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Simple, beautiful, beyond smart
Android 4.0 builds on the things people love most about Android — easy multitasking, rich notifications, customizable home screens, resizable widgets, and deep interactivity — and adds powerful new ways of communicating and sharing.
Refined, evolved UI
Focused on bringing the power of Android to the surface, Android 4.0 makes common actions more visible and lets users navigate with simple, intuitive gestures. Refined animations and feedback throughout the system make interactions engaging and interesting. An entirely new typeface optimized for high-resolution screens improves readability and brings a polished, modern feel to the user interface.
Virtual buttons in the System Bar let users navigate instantly to Back, Home, and Recent Apps. The System Bar and virtual buttons are present across all apps, but can be dimmed by applications for full-screen viewing. Users can access each application's contextual options in the Action Bar, displayed at the top (and sometimes also at the bottom) of the screen.
Multitasking is a key strength of Android and it's made even easier and more visual on Android 4.0. The Recent Apps button lets users jump instantly from one task to another using the list in the System Bar. The list pops up to show thumbnail images of apps used recently — tapping a thumbnail switches to the app. The Recent Apps list makes multitasking simple. Jump to the camera or see notifications without unlocking. For incoming calls, you can respond instantly by text.
Rich and interactive notifications let users keep in constant touch with incoming messages, play music tracks, see real-time updates from apps, and much more. On smaller-screen devices, notifications appear at the top of the screen, while on larger-screen devices they appear in the System Bar.
The All Apps launcher (left) and resizable widgets (right) give you apps and rich content from the home screen.
Home screen folders and favorites tray
New home screen folders offer a new way for users to group their apps and shortcuts logically, just by dragging one onto another. From the All Apps launcher, users can now simply drag an app to get information about it or immediately uninstall it, or disable a pre-installed app.
On smaller-screen devices, the home screen now includes a customizable favorites tray visible from all home screens. Users can drag apps, shortcuts, folders, and other priority items in or out of the favorites tray for instant access from any home screen.
Resizable widgets
Home screens in Android 4.0 are designed to be content-rich and customizable. Users can do much more than add shortcuts — they can embed live application content directly through interactive widgets. Widgets let users check email, flip through a calendar, play music, check social streams, and more — right from the home screen, without having to launch apps. Widgets are resizable, so users can expand them to show more content or shrink them to save space.
New lock screen actions
The lock screens now let users do more without unlocking. From the slide lock screen, users can jump directly to the camera for a picture or pull down the notifications window to check for messages. When listening to music, users can even manage music tracks and see album art.
Quick responses for incoming calls
When an incoming call arrives, users can now quickly respond by text message, without needing to pick up the call or unlock the device. On the incoming call screen, users simply slide a control to see a list of text responses and then tap to send and end the call. Users can add their own responses and manage the list from the Settings app.
Swipe to dismiss notifications, tasks, and browser tabs
Android 4.0 makes managing notifications, recent apps, and browoser tabs even easier. Users can now dismiss individual notifications, apps from the Recent Apps list, and browser tabs lists with a simple swipe of a finger.
Improved text input and spell-checking
The soft keyboard in Android 4.0 makes text input even faster and more accurate. Error correction and word suggestion are improved through a new set of default dictionaries and more accurate heuristics for handling cases such as double-typed characters, skipped letters, and omitted spaces. Word suggestion is also improved and the suggestion strip is simplified to show only three words at a time.
To fix misspelled words more easily, Android 4.0 adds a spell-checker that locates and underlines errors and suggests replacement words. With one tap, users can choose from multiple spelling suggestions, delete a word, or add it to the dictionary. Users can even tap to see replacement suggestions for words that are spelled correctly. For specialized features or additional languages, users can now download and install third-party dictionaries, spell-checkers, and other text services.
Powerful voice input engine
Android 4.0 introduces a powerful new voice input engine that offers a continuous "open microphone" experience and streaming voice recognition. The new voice input engine lets users dictate the text they want, for as long as they want, using the language they want. Users can speak continously for a prolonged time, even pausing for intervals if needed, and dictate punctuation to create correct sentences. As the voice input engine enters text, it underlines possible dictation errors in gray. After dictating, users can tap the underlined words to quickly replace them from a list of suggestions.
