My wife and I were fighting like hammer and tongs. She won, she had the hammer - Tommy Cooper
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Top 10 tasty treats in Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich
WITH THE LAUNCH of the Iphone 4S, the Motorola Razr, and even Nokia Lumia 800 devices hogging the headlines, Google's Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS) update has been somewhat left out in the cold.
That's a shame, as it's one of the most notable updates to the legal profession's favourite operating system (OS) that's full of tasty treats for smartphone addicts.
The INQUIRER has picked 10 of the most splendiferous features we like in the update that will help ramp up future Android devices, and no doubt other smartphones as well, in the coming months.
10. Face detection for unlocking the phone
Google continues its quest to make devices easier to use by introducing facial recognition in ICS that lets handset owners unlock their device without having to input a PIN.
The system, dubbed Face Unlock, simply requires users to hold the device in front of their face to unlock it. If someone else tries to unlock the handset, they will be shown a message saying that their face is not recognised.
From demonstrations seen so far, Face Unlock looks rather swish and unlocks devices pretty much instantly, and it certainly represents a far higher level of security than any other method on the market.
However, some teething problems have been spotted. The system is unable to recognise faces in low lighting and reports are also emerging that a photo might be able to bypass the security. We expect Google to iron out these problems before the launch, though.
9. Improved keyboard and spell-checking
Typing on a smartphone touchscreen can be frustrating, so enhancements to the Android keyboard that promise improved error correction and faster text input are definitely welcome.
Furthermore, Google has added a spell-checking feature that provides a series of suggestions to any mistyped words, ideal for ensuring that you don't send a load of nonsense, or worse, something inappropriate when typing on the fly.
8. Unified interface for tablets and smartphones
One of the key attractions of ICS is that it works on both Android smartphones and tablets. This will give firms selling tablets and smartphones running the OS a much better chance of tempting buyers to get both devices, as they can promise a unified experience across both types of devices.
It will also be a great boon for developers, who will no longer have to create tablet and smartphone versions of their apps.
Tags: Google
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Look, you people ( Google $ OEM's) need to have a better committe of people that do NOTHING but watch people and their habits re: Usage How they interact with their Smartphones. ASK and Ask, and ASK. "What features would you like." Or " How would YOU do this or like it better". Get AHEAD on so much that we are YEARS ahead of coopertinoe's Mafia. Then FIRE your ALWAYS ONE (2) STEPS BEHIND, attorneys and GET REAL KICK ASS ones.THEN PATENET your PATENTS. Seriously! cooperteenoe is NOT playing. Their onening moves were brilliantly played. They have a VERY serious middle game. Wanna see their end game. I'll BET you ( NOR I ) don't!!!!!!!! TAKE THIS WAR DROP-DEAD SERIOUSLY. you SAW how cooopateenoe JAMMED Samsung in Germany. They even had "Special cuddle-time" with the judge!! It's PUBLIC RECORD!! They Slandered Samsung( Samsung "Slavishly Copied" OUR fondleslab ) The old "KICK the biggest, the rest run" plan. And PLEASE tell me you have a workaround to abort ms pilfering OEM's Profits. They ( cuuperteena & mecrashaft are truly the Corporate "Evil Axis."
Something not really mentioned too heavily here is the direct speech to text - you can dictate a SMS or email and instead of it having to go to the cloud (like existing Andoid or iPhone) the text just appears immediately - this I feel is a SUPERB addition
Of the other items on the list, the face recognition is a funny touch, but who would carry around a photo of another person to use in the face scan? I think it's more of a gimmick than a big step forwards (in other words, Apple will release it soon and claim it was their invention like they do with video calling)
I'm looking forwards to the new keyboard and spell checking, as I currently use Swype and although it's good, it can be frustrating when it decides that you said one thing and won't let you choose a replacement unless you type it out letter by letter...
As for Android leading, Google have certainly pushed the touch-screen OS forward more than anyone else - widgets, notification bar, different backgrounds per page, flexibility of choosing apps per task (like SMS, email, camera, etc), layout of the screens as you want them, different home screen applications, and MUCH more, all that others are scrambling to follow rather than trying to over-take! The reason for this is that new versions of the OS come out so rapidly (a new point release every 4-5 months), so they can move technology on faster than anyone else who produces mobile phone OSs
I've heard it's coming over the air for Nexus S too. Any idea when on Vodafone?
all useless to me. all i want is for it to be open source so it can have some proper development.
If you have a picture of the person you want to unlock the phone of. What happens? Can it tell?
First Anthony - If you are tired of reading about it, well then by all means don't read it. It's that simple.
Corroded - Mobile Opertating Systems were around long before Apple had anything. Even though they would like you to believe they invented everything. Steve Jobs himself was quoted to have said that part of inventing is taking existing inventions and putting them together to create a new invention.
I think Android phones are setting the bar. They is varity, they are faster, better cameras, better features, and they are open. It's not all about the OS.
Each mobile device OS borrows features from another, so I don't see how any of them set the bar, let alone Android. Android copies from iOS, iOS copies from Android, iOS copies from Windows Phone, Android copies from Windows Phone, Windows Phone copies from Android, Windows Phone copies from iOS, they all copy from previous OSes, etc, etc, etc. I'm tired of this "my OS versus your OS" BS. Try them all, choose what's best for you, and shut up about it.
I thought Apple invented everything to do with mobile Operating Systems?
Kif, we have a conundrum.