Android 4.0
Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) is the latest version of the Android platform for
phones, tablets, and more. It builds on the things people love most about Android — easy
multitasking, rich notifications, customizable home screens, resizable widgets, and deep
interactivity — and adds powerful new ways of communicating and sharing.
FEATURES
SIMPLE, BEAUTIFUL,USEFUL
New lock screen actions
The lock screens now let you do more without unlocking. From the slide lock screen, you
can jump directly to the camera for a picture or pull down the notifications window to
check for messages. When listening to music, you can even manage music tracks and see
album art.
Quick responses for incoming calls
When an incoming call arrives, you can now quickly respond by text message, without
needing to pick up the call or unlock the device. On the incoming call screen, you simply
slide a control to see a list of text responses and then tap to send and end the call.
You can add your own responses and manage the list from the Settings app.
Swipe to dismiss notifications, tasks, and browser tabs
Android 4.0 makes managing notifications, recent apps, and browser tabs even easier. You
can now dismiss individual notifications, apps from the Recent Apps list, and browser
tabs with a simple swipe of a finger.
Improved text input and spell-checking
The soft keyboard in Android 4.0 makes text input even faster and more accurate. Error
correction and word suggestion are improved through a new set of default dictionaries and
more accurate heuristics for handling cases such as double-typed characters, skipped
letters, and omitted spaces. Word suggestion is also improved and the suggestion strip is
simplified to show only three words at a time.
Powerful voice input engine
Android 4.0 introduces a powerful new voice input engine that offers a continuous "open
microphone" experience and streaming voice recognition. The new voice input engine lets
you dictate the text you want, for as long as you want, using the language you want. You
can speak continously for a prolonged time, even pausing for intervals if needed, and
dictate punctuation to create correct sentences. As the voice input engine enters text,
it underlines possible dictation errors in gray. After dictating, you can tap the
underlined words to quickly replace them from a list of suggestions.
Rich and versatile camera capabilities
The Camera app includes many new features that let you capture special moments with
great photos and videos. After capturing images, you can edit and share them easily
with friends.
When taking pictures, continuous focus, zero shutter lag exposure, and decreased
shot-to-shot speed help capture clear, precise images. Stabilized image zoom lets you
compose photos and video in the way you want, including while video is recording. For
new flexibility and convenience while shooting video, you can now take snapshots at
full video resolution just by tapping the screen as video continues to record.
Live Effects for transforming video
Live Effects is a collection of graphical transformations that add interest and fun to
videos captured in the Camera app. For example, you can change the background behind
them to any stock or custom image, for just the right setting when shooting video. Also
available for video is Silly Faces, a set of morphing effects that use state-of-the-art
face recognition and GPU filters to transform facial features. For example, you can use
effects such as small eyes, big mouth, big nose, face squeeze, and more. Outside of the
Camera app, Live Effects is available during video chat in the Google Talk app.
Powerful web browsing
The Android Browser offers an experience that’s as rich and convenient as a desktop
browser. It lets you instantly sync and manage Google Chrome bookmarks from all of your
accounts, jump to your favorite content faster, and even save it for reading later in
case there's no network available.
To get the most out of web content, you can now request full desktop versions of web
sites, rather than their mobile versions. You can set your preference for web sites
separately for each browser tab. For longer content, you can save a copy for offline
reading. To find and open saved pages, you can browse a visual list that’s included
with browser bookmarks and history. For better readability and accessibility, you can
increase the browser’s zoom levels and override the system default text sizes.
Face Unlock
Android 4.0 introduces a completely new approach to securing a device, making each
person's device even more personal — Face Unlock is a new screen-lock option that lets
you unlock your device with your face. It takes advantage of the device front-facing
camera and state-of-the-art facial recognition technology to register a face during
setup and then to recognize it again when unlocking the device. Just hold your device
in front of your face to unlock, or use a backup PIN or pattern.