Data usage controls let you monitor total usage by network type and application and then set limits if needed.
Control over network data
Mobile devices can make extensive use of network data for streaming content, synchronizing data, downloading apps, and more. To meet the needs of users with tiered or metered data plans, Android 4.0 adds new controls for managing network data usage.
In the Settings app, colorful charts show the total data usage on each network type (mobile or Wi-Fi), as well as amount of data used by each running application. Based on their data plans, users can optionally set warning levels or hard limits on data usage or disable mobile data altogether. Users can also manage the background data used by individual applications as needed.
Designed for accessibility
A variety of new features greatly enhance the accessibility of Android 4.0 for blind or visually impaired users. Most important is a new explore-by-touch mode that lets users navigate without having to see the screen. Touching the screen once triggers audible feedback that identifies the UI component below; a second touch in the same component activates it with a full touch event. The new mode is especially important to support users on new devices that use virtual buttons in the System Bar, rather than dedicated hardware buttons or trackballs. Also, standard apps are updated to offer an improved accessibility experience. The Browser supports a script-based screen reader for reading favorite web content and navigating sites. For improved readability, users can also increase the default font size used across the system.
The accessibility experience begins at first setup — a simple touch gesture during setup (clockwise square from upper left) activates all accessibility features and loads a setup tutorial. Once accessibility features are active, everything visible on the screen can be spoken aloud by the standard screen reader.
Communication and sharing
Designed for the way people live, Android 4.0 integrates rich social communication and sharing touchpoints across the system, making it easy to talk, email, text, and share.
People and profiles
Throughout the system, a user’s social groups, profiles, and contacts are linked together and integrated for easy accessibility. At the center is a new People app that offers richer profile information, including a large profile picture, phone numbers, addresses and accounts, status updates, and a new button for connecting on integrated social networks.
The user's own contact information is stored in a new "Me" profile, allowing easier sharing with apps and people. All of the user's integrated contacts are displayed in an easy to manage list, including controls over which contacts are shown from any integrated account or social network. Wherever the user navigates across the system, tapping a profile photo displays Quick Contacts, with shortcuts to phone numbers, text messaging, and more.
Unified calendar, visual voicemail
To help organize appointments and events, an updated Calendar app brings together personal, work, school, and social agendas. With user permission, other applications can contribute events to the calendar and manage reminders, for an integrated view across multiple calendar providers. The app is redesigned to let users manage events more easily. Calendars are color-coded and users can swipe left or right to change dates and pinch to zoom in or out agendas.
In the phone app, a new visual voicemail features integrates incoming messages, voice transcriptions, and audio files from one or more providers. Third-party applications can integrate with the Phone app to add their own voice messages, transcriptions, and more to the visual voicemail inbox.
Capture the picture you want, edit, and share instantly.
Rich and versatile camera capabilities
The Camera app includes many new features let users capture special moments with great photos and videos. After capturing images, they can edit and share them easily with friemds.
When taking pictures, continuous focus, zero shutter lag exposure, and decreased shot-to-shot speed help capture clear, precise images. Stabilized image zoom lets users compose photos and video in the way they want, including while video is recording. For new flexibility and convenience while shooting video, users can now take snapshots at full video resolution just by tapping the screen as video continues to record.
To make it easier to take great pictures of people, built-in face detection locates faces in the frame and automatically sets focus. For more control, users can tap to focus anywhere in the preview image.
For capturing larger scenes, the Camera introduces a single-motion panorama mode. In this mode, the user starts an exposure and then slowly turns the Camera to encompass as wide a perspective as needed. The Camera assembles the full range of continuous imagery into a single panoramic photo.
After taking a picture or video, users can quickly share it by email, text message, bluetooth, social networks, and more, just by tapping the thumbnail in the camera controls.
Redesigned Gallery app with photo editor
The Gallery app now makes it easier to manage, show, and share photos and videos. For managing collections, a redesigned album layout shows many more albums and offers larger thumbnails. There are many ways to sort albums, including by time, location, people, and tags. To help pictures look their best, the Gallery now includes a powerful photo editor. Users can crop and rotate pictures, set levels, remove red eyes, add effects, and much more. After retouching, users can select one or multiple pictures or videos to share instantly over email, text messaging, bluetooth, social networks, or other apps.
