The ICS 4.0.1 experience

[M0381U5]

I have had my Galaxy Nexus for 2 days now, and am finding it to be rather lacking. Lacking in many standard features included in most previous phones. This is not due to poor hardware, the Galaxy Nexus is an amazing phone, except the fact is has no MicroSD slot and only 16gb, The vast majority of my issues are related to Android ICS 4.0.1

Though I do like the Aesthetics and feel of ICS, absent standard features such as File browser, setting ringtones, music player options and the general unintuitive feel of the OS are a big disappointment, there are features missing that are available on all my previous Android phones running version 2.x.x.

So will ICS 4.x develop and grow into what I have come to expect from previous versions of android, or do others feel its is a complete system already.

IMO, I feel the many issues I have found, may well be ironed out in coming versions, possibly indicate a greater depth of issues as yet unseen. If the Galaxy Nexus ICS 4 has not been resolved when the SGSII ICS update is released, I will have no choice but the ignore it.

Lets hope the great people developing ICS 4.x will uphold the Android reputation.

Please let me know what you think of ICS 4.0.1 so far, include a Pros and cons list, and comparison to other versions of Android is desired.

 

[chanchan05]

Depends on what your previous phones are. Remember that Galaxy Nexus, and the entire Nexus line in general, is a pure Android device, meant for developers, which means its features are bare bones, exactly how you find your phone now: missing quite a number of features. This is because Nexus line was meant for developers to test their apps on, which means it only contains the core apps and services of Android. All Nexus phones AFAIK have no microsd slots. Its not meant to be a consumer phone anyway.

Samsung's Galaxy line (excluding the Galaxy Nexus), and HTC's, Moto's and Sonys all have "skinned" Android, where in they already added more features and options to make the phone more market friendly.

 

[davidchsw]

Can you give some examples of what is missing from the phone? Can apps from the market fill the voids?

 

[lunatic59]

One of the great strengths of Android is its extensibility. Much of what you say is missing from the OS are really enhancements that are easily added through third party apps. While it would be great if a person could open a box and have everything they want in a phone, the reality is that for every person, there is a unique set of requirements. It would be impossible to make a one-size-fits all phone without sacrificing a great deal of flexibility.

 

[ReubenS]

I don't have a Galaxy Nexus yet, but the ICS over-the-air update for my Nexus S has made it very crashy. It sometimes reboots when switching to a game.

 

[chanchan05]

I don't have a Galaxy Nexus yet, but the ICS over-the-air update for my Nexus S has made it very crashy. It sometimes reboots when switching to a game.

Samsung made Nexus S and Galaxy S with almost identical hardware, and they say the Galaxy S doesn't have enough horsepower for ICS + TW, so I'd say the Nexus S has only barely enough horsepower for it I'd guess.

 

[Stuntman]

From what I know about ICS, it doesn't have anything that I really want and would miss because my device is likely not going to get ICS. I've asked a few people about ICS and what features it has that is not in Gingerbread. I found these are the only features I found out about:

• Resizable Widgets -- I have this feature on my Honeycomb tablet. Not something I really miss since screen realestate limits widgets on my phone.
• Transitions -- This is just window dressing to me. I don't care how the transitions look as long as I get to the next screen.

There doesn't seem to be anything that I really want and would make me consider actually getting a new phone soon to get it. I'd be interested to know what I would be missing by staying on Gingerbread.

 

[Gmash]

From what I know about ICS, it doesn't have anything that I really want and would miss because my device is likely not going to get ICS. I've asked a few people about ICS and what features it has that is not in Gingerbread. I found these are the only features I found out about:

• Resizable Widgets -- I have this feature on my Honeycomb tablet. Not something I really miss since screen realestate limits widgets on my phone.
• Transitions -- This is just window dressing to me. I don't care how the transitions look as long as I get to the next screen.

There doesn't seem to be anything that I really want and would make me consider actually getting a new phone soon to get it. I'd be interested to know what I would be missing by staying on Gingerbread.

I think the biggest addition is hardware acceleration, which should make everything run smoother.

 

[Shocky]

I think the biggest addition is hardware acceleration, which should make everything run smoother.

I don't think so, Google don't seem to like hardware acceleration, Android has had support for it for a while but the stock launchers never take advantage.

Maybe it's enabled for the browser but that will only benefit benchmarks, in the real work it won't make an difference.

If you want hardware acceleration in the UI look at the Galaxy S II, latest version of Sense might be using it as well but it's so bloated it's hard to tell.

 

[dan330]

the things you say are missisng.. on a developer's phone... can be filled by doing a quick search in the market.

but if you want a phone that tries to fill your needs before you think you need it... you want a phone that has OEM UI enhancements... Sense, Touchwiz, etc....

 

[Stuntman]

I do like some of the things that Sense adds to the UI. When I was comparing my Desire Z to the Nexus S, I found a number of widgets that I had available to me were missing from the Nexus S. When the ICS update gets pushed out to my friend's Nexus S, I'll have a look to see what I may be missing.

 

[chanchan05]

I do like some of the things that Sense adds to the UI. When I was comparing my Desire Z to the Nexus S, I found a number of widgets that I had available to me were missing from the Nexus S. When the ICS update gets pushed out to my friend's Nexus S, I'll have a look to see what I may be missing.

They'd still be missing because those widgets are Sense Launcher based widgets. If you try to use a third party launcher on your phone, those widgets would also be unavailable to you. Same goes for TouchWiz, it has widgets that are accessible for use only if you use the TouchWiz Launcher.