides the low-level NFC support and the sharing UI, while the foreground app provides lightweight data to transfer to the other device. Developers have complete control over the data that is shared and how it is handled, so almost any interaction is possible. For larger payloads, developers can even use Android Beam to initiate a connection and transfer the data over Bluetooth, without the need for user-visible pairing.

Even if developers do not add custom interactions based on Android Beam they can still benefit from it being deeply integrated into Android. By default the system shares the app’s Google Play URL, so it’s easy for the user to download or purchase the app right away.

Modular sharing widget

The UI framework includes a new widget, ShareActionProvider, that lets developers quickly embed standard share functionality and UI in the Action Bar of their applications. Developers simply add ShareActionProvider to the menu and set an intent that describes the desired sharing action. The system handles the rest, building up the list of applications that can handle the share intent and dispatching the intent when the user chooses from the menu.

New media capabilities

Low-level streaming multimedia

Android 4.0 provides a direct, efficient path for low-level streaming multimedia. The new path is ideal for applications that need to maintain complete control over media data before passing it to the platform for presentation. For example, media applications can now retrieve data from any source, apply proprietary encryption/decryption, and then send the data to the platform for display.

Applications can now send processed data to the platform as a multiplexed stream of audio/video content in MPEG-2 transport stream format. The platform de-muxes, decodes, and renders the content. The audio track is rendered to the active audio device, while the video track is rendered to either a Surface or a SurfaceTexture. When rendering to a SurfaceTexture, the application can apply subsequent graphics effects to each frame using OpenGL.

To support this low-level streaming, the platform introduces a new native API based on Khronos OpenMAX AL 1.0.1. The API is implemented on the same underlying services as the platform’s existing OpenSL ES API, so developers can make use of both APIs together if needed. Tools support for low-level streaming multimedia will be available in an upcoming release of the Android NDK.

New camera capabilities

Developers can take advantage of a variety of new camera features in Android 4.0. ZSL exposure, continuous focus, and image zoom let apps capture better still and video images, including during video capture. Apps can even capture full-resolution snapshots while shooting video. Apps can now set custom metering regions in a camera preview, then manage white balance and exposure dynamically for those regions. For easier focusing and image processing, a face-detection service identifies and tracks faces in a preview and returns their screen coordinates.

Media effects for transforming images and video

A set of high-performance transformation filters let developers apply rich effects to any image passed as an OpenGL ES 2.0 texture. Developers can adjust color levels and brightness, change backgrounds, sharpen, crop, rotate, add lens distortion, and apply other effects. The transformations are processed by the GPU, so they are fast enough for processing image frames loaded from disk, camera, or video stream.

Audio remote controls

Android 4.0 adds a new audio remote control API that lets media applications integrate with playback controls that are displayed in a remote view. Media applications can integrate with a remote music playback control that’s built into in the platform’s lock screen, allowing users to control song selection and playback without having to unlock and navigate to the music app.

Using the audio remote control API, any music or media app can register to receive media button events from the remote control and then manage play state accordingly. The application can also supply metadata to the remote control, such as album art or image, play state, track number and description, duration, genre, and more.

New media codecs and containers

Android 4.0 adds support for additional media types and containers to give developers access to the formats they need. For high-quality compressed images, the media framework adds support for WebP content. For video, the framework now supports streaming VP8 content. For streaming multimedia, the framework supports HTTP Live streaming protocol version 3 and encoding of ADTS-contained AAC content. Additionally, developers can now use Matroska containers for Vorbis and VP8 content.

New types of connectivity

Wi-Fi Direct

Developers can use a framework API to discover and connect directly to nearby devices over a high-performance, secure Wi-Fi Direct connection. No internet connection or hotspot is needed.

Wi-Fi Direct opens new opportunities for developers to add innovative features to their applications. Applications can use Wi-Fi Direct to share files, photos, or other media between devices or between a desktop computer and an Android-powered device. Applications could also use Wi-Fi Direct to stream media content from a peer device such as a digital television or audio player, connect a group of users for gaming, print files, and more.

Bluetooth Health Device Profile (HDP)

Developers can now build powerful medical applications that use Bluetooth to communicate with wireless devices and sensors in hospitals, fitness centers, homes, and elsewhere. Applications can collect and manage data from HDP source devices and transmit it to backend medical applications such as records systems, data analysis services, and others.