An improved Picture Gallery widget lets users look at pictures directly on their home screen. The widget can display pictures from a selected album, shuffle pictures from all albums, or show a single image. After adding the widget to the home screen, users can flick through the photo stacks to locate the image they want, then tap to load it in Gallery.
Live Effects for transforming video
Live Effects is a collection of graphical transformations that add interest and fun to videos captured in the Camera app. For example, users can change the background behind them to any stock or custom image, for just the right setting when shooting video or using Google Talk video chat. Also available is Silly Faces, a set of morphing effects that use state-of-the-art face recognition and GPU filters to add great effects facial features during video capture. For example, you can use effects such as small eyes, big mouth, big nose, face squeeze, and more. Outside of the Camera app, Live Effects is available during video chat in the Google Talk app.
Sharing with screenshots
Users can now share what's on their screens more easily by taking screenshots. Hardware buttons let them snap a screenshot and store it locally. Afterward, they can view, edit, and share the screen shot in Gallery or a similar app.
Cloud-connected experience
Android has always been cloud-connected, letting users browse the web and sync photos, apps, games, email, and contacts — wherever they are and across all of their devices. Android 4.0 adds new browsing and email capabilities to let users take even more with them and keep communication organized.
Powerful web browsing
The Android Browser offers an experience that’s as rich and convenient as a desktop browser. It lets users instantly and manage sync Google Chrome bookmarks from all of their accounts, jump to their favorite content faster, and even save it for reading later in case there's no network available.
To get the most out of web content, users can now request full desktop versions of web sites, rather than their mobile versions. Users can set their preference for web sites separately for each browser tab. For longer content, users can save a copy for offline reading. To find and open saved pages, users can browse a visual list that’s included with browser bookmarks and history. For better readability and accessibility, users can increase the browser’s zoom levels and override the system default text sizes.
Across all types of content, the Android Browser offers dramatically improved page rendering performance through updated versions of the WebKit core and the V8 Crankshaft compilation engine for JavaScript. In benchmarks run on a Nexus S device, the Android 4.0 browser showed an improvement of nearly 220% over the Android 2.3 browser in the V8 Benchmark Suite and more than 35% in the SunSpider 9.1 JavaScript Benchmark. When run on a Galaxy Nexus device, the Android 4.0 browser showed improvement of nearly 550% in the V8 benchmark and nearly 70% in the SunSpider benchmark.
Improved email
In Android 4.0, email is easier to send, read, and manage. For composing email, improved auto-completion of recipients helps with finding and adding frequent contacts more quickly. For easier input of frequent text, users can now create quick responses and store them in the app, then enter them from a convenient menu when composing. When replying to a message, users can now toggle the message to Reply All and Forward without changing screens.
For easier browsing across accounts and labels, the app adds an integrated menu of accounts and recent labels. To help users locate and organize IMAP and Exchange email, the Email app now supports nested mail subfolders, each with synchronization rules. Users can also search across folders on the server, for faster results.
For enterprises, the Email app supports EAS v14. It supports EAS certificate authentication, provides ABQ strings for device type and mode, and allows automatic sync to be disabled while roaming. Administrators can also limit attachment size or disable attachments.
For keeping track of incoming email more easily, a resizable Email widget lets users flick through recent email right from the home screen, then jump into the Email app to compose or reply.
Android is continously driving innovation forward, pushing the boundaries of communication and sharing with new capabilities and interactions.
Android Beam for NFC-based sharing
Android Beam is an innovative, convenient feature for sharing across two NFC-enabled devices, It lets people instantly exchange favorite apps, contacts, music, videos — almost anything. It’s incredibly simple and convenient to use — there’s no menu to open, application to launch, or pairing needed. Just touch one Android-powered phone to another, then tap to send.
For sharing apps, Android Beam pushes a link to the app's details page in Android Market. On the other device, the Market app launches and loads the details page, for easy downloading of the app. Individual apps can build on Android Beam to add other types of interactions, such as passing game scores, initiating a multiplayer game or chat, and more.
