A day after RIM introduced their new ‘BBX’ operating system to only mild enthusiasm, Google unveiled their new ‘Ice Cream Sandwhich’ Android operating system at a joint event with Samsung in Hong Kong.
The latest Android OS promises dozens of new features in addition to enhanced security measures and a complete visual re-write.
“We want to go beyond smart,” said Andy Rubin, Google’s Senior Vice
President of Mobile, to a crowd gathered at a Wednesday morning press
conference. “We took all of the innovation that’s available at Google,
and put it into developing this phone.”
The biggest change with Google’s new Android OS is that it will
finally unify Android tablets and smartphones. Currently, the Android
world is split into two distinct factions: Honeycomb, which powers
tablets, and Gingerbread, which powers smartphones. This divide meant
that Android tablet users are left with a limited selection of apps that
were written natively for the tablet, or are forced to run the app at
an up scaled resolution – something that has less than visually
appealing results.
Crowds at the event were most impressed with the major improvements
Google has made to Android’s photo software that allows users to take
panoramic images, the upgraded Chrome browser, which will sync with your
desktop, and the new Android ‘Beam’ feature that utilizes Near Field
Communications (NFC) to allow users to send any type of info from one
device to another with a simple tap.
The major security improvement Google has made to Ice Cream Sandwich
is a feature called face unlock. If enabled this would replace, or
supplement (Google was unclear), a screen lock PIN with facial
recognition so that if a thief managed to steal your phone and find out
your pin the potential interloper’s would be rendered moot by a lack of
positive facial recognition.
As the event was co-hosted by Samsung, the first phone to debut with
the new Ice Cream Sandwich OS will be the Samsung Galaxy Nexus. The
Galaxy Nexus will sport a 1.2GHz dual-core processor backed by 1GB of
RAM, and coupled with 16GB of on-board storage. It will have a
4.65-inch, 1280×720 super AMOLED screen as well as front and rear facing
cameras that take snaps at 1.3 and 5 MP, respectively.
The Samsung Galaxy Nexus and Ice Cream Sandwich are expected to
launch in November. A press release says that the phone and OS will be
launching in Canada on approximately the same date as in the U.S, but it
was not specific on which carriers would be supporting the device. When
asked for comment by
Hardware Canucks, a representative from Rogers said they “are not able to comment on this device at this time.”
“OCZ has reached an important milestone in the development of its own
controller technology,” said James E. Bagley, Senior Analyst with
Storage Strategies NOW. “The high sustained performance, even with
compressed files, the rapid boot feature and high access speeds using
SATA 3.0 protocol puts their controller technology in the major league.”
