Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich - Core Apps

Android's made it a point to include several core apps in each edition of its firmware, and ICS is no exception. These apps, which comprise of what many consider to be the absolute essentials, can be found in the revamped app tray -- and for easier access, you'll notice a "Google" folder on the main home screen panel that includes a healthy portion of apps offering Mountain View's services.

Many of ICS's core apps have evolved from their previous iterations, allowing these programs to have complete synergy with the new user interface. No doubt they look and feel like they belong right at home on Android 4.0, and let's not forget about the extra functionality they bring to the table. Here's how each core app was enhanced with Ice Cream Sandwich.

Phone

Yeah, it has a dialpad and you can push numbers and make it call people. But what else can you do in the phone app? The first and foremost improvement is called "quick response," which allows you to reject an incoming call and fire back a text message letting the caller know that you're otherwise predisposed. Four different messages are allowed, and you can stick with the preset list of message options or swap them out with your own custom ones.

Gmail

Liked Gmail on your Gingerbread device before? It was pretty good before, but we have a hunch that you'll love it even more now. For one, you can actually create new messages without having to press an options key. In fact, most of Gmail's most used features have been brought forward to the app's forefront in ICS.

Browser

It's hard to know where to begin with the browser, as so many features and elements of its performance were affected by the upgrade. Besides the temporary omission of mobile Flash (which we'll discuss in more detail later), we had a hard time finding something to dislike. First, the ICS browser has certainly sped up; while benchmarks aren't a tremendous indicator of real-life performance, we were still quite happy to see SunSpider 9.1 bring up a time of 1,850ms. To offer perspective, the Samsung Galaxy S II, another well-oiled machine with hefty oomph underneath the hood, rarely dips down below 3,000. The Acid3 test on the Galaxy Nexus also scored a perfect 100 / 100.

Source : Engadget

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Science & Technology

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[DougB541]

@fbraz191 YUP.

[fbraz191]

And still no pinch to zoom in gmail.. Why google? Why? The ios gmail app has this but the gmail app on an android phone doesn't. This was one the of main reasons I wanted to throw my ATT Galaxy S2 against a wall but decided to return it instead...

[timbro1]

The person demonstrating the phone should have a script rather than aimlessly swiping his finger in random fashion.

[miteshjesani]

what about sms/messaging? im pretty sure more people use their phone for this than gmail or calendar.

[rightwing8877]

this video needs more views :D

great video keep em up!