Face Unlock
Android 4.0 introduces a completely new approach to securing a device, making it even more personal — Face Unlock is a new screen-lock option that lets users unlock their devices with their faces. It takes advantage of state-of-the-art facial recognition technology to register a face and to recognize it later when unlocking the device. Users just hold their devices in front of their faces to unlock, or use a backup PIN or pattern.
Wi-Fi Direct and Bluetooth HDP
Support for Wi-Fi Direct lets users connect directly to nearby peer devices over Wi-Fi, for more reliable, higher-speed communication. No internet connection or tethering is needed. Through third-party apps, users can connect to compatible devices to take advantage of new features such as instant sharing of files, photos, or other media; streaming video or audio from another device; or connecting to compatible printers or other devices.
Android 4.0 also introduces built-in support for connecting to Bluetooth Health Device Profile (HDP) devices. With support from third-party apps, users can connect to wireless medical devices and sensors in hospitals, fitness centers, homes, and elsewhere. In addition, for connecting to higher quality Bluetooth audio devices, Android 4.0 adds support for Bluetooth Hands Free Profile (HFP) 1.6.
Looks promising. Can't wait.
Oh wow the face unlock looks coooool
Too bad we dont have a face camera
am only hoping that we can update to Ice cream because sony ericsson has not even made an official annoncement that Arc will get this update
I´m not sure...if sony ericsson will give us this update. i think there is on big problem, the extremly low ram in the xperia series.
if se wont give us ice cream sandwich, i think cyanogenmod will give to us
SirRobin78 said:
I´m not sure...if sony ericsson will give us this update. i think there is on big problem, the extremly low ram in the xperia series.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It works on the Nexus S so it will definitely work on Xperia Arc, as far as SE is concerned with spewing out updates, they will want to upgrade the majority of the xperia 2011 range to 4.0, i dont think they will leave out their flagship out in the cold.
I can't wait for the update. XD
I would love to hear of a new exploit to root ICS. ;-) LOL!
Really, really, REALLY WANT THIS ICS~!!
The Dutch se branch stated that the full 2011 xperia range will get an update to ics
sent from my miui arc
if will get this..is it possible to have the face unlock feature we dont have the front face camera.
elnitrox said:
if will get this..is it possible to have the face unlock feature we dont have the front face camera.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think this function would simply not be implemented for us ... :S
Hope to see it on Xperia arc.
Sent from my Xperia arc using Tapatalk
Seriously I was not to impressed with this I c s they bragged about features that was already in 2.3 .4 and about features that you can get from apps that are already in the market and the way they kept repeating with every sentence how great it was over and over kinda got on my nerves kind of reminiscent of the idiots at apple telling you how their products of so magical
It does look good don't get me wrong but I be waiting for a Couple of reviews on it before I have Update I did like that resizing of widgets that is very nice and a couple of other things but did you see how the face recognition failed on stage very sad!
Sent from my LT15i using XDA App
Thanks to the opener for the great summary! Anyway I want it just for the GUI hardware acceleration, let's hope that SE will bring to us as soon as possible, but I trust more Cyanogen team for this task
Face-unlock:
1. Get target phone that is locked with Face Unlock. 2. Hold camera up to target's facebook profile pic on your screen 3. Access!
Hardware-accelerated 2D drawing
All Android-powered devices running Android 4.0 are required to support hardware-accelerated 2D drawing. Developers can take advantage of this to add great UI effects while maintaining optimal performance on high-resolution screens, even on phones. For example, developers can rely on accelerated scaling, rotation, and other 2D operations, as well as accelerated UI components such as TextureView and compositing modes such as filtering, blending, and opacity.
SE will bring out Android 4.0 for every Xperia phones of 2011!
Source: http://www.gadgetzone.nl/nieuws.php?id=8162
i don't like the colors.
i like it
Introduction
Google's newest and best version of Android just became official at the Google-Samsung event in Hong Kong along with the Galaxy Nexus. And although it may seem like it, Ice Cream Sandwich is not just another update to Android but a way to curb some of the inherent issues with the OS, such as fragmentation, that have been plaguing it for a long time.