Using a framework API, applications can use Bluetooth to discover nearby devices, establish reliable or streaming data channels, and manage data transmission. Applications can supply any IEEE 11073 Manager to retrieve and interpret health data from Continua-certified devices such as heart-rate monitors, blood meters, thermometers, and scales.

New UI components and capabilities

Layout enhancements

A new layout, GridLayout, improves the performance of Android applications by supporting flatter view hierarchies that are faster to layout and render. Because hierarchies are flatter, developers can also manage alignments between components that are visually related to each other even when they are not logically related, for precise control over application UI. GridLayout is also specifically designed to be configured by drag-and-drop design tools such as the ADT Plug-in for Eclipse.

OpenGL ES texture views

A new TextureView object lets developers directly integrate OpenGL ES textures as rendering targets in a UI hierarchy. The object lets developers display and manipulate OpenGL ES rendering just as they would a normal view object in the hierarchy, including moving, transforming, and animating the view as needed. The TextureView object makes it easy for developers to embed camera preview, decoded video, OpenGL game scenes, and more. TextureView can be viewed as a more powerful version of the existing SurfaceView object, since it offers the same benefits of access to a GL rendering surface, with the added advantage of having that surface participate fully in the normal view hierarchy.

Hardware-accelerated 2D drawing

All Android-powered devices running Android 4.0 are required to support hardware-accelerated 2D drawing. Developers can take advantage of this to add great UI effects while maintaining optimal performance on high-resolution screens, even on phones. For example, developers can rely on accelerated scaling, rotation, and other 2D operations, as well as accelerated UI components such as TextureView and compositing modes such as filtering, blending, and opacity.

New input types and text services

Stylus input, button support, hover events

Android 4.0 includes full support for stylus input events, including tilt and distance axes, pressure, and related motion event properties. To help applications distinguish motion events from different sources, the platform adds distinct tool types for stylus, finger, mouse, and eraser. For improved input from multi-button pointing devices, the platform now provides distinct primary, secondary, and tertiary buttons, as well as back and forward buttons. Hover-enter and hover-exit events are also added, for improved navigation and accessibility. Developers can build on these new input features to add powerful interactions to their apps, such as precise drawing and gesturing, handwriting and shape recognition, improved mouse input, and others.

Text services API for integrating spelling checkers

Android 4.0 lets applications query available text services such as dictionaries and spell checkers for word suggestions, corrections, and similar data. The text services are external to the active IME, so developers can create and distribute dictionaries and suggestion engines that plug into the platform. When an application receives results from a text service — for example, word suggestions — it can display them in a dedicated suggestion popup window directly inside the text view, rather than relying on the IME to display them.

Enhanced accessibility APIs

Android 4.0 adds new accessibility features and an enhanced API to let developers improve the user experience in their apps, especially on devices that don’t have hardware buttons. For accessibility services such as screen readers in particular, the platform offers new APIs to query window content, for easier navigation, better feedback, and richer user interfaces.

Accessibility API

To let applications manage interactions more effectively when accessibility features are enabled, the platform adds accessibility events for explore-by-touch mode, scrolling, and text selection. For these and other events, the platform can attach a new object called an accessibility record that provides extra information about the event context.

Using the accessibility record and related APIs, applications can now access the view hierarchy associated with an event. Applications can query for key properties such as parent and child nodes, available states, supported actions, screen position, and more. Applications can also request changes to certain properties to help manage focus and selected state. For example, an accessibility service could use these new capabilities to add convenient features such as screen-search by text.

Text-to-speech API

A new framework API lets developers write text-to-speech engines and make them available to any app requesting TTS capabilities.

Efficient network usage

In Android 4.0, users can see how much network data their running apps are using. They can also set limits on data usage by network type and disable background data usage for specific applications. In this context, developers need to design their apps to run efficiently and follow best practices for checking the network connection. Android 4.0 provides network APIs to let applications meet those goals.

As users move between networks or set limits on network data, the platform lets applications query for connection type and availability. Developers can use this information to dynamically manage network requests to ensure the best experience for users. Developers can also build custom network and data-usage options into their apps, then expose them to users directly from Settings by means of a new system Intent.

