Ice Cream Sandwich Release Date: Will Be Available in November on Galaxy Nexus
Google’s new Ice Cream Sandwich OS will be available in November on the Galaxy Nexus smartphone, according to announcement made by the company at its “Mobile Unpacked” event.
Ice Cream Sandwich, also known as Android 4.0 will include upgraded versions of Gmail, contacts which will now be called People and an improved notification center.
Some of its new capabilities include Android Beam which uses NFC to transfer media from smartphone to smartphone by simply touching the devices together.
Its new graphic foundation named Roboto, was displayed at the event, and it contains more detail and accuracy than any other past Android systems.
Texts and words appear crystal clear with the new software.
It will also use facial recognition to unlock the device it is running on.
Users will be able to access their Galaxy Nexus by simply holding the smartphone close to their face.
The device will recognize it and unlock the phone based on the owners face and it will stay locked if someone else attempts to do so.
Ice Cream Sandwich also utilizes a left and right swipe function which allows the user to access their apps by simply moving their finger in a particular direction.
Speculation circled around for weeks indicating that the Ice Cream Sandwich OS would be unveiled alongside the latest Android smartphone, Galaxy Nexus.
However, some reports said that the launch of the Galaxy Nexus was going to be delayed and it would not be unveiled at the Mobile Unpacked event which proved to be false.
The Ice Cream Sandwich OS was recently leaked when an eBay shopper allegedly bought a Samsung Nexus S device that was powered by the new OS. The shopper leaked video of the OS to Engadget.
The Galaxy Nexus will be the first smartphone officially powered by the Ice Cream Sandwich OS, despite the phone associated with the leak being a Nexus S.