Ice Cream Sandwich combines the tablet optimized Honeycomb and Gingerbread into a cohesive whole. The unification of the UI and APIs means that developers will no longer have to worry about multiple devices and hardware configurations and just have to develop their apps for one OS and it will automatically work perfectly across all devices. This is what Google promised us at their I/O event when they first announced Ice Cream Sandwich and that is what they delivered today.
Optimized for smartphone and tablet use
New user interface, with a new typeface called 'Roboto', updated animations, transition effects, multi-touch gestures and live wallpapers
Improved multitasking
New homescreen folders and favorites tray
Improved lock screen with facial unlock
Improved notification menu
Resizable widgets, viewable through the application menu
Built-in screenshot utility
Improved text input and spell-checking
Improved voice input
Ability to monitor and control data usage
Improved accessibility for disabled users
New Peoples app
Improved Gmail and Calendar app
Improved web browser with ability to save web pages and incognito mode
Visual voicemail
Improved camera app with face detection and panorama mode
Improved video recorder with continuous auto-focus, zooming while recording, snapshot while recording and time lapse mode
Redesigned Gallery app with photo editor
Android Beam for transferring data using NFC
Wi-Fi Direct and Bluetooth HDP support
But Ice Cream Sandwich is more than just unification of the smartphone and tablet versions of Android. It brings an overwhelming number of new changes and features to the OS that combine the best of Gingerbread and Honeycomb, while adding some new features along the way, such as the improved lock and notification screen, new camera app, new Peoples app and an improved browser, just to name a few.
Today we’ll be taking a first look at some of the more important features in Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. So sit back and relax as we take you through them.
User Interface
The user interface on Ice Cream Sandwich has received a great deal of attention. It has the similar robotic theme of previous Android versions and reminds strongly of Honeycomb with it’s dark blue theme and similar UI elements.
Google is using a new typeface on Ice Cream Sandwich, called Roboto, which replaces the original Droid typeface found on previous versions of Android. There are also some new animations and transition effects and a new swipe gesture that works across the OS and lets you remove items from a list simply by swiping on it horizontally.
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Ice Cream Sandwich lockscreen with Roboto typeface for the clock • Main application menu
The Ice Cream Sandwich UI has a cool, modern look to it that is in a different class altogether compared to the classic, almost timeless look of iOS and the bold and sophisticated look of Windows Phone 7. It remains to be seen, however, if it will age as well as the other two, especially iOS. But if it ever gets boring, you can always change it. That’s the good thing about Android.
Call screen
Now let’s talk about the new features and improvements in the UI.
Multitasking
Ice Cream Sandwich borrows heavily from Honeycomb when it comes to the new multitasking UI. You press the dedicated Recent Apps button at the bottom of the screen, which brings a vertical stack of thumbnails for the recently opened apps.
Multitasking in Android 4.0
The thumbnails show actual screenshots of the app instead of just their icons, which makes them easier to identify and see the state you left them in. Apps can be closed simply by swiping them off the screen.
New notifications screen
The notifications screen now shows you icons next to the notification, such as the picture of the person who tried to call or message you. You can even control the default music player from the notification screen without having to switch apps.
Notifications can now be removed from the screen one at a time and all you have to do is swipe on them to remove them from the list. Lastly, the notifications screen can now be accessed from the lock screen as well, so you can see your notifications without having to unlock your phone.
Notification drawer
Improved lock screen
The lock screen now lets you jump directly to the camera app from the homescreen, simply by dragging the lock icon to the camera icon. This functionality was found in Android phones from HTC and Samsung before but it’s nice to see it built-into Android. Having said that it’s a lot simpler in comparison and only works with the camera app for now. It would have been nice to add other applications to the lock screen, as HTC allows you to do.
Face Unlock
A new feature in Ice Cream Sandwich lets you unlock your phone using your face. Once the phone knows what you look like, all you have to do is point the phone at your face for it to recognize and unlock the phone for you. This saves the hassle of remembering passwords and is more secure than a simple lock screen. It did not work as intended during the demo but we’re hopeful that the final version of the software would be better.
Folders
Although Android had folder support before, creating and managing folders wasn’t as simple and intuitive as it is in iOS. This changes with Ice Cream Sandwich because the folders are now vastly improved. You can drag and drop application icons on the homescreen on one another to create a new folder or directly drag an app into an existing folder. Tapping a folder shows you the contents within and you can even drag the icons around inside the folder.