Security for apps and content

Secure management of credentials

Android 4.0 makes it easier for applications to manage authentication and secure sessions. A new keychain API and underlying encrypted storage let applications store and retrieve private keys and their corresponding certificate chains. Any application can use the keychain API to install and store user certificates and CAs securely.

Address Space Layout Randomization

Android 4.0 now provides address space layout randomization (ASLR) to help protect system and third party applications from exploitation due to memory-management issues.

Enhancements for Enterprise

VPN client API

Developers can now build or extend their own VPN solutions on the platform using a new VPN API and underlying secure credential storage. With user permission, applications can configure addresses and routing rules, process outgoing and incoming packets, and establish secure tunnels to a remote server. Enterprises can also take advantage of a standard VPN client built into the platform that provides access to L2TP and IPSec protocols.

Device policy management for camera

The platform adds a new policy control for administrators who manage devices using an installed Device Policy Manager. Administrators can now remotely disable the camera on a managed device for users working in sensitive environments.

                                              SAMSUNG GALAXY NEXUS

                  the first mobile to run android 4.0

Samsung Galaxy Nexus Android Ice Cream Sandwich smartphone review

The Samsung Galaxy Nexus is a smart phone sporting the very latest version of Google's Android Operating System (OS) - Android 4.0, also known as Ice Cream Sandwich.

The handset packs in some amazing features, such as a 720x1,280-pixel resolution 4.65" screen, a 1080p video camera and a 1.2GHz dual-core processor.

If you've already owned the Nexus S, chances are you already know if you need to go buy the Galaxy Nexus and have dutifully done the necessary. 
The allure of getting the latest flavour of pure Android is temptation enough for many dedicated fans to purchase this year's Nexus device.

This handset is a truly fearsome contender.

Make no mistake, the Galaxy Nexus is a seriously impressive handset. 
It trumps the Nexus S in every conceivable manner.

That 4.65" Super AMOLED screen has to be seen to be believed. 
It offers a 720p HD resolution with unbeatable viewing angles.

The buttons at the bottom of the screen aren't actually buttons - they're part of the display, and vanish when it switches off.

We're blown away by the speed and slickness of the new Android Ice Cream Sandwich Operating System. 
Android has a reputation for being a little slow and buggy, but Android 4.0 finally seems to have put those spectres to bed. 
Actions such as sending an Email or posting a photo to Twitter take seconds to achieve. It almost feels as if the phone is one step ahead of you, such is the pace of the device.

While the Samsung Galaxy Nexus shames practically every previous Android phone in terms of usability, it struggles in some key areas. 
The all-plastic design is disappointing when placed alongside the Apple's iPhone 4S and HTC Sensation.

Samsung has a habit of avoiding the use of brushed metal on its phones. 
In this instance, we'd have liked to have seen a little more sophistication in the case design - especially when you consider that the Galaxy Nexus retails for around the same price as the aluminium and tempered-glass iPhone.

The bottom of the handset showcases the 3.5mm headphone jack and the micro-USB socket.

There's little doubt that the Samsung Galaxy Nexus is the best Android device on the market right now. 
How long that remains the case is open to debate. 

Android 4.0

Arguably, the biggest talking point of the Samsung Galaxy Nexus is the software it comes pre-loaded with. 
Ice Cream Sandwich is Google's codename for Android 4.0 - the latest and greatest edition of the company's mobile Operating System.

Intended to unify the tablet and mobile versions of Android, Ice Cream Sandwich contains many enhancements that will be familiar to those of you that have used Android 3.0 Honeycomb on devices like the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 and the Motorola Xoom, among many other tablets.

For example, you can now see what widgets actually look like before placing them on your home screen. 
Once placed, you can scroll through them - handy if you want to see the contents of your inbox without actually opening up the Gmail application.

You can now see what widgets look like before using them (left). It's possible to scroll through widgets as well, just like on Android Honeycomb (right).

The most glaring change in Android 4.0 is the dedicated buttons. 
For starters, there aren't any. 
Instead, an area at the bottom of the screen is reserved for your interface commands. Rather than being capacitive symbols, they only appear when the screen is in use.

The second big change is what these commands actually do. 
In the past, Android phones have usually sported four inputs: Home, Back, Menu and Search. 
Now only Home and Back remain. The latter two options have been removed in favour of a single multi-tasking command.

