Android-x86 releases Android 4.0 x86 port for AMD's Brazos

MOBILE SOFTWARE HOUSE Google's Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS) operating system has been ported to the x86 architecture.

Two weeks after Google released the source code for Android 4.0, the Android-x86 project has announced the initial release of a port to the x86 architecture. At present the project recommends the use of AMD's Brazos chips for those who want to tinker with the release.

Currently the ICS x86 branch is still very much early work, with support for WiFi and graphics drivers and little else outside of what comes with AMD's Brazos boards. In Chih-Wei's release post, he mentioned there is no support for a camera, sound or the Ethernet controller yet at this point.

Chih-Wei also confirmed that AMD provides the project with devices and engineering support, which could stand it in good stead for Brazos-based tablets in the future. AMD has previously said it isn't interested in the smartphone market, but would try to break into the tablet market.

The Android-x86 project has already ported previous versions of Android to the architecture such as Android 3.2 and Android 2.3. However Android 4.0 aims to unify the tablet only Android 3.x branch and the smartphone oriented Android 2.3 branch, making it the arguably the most important Android release to date.

While Android 4.0 on x86 currently has limited support, it should provide ample foundation for developers to bring Android 4.0 to a wider selection of x86 devices. µ