Ice Cream Sandwich also comes with a new favorites tray, which is like a dock found at the bottom of the screen. In previous smartphone versions of Android, you would have two, non-customizable icons at the bottom of the screen flanking the application drawer button. Now you can have four icons there and they can be of your choice.
In fact you can even drag a folder from the homescreen onto the favourites tray, which gives you access to more than four apps. The favorites tray remains constant at the bottom of the screen regardless of whichever homescreen you may be in.
Resizable widgets
Another carryover feature from Honeycomb, Ice Cream Sandwich allows you to resize widgets on your screen, which lets you manage space better. This feature makes a lot more sense on a smartphone than a tablet due to the relatively small screen. Also, in Ice Cream Sandwich, the widgets now appear in a separate section in the application drawer and you can preview them before applying.
Contacts
Contacts in Android Ice Cream Sandwich have been completely redesigned from the previous version of the OS and are now called just People. The look and feel of the application feels more dynamic and social than before, showing you the status of your friends from GTalk and their status message.
The social element is deeply integrated in the People's app, allowing you to add different connections to any contact, like for instance including them in a circle on Google+. In a single contact view, there's a large profile picture, which should make the experience of viewing contacts more engaging.
List of groups and single contact view in Android Ice Cream Sandwich
Messaging
Since Ice Cream Sandwich is parts Gingerbread, parts Honeycomb, the message apps feels practically unchanged. The keyboard is the same as that found in Gingerbread and that's not a particularly bad thing.
Error correction and word suggestion have been revamped and are now more accurate and can even detect double-typed characters, skipped letters and ommited spaces.
Word correction in Ice Cream Sandwich
Another revamped feature is the Speech-to-text, which now lets you talk for as long as you have air in your chest and it'll still keep on recording and transforming your speech into text. After you are done, the voice engine automatically underlines words it thinks might have come out wrong so that you can fix them if necessary.
Email
Android developers have spent quite some time making the Gmail application more intuitive and easier to use. As a result the application looks more streamlined and straight to the point without too much visual noise attacking you.
Notably, the people autosuggestion has been also improved and now shows a picture next to the suggested contact. With the new screenshot-taking feature in Ice Cream Sandwich, you can take a screenshot of your phone screen and attach it directly in the email as you are writing it.
Composing an email
With the new Gmail app, you can also set up quick responses and use them when composing. A great usability issue has been addressed by adding nested mail subfolders, which should help you locate and organize IMAP and Exchange emails. With the new Gmail app comes a resizable widget in pure Honeycomb spirit, but in an Ice Cream Sandwich execution.
Web browser
As expected, the web browser in Ice Cream Sandwich has gotten an update and it is now faster than before, with significantly improved performance in benchmarks over the previous version of the browser.
It also adds some useful features such as the ability to sync bookmarks with the Google Chrome browser and an incognito mode, where the browsing history is not saved, a feature that should be more useful on a tablet than a phone.
Other changes include the ability to request the full version of a website instead of the mobile optimized version, a feature that you may have noticed on Opera Mobile before. The browser can now also save pages on the phone for offline viewing, another feature found on the Opera browser.
Lastly, the Ice Cream Sandwich now shows a vertical stack of thumbnails for open windows that resemble the icons in the multitasking menu. Also, just like in the multitasking menu, you can close windows simply by swiping right on them.
Camera
Ice Cream Sandwich features a new camera application. Other than the new user interface, it adds some useful features, such as continuous focus, tap to focus, face detection, image stabilization and panorama mode. There is also a new zero shutter lag exposure, which reduces the shot to shot time considerably.
The video recorder also gets some useful features such as continuous focus while recording, ability to zoom and take a snapshot while recording and a new time lapse feature. Image stabilization also works during video recording. As you read before, the camera app can now be quickly launched from the lock screen.
Conclusion
We were generally impressed with what we saw today. Android seems to be heading in the right direction with Ice Cream Sandwich. It tackles some of the longstanding issues such as fragmentation head-on and if adopted quickly by OEMs should make the life of developers and in turn the users a lot better.