This is another feature borrowed from Android 3.0. 
It brings up a scrolling menu showing the applications you currently have running. 
Each one has a thumbnail image showing its current state and you can switch between apps with a quick tap. Killing an app is just as easy - you merely have to swipe to the right to remove it from the multi-tasking view.

Because the Menu button has been retired, Android 4.0 has a context-sensitive additional menu command that appears when required. 
So if you're in an app that has features which can only be accessed via the old-fashioned Menu button, a row of three dots will appear on the right-hand side of the interface.

You'll also notice in Google-developed applications - such as Maps - that there's a new interface option: 
The action bar. 
This appears directly above the interface area and contains icons and settings that would usually be concealed behind a Menu button press.

The Maps app shows the new action bar at the bottom of the screen (left). The native YouTube app has had a facelift (right).

It's clear that Google's intention is to streamline the Android OS and remove needless button presses - it's only a matter of time before third-party developers follow suit and incorporate the action bar into their apps.

Simplification could be the keyword for Ice Cream Sandwich. 
Google has nipped and tucked wherever possible, changing the layout of the settings menu, tinkering with the way the application drawer works and generally attempting to make the entire OS more user-friendly.

The Android contacts application has undergone a drastic visual overhaul.

On the whole, it's been an amazing success. 
There are loads of neat little changes such as being able to decline a call with one of several stock text message replies. 
You can also access your camera directly from the lock screen. This feels like the most intuitive Android yet.

However, there are still some little problems. 
There's no native Android file manager in stock 4.0, which seems like a really odd decision when you consider that most third-party manufacturers are adding them to their own User Interfaces (UI).

Google's high-ranking developers have publicly stated that they want users to move away from messing about with files on their phones. 
There are bound to be times when you need to access certain files and can't - unless you download a dedicated app like Linda File Manager or OI File Manager.

Folders have been part of Android for ages but they're even slicker in Ice Cream Sandwich.

We're also disappointed that you can't mute the phone from the lock screen any more. 
Instead, you have to unlock the phone and then long-press the power button to bring up a separate menu. 
This allows you to silence the device, but it will feel like an incredibly long-winded process if you're an Android veteran.

You can jump to the camera from the lock screen, but the old mute option is gone (left). The multi-tasking menu in all its glory (right). 

Face Unlock

This particular feature of Ice Cream Sandwich was given plenty of column inches when Google announced it not so long ago. Instead of using an unlock pattern or password, you can use your mug to gain access to your device.

The Face Unlock setup screen warns of its limitations (left). Android 4.0 boasts a surprisingly high number of developer options (right).

The process is painless to enable, and merely requires you to point the front-facing camera in your general direction for a few seconds. 
As a backup, you have to enable a second-stage unlock - such as a pattern - just in case you're not recognised.

Sadly, that happens all too often. 
Even the slightest change in your facial expression seems to be enough to flummox the Face Unlock software. If you wear glasses for parts of the day, it also struggles.

Face Unlock is a neat feature but it struggles with changes in facial expressions - not to mention face furniture, like glasses.

Rather more worrying is the fact that anyone with a photo of your face can easily get past the security. 
We tested this by snapping a mug-shot on another phone and then pointing the phone's screen at the Galaxy Nexus - amazingly, it worked first time.

Face Unlock is an impressive trick to show off to your mates. 
When it works it's a real time-saver, but we honestly doubt you'd want to rely on it to properly secure your handset from prying eyes.

 Design

Samsung has a reputation for producing predominantly plastic phones. 
That hasn't changed with the Galaxy Nexus.

There's no trace of brushed metal or aluminium anywhere on the casing. 
While this makes for a surprisingly lightweight phone (135g, in case you were wondering), it also creates an unwelcome impression of cheapness.

When you consider that the Galaxy Nexus is contesting the same turf as Apple's gorgeous iPhone 4S - and that it costs roughly the same SIM-free - you can't help but feel that Samsung's challenger isn't quite dressed for the fight.

While the design of the Galaxy Nexus is pleasing to the eye, the plastic casing feels a little cheap and nasty.

That's not to say it's an ugly device - far from it. 
From the front is looks like an enlarged Nexus S, while the back panel calls to mind the Galaxy S II. 
There's also that trademark Galaxy bump on the back of the phone towards the bottom. This aids grip and makes the Galaxy Nexus comfortable to hold.

