Ice Cream Sandwich Google Android O.S.: A Deep-Dive Tour With Android’s Chief Engineer

Original article at: wired.com

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. — There are few things in this world I despise more than software updates. Downloading hundreds of files, waiting for the progress bar to fill, restarting the device — it’s all a thankless chore. Usually.

But Google’s Android 4.0 operating system, better known by its tasty nickname “Ice Cream Sandwich,” or ICS, is far from a mere mobile OS update. Ice Cream Sandwich is a complete OS overhaul that includes tweaks ranging from the geekily esoteric (widget resizing!) to the most surface-level of interface improvements (think “shinier,” care of faux-polished surfacing effects). It’s also destined for both Android smartphones and tablets, unifying Google’s mobile OS platforms for the first time.

Google invited me to its Mountain View campus for hands-on time with the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, the flagship device on which Ice Cream Sandwich will launch sometime in November. Android Vice President of Engineering, Hiroshi Lockheimer, gave me a deep-dive tour of the new software, and, by the time I left, I was stoked to upgrade to one of the most anticipated Android releases to date.

Read the whole article at: wired.com