HTC recently unveiled it’s One series of smartphones based on Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. Hardware specifications and advanced, next-gen optics aside, these devices come with Sense 4.0 - the latest version of HTC’s custom skin - which looks absolutely stunning and a vast improvement over Sense 3.5 and older which were very bloated.
With Android 4.0 being publicly available since November 2011, users might be forgiven for wondering why their device can't benefit from the features that Ice Cream Sandwich brings. After all, when Apple releases an update to iOS, users can generally grab the latest version immediately as long as the hardware supports the update. Users of several premium handsets, such as the Samsung Galaxy S II have been waiting for a number of weeks for Samsung to finally announce when they will be allowing users to update to Android 4.0 ICS.
While popular Android smartphones and tablets received unofficial ports to the latest version of Android i.e. 4.0.3 Ice Cream Sandwich a long time ago, manufacturers are only now gearing up for the official release. HTC has officially stated that most of their top-of-the-line devices will be updated “later this year” and Samsung did say that the Galaxy S II and Galaxy Note will receive ICS in Q1 2012 with updates for other devices to “soon follow”.
Amazon’s $199 Kindle Fire is one of the best tablets money can buy for under $300. Besides offering tight integration with Amazon’s services and doubling as a great eBook reader, it is hacker-friendly: the device is rooted, has lots of great ROMs available and is heavily supported by a vibrant community of skilled developers. Earlier today, we received news of the official release of MIUI for Kindle Fire. The good news is that it is based on Android 4.0.3 Ice Cream Sandwich and is pretty stable (for a ROM in Alpha state). Things like USB tethering, static wallpapers, hardware acceleration and themes don’t work, but they will be in the future. Check out our step-by-step guide after the jump!
While most people prefer off-screen, real buttons for their smartphones and tablets, there are plenty who like virtual buttons because of their context-sensitivity. Any many of you will know, Ice Cream Sandwich for the Galaxy Nexus comes with these context-sensitive buttons and it is now possible to get it on any other Ice Cream Sandwich ROM. Check out the step-by-step guide after the jump.
Another build of the official Samsung Galaxy S II Android 4.0.3 Ice Cream Sandwich ROM has been leaked, Redmond Pie has learned. This one is a big improvement over the previous versions and is said to be stable enough for use as a daily driver. Check out the step-by-step installation guide after the jump!
Well, we all know it is only a matter of time until mobile operating systems take over the world which are used to power all of our gadgets and household appliances. The only question that remains to be answered is; which operating system will reign victorious amongst consumers in the ongoing battle of the OSes? The current heavy weight contenders have to be iOS, Android and Windows Phone, with Blackberry hanging on for dear life but looking set to fall by the wayside sooner rather than later.
Ever since the source code for Ice Cream Sandwich was released some two months back, many talented developers have been tirelessly experimenting in order to bring a range of custom ROMs for those running certain Android devices.
Just a couple of weeks ago, an early build of the official Android 4.0.1 ICS ROM for the Galaxy S II was released. Well, today, the official Touchwiz’d Android 4.0.3 ICS ROM has been leaked and we’ve got a step-by-step guide on how tot install it ready after the jump!
The Android development community is actively working on bringing Android 4.x Ice Cream Sandwich on as-of-yet unsupported devices and the latest device to get Ice Cream Sandwich unofficially is the Nook Color. We’ve got a step-by-step guide ready after the jump which shows you how you can flash a preview build of CyanogenMod 9 based on Android 4.0.1 Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS) to your Nook Color.