Although the Galaxy Nexus has retained the distinctive curved profile of the Nexus S, it actually feels a lot less pronounced this time around. 
The curve is supposed to make the phone more comfortable to use for calls, but we can't say we felt any tangible benefit.

The slightly rubberised battery panel also takes inspiration from the Galaxy S II, and snaps away from the main body of the phone with considerable click.
Although it's made from super-flexible plastic, getting it back on again is harder than it should be. 
You have to line it up perfectly before the panel will locate, and even then there's some serious massaging required to get it to lock into position.

The plastic battery panel boasts a rubber coating and is surprisingly flexible.

Like the Nexus S, you'll find no physical buttons on the front of the Galaxy Nexus. 
However, unlike the previous Nexus handset, there are no capacitive inputs either.

As we've already mentioned, the face buttons are actually part of the screen itself. 
When it's powered down, they vanish from sight. 
In this state, the Galaxy Nexus resembles a slab of black plastic. 
Thankfully, there's a notification LED at the bottom of the screen and this springs into life when you get an Email or text, reminding you that your device is fully functional.

Physical inputs are at a premium on this handset. 
Aside from the power/lock button and volume rocker, you won't find any other keys to press anywhere on the phone.

In keeping with its rather cheap feel, these two buttons appear to be a lot less robust than their equivalents on the Nexus S.

The Galaxy Nexus is quite a thin customer.

The only other items of note from a design perspective are the micro-USB port located on the bottom of the device, the 3.5mm headphone socket placed alongside the charging port and a row of metal dots on the right-hand side of the handset. 
These allow you to charge the Galaxy Nexus when it is placed inside the dedicated dock - which, of course, is sold separately.

 Screen

Remember the first time you witnessed the iPhone 4's retina display? 
Brace yourself for an even more jaw-dropping experience with the Samsung Galaxy Nexus.

With an HD resolution of 720x1,280 pixels and a pixel density of 316ppi, this is effortlessly one of the best screens we've ever seen on a mobile phone.

The Galaxy Nexus' 4.65-inch screen means the phone is quite large, which is worth bearing in mind if you possess small hands.

It's not just the number of pixels that impresses - the Galaxy Nexus uses Samsung's world-beating Super AMOLED technology to give an unparalleled picture quality. 
Colours are bold and bright, while viewing angles are fantastic. You'll also notice that dark areas are especially convincing, because AMOLED screens actually turn off pixels to represent black.

The only negative thing you could possibly say about the Galaxy Nexus' screen is that it doesn't use the Super AMOLED Plus tech seen in the SamsungGalaxy S II. 
Instead, PenTile tech is used. This gives the display a dot-like effect when viewed very closely.

The famous curved screen of the Nexus S has made its way over to the Galaxy Nexus, albeit in less dramatic form.

The reason for this is that Super AMOLED Plus isn't currently capable of achieving the HD resolution required for the Galaxy Nexus' screen.

 Processing power and internal storage

When the Nexus S launched with a single-core 1GHz processor back in December 2010, there were wails of discontent from some sectors of Androidfandom. 
The next wave of dual-core handsets was on the horizon, so going with a 1GHz CPU - the same as the one seen in the previous Nexus model - understandably ticked a few people off.

There's a 1.2GHz dual-core processor in the Galaxy Nexus, which is roughly the same power as the one inside the Samsung Galaxy S2 - a phone which is now six months old. 

The Galaxy Nexus purrs along nicely. 
We didn't witness any of Android's usual stuttering during our test period. 
Scrolling between home screens is smooth and app performance is swift. In general it feels like the entire OS has a particularly large rocket shoved up its backside. 
If you're used to a single-core Android device, then the Galaxy Nexus will feel positively turbo-charged.

Benchmark tests show off the raw processing power inside the Galaxy Nexus, as well as the improvements factored into Google's Android 4.0. 
The only device that's faster off the mark right now is the Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime, which has a quad-core CPU as opposed to the Galaxy Nexus' dual-core chip.

The power of the Galaxy Nexus in graph form. Vellamo is on the left, AnTuTu is on the right.

Like its predecessor, the Samsung Galaxy Nexus doesn't have a microSD card slot. 
That means the internal flash storage - 16GB on the unit we tested - is your lot. 
A 32GB version is also in production but it looks as if Europe may not be getting it.

