Google CEO Hypes Android Ice Cream Sandwich as Release Set
Looks like the Ice Cream Sandwich party is back on. After cancelling the original Ice Cream Sandwich launch, Google and Samsung have picked a new date in October. And this time, there’s a little whipped cream on top: Google CEO Larry Page dropped hints that Android 4.0 will truly surprise users …
Google and Samsung have picked Tuesday, Oct. 18, 2011, as the new launch date for Ice Cream Sandwich and the alleged Nexus Prime phone. While I speculated that the Kindle Fire and other technologies may have been the reason for the pause, it turns out some of it may have been out of respect for the passing of former Apple CEO Steve Jobs.
Meanwhile, reports are flooding in that Google CEO Larry Page said, “… you won’t believe what we managed to get done in this release,” when discussing Android on Google’s Q3 earnings call. Ladies and gentlemen, start your speculation engines — Page’s comment seems to confirm my initial theory that Google plans to turn up the Android volume to 11.
What has Google managed to cram into the little green robot? A betting man might guess it’s something that rivals — or at least comes close to — Apple’s Siri. I personally would settle for a complete overhaul of the GUI to remove the ever-present graphical lag I’ve found in every Android device. It drives me nuts. But I also believe Google spent time integrating a variety of services into Android. For example, now that iOS has ubiquitous Twitter integration, Android may need a similar social networking feature that doesn’t seem like just an “add-on” via a notification system or a widget.
I’m pulling for some seriously groundbreaking features, but I think Android will still be playing catch-up with iOS 5. Fun fact: Apple is so sure it’s going into the holiday season a winner that Tim Cook is giving all employees in the United States the entire Thanksgiving week off. I hope Larry Page’s words won’t haunt him.
“A betting man might guess it’s something that rivals — or at least comes close to — Apple’s Siri”
um…. Android has had Google Voice Actions for the better part of a year… not exactly playing catch up is it
^Exactly, thank you, Callum.
No need to find something new to “at least come close to” Siri, Android has had what is essentially Siri for a while.
Wooh, being informed.
I got rid of my iPhone4 last month to move back to Android as the Galaxy S2 woo’d me and I had time to kill waiting on a i5 announcement (knowing deep inside they would do the same as they done with i.3Gs): Selling my i4 at a loss was painful enough but to then see what was released Arggghhhhh
Gotta say though found myself in the APPLE store today 3 hours after launch of the i4S with £600+ in my pocket – and if it were not for the lack of 16gb amp; 32gb models of the new units I would have bought. (sold out – allegedly, but we have 64gb models sir – £700 no way)… Siri did swing it for me.
Anyway I had came off Android 18months ago because the UI was boring, not very intuitive and slow.. Boy was I deeply disappointed with my S2 – no real major changes with Androids OS in the last 2 years – iOS is just way slicker atm – so I am hopeful that Mr Page delivers on his words.
I can only hope that Ice Cream Sandwich delivers – or it looks inevitable that I will be back with iPhone.
I agree most android ui’s look terrible. kinda like new age ms dos. Ive bn using the miui + ios theme. Whats stopping samsung from doing something like miui? ip issues perhaps? bloody apple takes up law suits against everything
I’m a big fan of Android. I’ve been using it since the original Droid and I’m on the Thunderbolt right now. But as great as Google’s voice recognition is, it’s not ubiquitously integrated the same way, and there’s no cute assistant style implementation that Apple provides.
I saw Siri in action the other day at Radio Shack and I have to say, it’s a lost sexier and nicer than what Google is offering. Plus, the natural language recognition is really the killer app. You don’t have to format what you say, you just say what you want how you want, and the phone does it for you. That’s the real secret and that’s what’s making me envious.
I’ll stick to my Thunderbolt, and really hope that Ice Cream Sandwich provides a much more natural way to talk to my phone. I think that’s what the author was hinting at.
Some people so obviously have no idea what they are writing about but still do because they have a platform to do so. “For example, now that iOS has ubiquitous Twitter integration, Android may need a similar social networking feature that doesn’t seem like just an “add-on” via a notification system or a widget.” Seriously? When was the last time that you used Android? Android has ubiquitous integration with every kind of communication and social networking application that’s installed on the user’s device. I could share information from my browser or messaging application with any installed communication/networking app ever since Android was born
Hi Ted,
Let me clarify:
I’ve been using Android quite a bit lately since I’ve been testing out a few Honeycomb tablets. What I’m trying to say is that in iOS, Twitter is baked into the OS, and it gives it a very tight and snappy feel, like it was always meant to be there. On Android, once you’ve installed the social networking applications (Twitter, Facebook etc…), the apps themselves hook into Android APIs to make themselves available for notifications, widgets, and of course, sharing and exporting content.
But that process feels less fluid on Android, and occasionally, cumbersome, especially if two apps are involved (Browser + Twitter or Photo gallery + Facebook) in the handshaking process to share content. Meanwhile, on iOS, that entire sharing process lives exclusively in the OS layer (two taps from taking a photo to share it to Twitter), meaning nothing extra is required to post, tweet or share a photo, content, link or blurb.
There’s always an advantage to native OS integration over application-supported integration. Android needs more of that.
Thanks for reading,
-Dave
It’s two taps on Android too 🙂 and what’s more, I am not just stuck with Twitter. I can share on Facebook and many other apps.
Apple’s approach sounds like it won’t scale beyond anything else but Twitter. Android’s will.
So, now that Ice Cream Sandwich has been officially revealed, can we expect a blog post on it? 🙂
Hi Lawrence,
The article is right here: http://www.thevarguy.com/2011/10/21/android-4-0-ice-cream-sandwich-arrives-with-robust-features/ =)
Thanks for reading.