Google Announces Android Ice Cream Sandwich

Jay · **Posted:** May 11th, 2011, 3:13 pm

http://arstechnica.com/open-source/news/2011/05/google-announces-android-ice-cream-sandwich-will-merge-phone-and-tablet-oses.ars wrote:

The next version of Google's Android operating system, codenamed Ice Cream Sandwich, will converge the formerly disparate phone and tablet versions of the OS, Google announced at its I/O keynote today. Ice Cream Sandwich will maintain a single UI across all form factors and will allow developers to create applications for both kinds of devices in one motion. It will follow the rollout of Android 3.1 to the Motorola Xoom tablet and Google TV.

Google says the Ice Cream Sandwich version of Android will "all be open source," including APIs for face-tracking and other new features. Developers will be able to account for all form factors within this same version of the OS, and Google will be adding a lot of UIs to accommodate Android devices of all shapes and sizes.

The announcement of Ice Cream Sandwich followed news of Android 3.1, which carries desirable features like resizable widgets in the application launcher. Android 3.1's trip over to Google TV will also carry with it the Android Marketplace and the usability of USB devices. At the keynote, Hugo Barra, director of Android product management, demoed the use of an XBox 360 controller with an Android game.

No official launch date has yet been announced for Ice Cream Sandwich, but Android 3.1 will be available to compatible devices as of today.

So we're down to "I" on the alphabetical dessert version names. Sounds pretty interesting. I wonder how they will manage making a single UI for both large and regular screen sizes without butchering or stretching the either of them.

Adbot · **Posted:** May 11th, 2011, 3:13 pm

trekkie · **Posted:** May 11th, 2011, 4:43 pm

also heard on the radio they want to start unmanned vehicle testing on the road. this way you are allowed to text, be drunk, get ads, while the car takes you to the next party.

Bryan · **Posted:** May 11th, 2011, 6:04 pm

NEXT ONE'S JELLO, I CALLED IT.
Once Ice Cream's SDK goes open (and it WILL, keynote guy said so), the CyanogenMOD floodgates will open and the Android world will go crazy. Gingerbread was nothing (new and much), so I'm super excited for Ice Cream Sandwich.

Strange how Google also didn't announce a version number for Ice Cream Sandwich yet (gosh that's a ***** to write), and I wonder how OEMs will integrate their skins into its new UI. I'd love to see a complete rewrite of Sense, TouchWiz, or motoBLUR.

I'm so excited to speak properly actually I CANT WAITTTTTTTTTTTTTTT <3333333333333333