On the upside, all of that 16GB is available as app storage space because the phone shares your internal storage between media and apps. 
This is another feature that has been carried over from Android Honeycomb. 
It's a big step in the right direction - Google lovers will recall that the Nexus S was also blessed with 16GB of memory yet only 1GB of apps were permitted.

The phone's 16GB of storage is shared between apps and media (left). The trademark pull-down notification bar remains but it now looks a little different.

It's also worth pointing out that USB mass storage mode has been removed from the Galaxy Nexus. 
This doesn't present much of an issue if you're using a Windows PC, but if you're a Mac user then you'll need to install additional software to access files on your phone using a USB cable.

You can control the amount of data your phone uses by setting warnings and limits -- another cool feature of Android 4.0.

Camera and video recording

On paper, the Samsung Galaxy Nexus' camera seems like a disappointment. 
It has the same megapixel count as the cameras seen on the previous two Nexus devices.

However, before your start massing the angry mob and polishing your pitchfork, you should know that this is a much-improved snapper.

The 5-megapixel auto-focus camera has an LED flash for low-light shooting.

Proof that megapixel counts are almost irrelevant when you have a good sensor, the camera on the Galaxy Nexus produces hugely encouraging results. 
Some shots can look a little washed-out, but most of the time the sensor does a decent job of capturing colour and brightness - although not quite to the extent of the Exmor R cameras seen on the Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc S.

The shots the Galaxy Nexus takes are generally good but sometimes colour appears washed out.

It's also one of the fastest cameras we've seen on a mobile. 
It allows you to take multiple shots with almost no delay between them. This proves to be incredibly useful if you're trying to capture a magical moment - such as a baby's first steps or a relative tripping down some stairs - and need several snaps to ensure you get the photo you want.

Shots containing different light conditions can result in the brighter areas being over-exposed.

You have options for exposure, scene mode and white balance, and it's also possible to shoot a panoramic mode with relative ease.

Close-up shots look great and the LED flash doesn't bleach the image with light.

The Galaxy Nexus supports video recording in HD with both 720p and 1080p resolutions. 
It achieves absolutely glorious results. 
Image quality is super-crisp and the colours look wonderful. Even the front-facing camera is capable of hitting 720p, which is impressive in itself.

Watching your movies back on that 720p HD screen is a wonder to behold.

 Internet

The Android Web browser has undergone a transformation in Ice Cream Sandwich. 
It supports tabbed browsing although in reality it works in very much the same manner as the separate windows in Android 2.3 Gingerbread.

The Android 4.0 Web browser brings a raft of new features, including tabbed browsing, incognito tabs and the ability to force desktop versions of sites.

You can now open incognito windows - just like on the Google Chrome browser - to protect your privacy and conceal your surfing habits from anyone else who might use your device.

Another cool feature is the ability to save pages for offline viewing, which is handy if you know you're going to be without a decent net connection for a period of time.
We also appreciate the ability to force the browser to display the desktop version of a particular site. 
This is especially useful if you come across a site which defaults to a disappointingly lightweight mobile-based edition when viewed on a phone.

Backed by the 1.2GHz dual-core processor, the Galaxy Nexus' browser runs superbly, showing significant performance improvements over its 2.3 forerunner. 
There's no stuttering when scrolling around a page. Pinch-to-zoom is as smooth as a baby's bottom.

The most glaring omission is the lack of Adobe Flash support - an amazing event when you consider that this feature is often cited as one of the main reasons to pick Google's platform over Apple's iPhone.

You might assume that this decision has something to do with Adobe's recent revelation that it is ceasing support for Flash on mobile devices. 
The truth is more mundane. Flash hasn't been updated for Android 4.0 yet. 
Adobe will be launching it for Ice Cream Sandwich as soon as it is complete.

It's not quite Siri - the voice-operated assistant seen on the iPhone 4S - but Android's voice control remains impressive. Dictating text is easier as pauses don't end the recording so you can take your time.

Battery life

With the power needs of a massive 4.65" screen and dual-core processor to accommodate, you'd expect the Samsung Galaxy Nexus' battery life to be dismal. 
In fact, we were impressed with how the phone's 1,750mAh power cell coped.

Naturally, when we first got the handset we really took it to the cleaners, pushing all of its features to the limit and barely leaving it alone for a second. 
After around 8 hours of near constant use with the screen on maximum brightness, the Galaxy Nexus was gasping for air.

