Google Android 4.0 Pro Reviews

Though I’m not happy with Ice Cream Sandwich overall, I am pleased to see that it has enhanced battery life on the Prime. Yet I still don’t feel that the Prime is worthy of an Editor’s Choice, and that’s entirely due to the operating system. It remains significantly behind iOS, and as long as that is the case, it will be nearly impossible for any Android tablet to knock Apple off the top of the tablet hill.

Google needed to make sure it kept its OS refreshed and current, and Ice Cream Sandwich ticks that box in so many ways. It's worth remembering that this is the foundation for manufacturers to go and build on - there's a lot more to come in the next 12 months. However, if this is the platform Google will be using on all Motorola devices when the acquisition is complete then it's a good enough OS in its own right. In terms of how good you'll think Android 4.0: Ice Cream Sandwich is, it all boils down to personal choice. We're excited to see how manufacturers will customise it and extol the virtues to improve media or the home networking options, but others will simply be huge fans of the simplicity - our score is a mixture of the tools Google has offered up and the base level of performance on show. But make no mistake - Ice Cream Sandwich is the most accessible and easy-to-learn OS from Google, and that's going to be key in the wars against Apple and Microsoft.

The biggest Android update in ages, Ice Cream Sandwich brings real improvements to the leading smartphone platform, and it'll get even better as phone makers fill in its gaps.

Good software does its job in a clean, consistent way. Great software does all that, but then delights you with its usefulness, the thoughtful moments peppered throughout by developers who really care about their work. That’s the level Android has been elevated to with Ice Cream Sandwich. Core apps, like the browser, calendar and Gmail “just work” while the UI around them feels tailor-made for multitasking. Google has pared down unnecessary lists and, for the most part, extra button-taps, replacing them with clear iconography, easily learned gestures and bold graphics. It all looks great, certainly better than any manufacturer skin we’ve seen. Google’s Nexus range always raises the bar for Android OEMs, laying out the company’s expectations for the next generation of mobile devices. With Ice Cream Sandwich, Google has done the same for Android software developers: set a standard by which it – and users – will judge their apps. If Android coders can live up to that challenge, Ice Cream Sandwich will mark a huge turning point in the platform’s lifecycle. Android has always had huge promise: Ice Cream Sandwich delivers on it.