Android 4.0: a mouthful in more ways than one

Stuart Corner
Wednesday, 19 October 2011 15:51

Business IT - Technology

Google has announced the next version of Android, 4.0 and as the version numbers get bigger, so do the names. This one goes by the moniker "Ice Cream Sandwich". Unlike its namesake, it promises to be "refined".

For users 4.0 promises to make common actions more visible and to enable users to navigate with simple, intuitive gestures. "Refined animations and feedback throughout the system make interactions engaging and interesting," and "an entirely new typeface optimised for high-resolution screens improves readability and brings a polished, modern feel to the user interface."

New home screen folders offer a new way for users to group their apps and shortcuts by dragging one onto another. From the All Apps launcher, users can now simply drag an app to get information about it or immediately uninstall it, or disable a pre-installed app.

On smaller-screen devices, the home screen now includes a customisable favourites tray visible from all home screens. Users can drag apps, shortcuts, folders and other priority items in or out of the favourites tray for instant access from any home screen.

A full list of new features is available here.

Xavier Ducrohet, Android SDK tech Lead, writing on the Android Developers' blog listed the main new features for developers as being

- A single set of user interface components, styles and capabilities for phones, tablets and other devices;
- New social and calendar APIs, Android Beam for NFC-based instant sharing, Wi-Fi Direct support, Bluetooth Health Device Profile support;
- Improved notifications, lock screen with camera and music controls, and improved app management in the launcher.
- Image and video effects, precise camera metering and face detection, new media codecs and containers;
- Hardware-accelerated 2D drawing, new grid-based layout, improved soft keyboard, spell-checker API, stylus input support, and better mouse support;
- New accessibility APIs and text-to-speech APIs for writing new engines;
- Keychain and VPN APIs for managing credentials and connections, a new administrator policy for disabling the camera.