However, when we adopted a more typical pattern of usage, the battery was capable of lasting over a day. 
That's something we rarely managed with our Nexus S.

The biggest drain on the phone's power is definitely the Super AMOLED screen. 
Dropping the brightness down a touch is a good way of prolonging its stamina. Enabling auto-brightness is tempting, but we found it was a little overzealous and dimmed the screen so much that it looked very dull.

Removing the battery panel reveals the SIM card slot, but no microSD port. 

Conclusion

The Samsung Galaxy Nexus is possibly the biggest Android launch of the year, offering impressive hardware and a brand-new Operating System. 

If you're making the purchase for Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, you're unlikely to be disappointed.

Google's changes - which are cosmetic as well as functional - are commendable, and we have no hesitation whatsoever in declaring this the most intuitive and user-friendly iteration of the OS yet.

From a technical standpoint, the Galaxy Nexus also impresses. 
That 720p HD screen is a masterpiece. It makes browsing the Web and watching videos an utter joy. 
Because it utilises Samsung's brilliant Super AMOLED tech, it provides the most striking picture quality you'll ever witness on a phone.

The design of the Galaxy Nexus is less enticing though. 
The plastic casing doesn't exude the impression of luxury that we crave from a phone of this stature. The power and volume buttons feel like they're about to break at any moment.

Of course, when you're talking about a phone with a 4.65" screen, there's also the question of whether or not you want a device of this size in your pocket.
We noticed that the Galaxy Nexus' dimensions caused it to peek out of the top of our pocket on several occasions, which could potentially lead to unwanted mobile loss.

While the Samsung Galaxy Nexus doesn't quite smash the ball out of the park, it remains a fine showcase of what the next generation of Android is capable of. 
As many Fandroids will tell you, that's exactly what the Nexus line of phones is for.  

FULL PHONE SPECIFICATIONS

GENERAL	2G Network	GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
	3G Network	HSDPA 850 / 900 / 1700 / 1900 / 2100
	Announced	2011, October
	Status	Available. Released 2011, November

BODY	Dimensions	135.5 x 67.9 x 8.9 mm
	Weight	135 g

DISPLAY	Type	Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors
	Size	720 x 1280 pixels, 4.65 inches (~316 ppi pixel density)
	Multitouch	Yes
	Protection	Oleophobic coating

SOUND	Alert types	Vibration; MP3, WAV ringtones
	Loudspeaker	Yes
	3.5mm jack	Yes, check quality

MEMORY	Card slot	No
	Internal	16 GB storage, 1 GB RAM

DATA	GPRS	Yes
	EDGE	Yes
	Speed	HSDPA, 21 Mbps; HSUPA, 5.76 Mbps
	WLAN	Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, dual-band, DLNA, Wi-Fi hotspot
	Bluetooth	Yes, v3.0 with A2DP
	NFC	Yes
	USB	Yes, microUSB v2.0 (MHL)

CAMERA	Primary	5 MP, 2592x1944 pixels, autofocus, LED flash, check quality
	Features	Touch focus, geo-tagging, face detection
	Video	Yes, 1080p@30fps, check quality
	Secondary	Yes, 1.3 MP, 720p@30fps

FEATURES	OS	Android OS, v4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich), upgradable to v4.0.4
	Chipset	TI OMAP 4460
	CPU	Dual-core 1.2 GHz Cortex-A9
	GPU	PowerVR SGX540
	Sensors	Accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass, barometer
	Messaging	SMS(threaded view), MMS, Email, Push Mail, IM, RSS
	Browser	HTML, Adobe Flash
	Radio	No
	GPS	Yes, with A-GPS support
	Java	Yes, via Java MIDP emulator
	Colors	Black, White
		- Active noise cancellation with dedicated mic - TV-out (via MHL A/V link) - MP4/H.264/H.263 player - MP3/WAV/eAAC+/AC3 player - Organizer - Image/video editor - Document viewer - Google Search, Maps, Gmail, YouTube, Calendar, Google Talk, Picasa integration - Voice memo/dial/commands - Predictive text input

BATTERY		Standard battery, Li-Ion 1750 mAh
	Stand-by	Up to 290 h (2G) / Up to 270 h (3G)
	Talk time	Up to 17 h 40 min (2G) / Up to 8 h 20 min (3G)