It also takes the stock Android Gingerbread and makes it a lot more functional. Features like the new lock screen, improved camera app, new notifications, ability to take screenshots, hardware acceleration for the UI, improved text and voice input, etc. will certainly go a long way in making the Android user experience richer. Although Honeycomb users have had some of the features we saw today for a while now, it is nice to finally have them on the humble smartphone as well.
But how does it stack up against the competition? Well, Android was the most feature-rich mobile operating system around and Google just went and added a ton more, so it’s certainly ahead of the competition in that aspect.
But how good is it to use in the everyday life? Is it as user friendly as iOS or Windows Phone 7? Will it finally make people get over the stigma of Android being inherently a geek’s OS? Well, that’s something we can find out only after a full review. So keep watching this space.
Adapted form GSM Arena
thx
ICS looks very simple...and pretty
Can anyone give the Icecream sandwich browser apk, it has chrome sync, thats what I want.
Apourv said:
Can anyone give the Icecream sandwich browser apk, it has chrome sync, thats what I want.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
and u think its gonna work on gingerbread or froyo..:O
well...it may be a long time until ICS run on X10
looks great can wait till it comes to x10 if SE dont release it the XDA devs will.
ICS launcher and themes are available in market. cheers.
nice one
hope that it will have on xperia x10 http://media.xda-developers.com/images/icons/icon10.gif
maybe I need a new phone....
ICS looks great and pretty simple
XDA devs we are waiting you to rock our x10
very nice. i'm already running a beta version on my trusty galaxy s.
one thing that i've noticed is that my phone running this port:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1338636
doesn't have a favorites button. in fact, the phone itself doesn't have that touch button at all, but does have the old "menu" button. pressing it brings up a very simplistic menu that allows me to change settings and background.
is it actually functioning as normal, or is this feature simply not enabled just yet?
sorry about the slightly specific question, but i don't have the ability to post in the linked thread yet.
Remember, it's a BETA
moriz1 said:
very nice. i'm already running a beta version on my trusty galaxy s.
one thing that i've noticed is that my phone running this port:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1338636
doesn't have a favorites button. in fact, the phone itself doesn't have that touch button at all, but does have the old "menu" button. pressing it brings up a very simplistic menu that allows me to change settings and background.
is it actually functioning as normal, or is this feature simply not enabled just yet?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As with nearly all beta-level projects, all features are not there yet. What a lot of folks don't realized is that a product demo is put together by marketing folks trying to help geeks realize their dreams. The demo WILL have all the features the developers want to show off, but they may not all make it into the final product.
Remember Windows Vista? One of the big promises Micro$oft said would launch with Vista was a new file management system. It still hasn't made it into the world, even with Windows 7 (or Vista Service Pack 2 if you're so inclined to believe it's not a "new" operating system ).
Anyway, my point is, just remember you are running a beta version of something.
I wanted to start a thread for community members to learn about some apps they might not know about, but would love if they did.
Mods, please don't move this to the "apps" sections. I understand it would be the likely choice. But in "general" it will be more viewed by the average user it's intended for. I'd like to encourage others to provide some apps or tools they use that they believe would be beneficial to the user.
Our tired EVOs might be using an AARP card by now, but some of these programs may give it a new feel and breath life back into the OG.
1. ROM Toolbox: Even tho I know many of you are familiar with this app, I don't believe everyone knows it's full potential. Especially when you unlock "pro". What doesn't it do? Font changer, boot animations to pick from, cpu set, auto memory manager, root file explorer, a2sd, adFree, Termainl Emulator, backup and restore, kernel tweaks., one of the best uninstallers I ever used with the ability to "freeze" apps.
It's probably the most useful app ever invented for the rooted user. Has a clean interface and easy to navigate. Go check it out. It will replace about 20 apps you might already have.
2. Cache Cleaner NG: schedule cleaning on internal & SD storage. One click to clean. Simple, effective. Nuff said.
3. TSF Shell: A launcher that I was turned onto by a post from Ropodope. It's simply beautiful and like something you've never used before. The speed and response of this launcher is unmatched. And the animations are smooth. Tho it lacks a great deal of widgets, it makes up in customization and look you've never seen.
4. SPB Shell: another launcher, maybe even more visually appealing than TSF but with less options. It's a nice change of pace to the norm and something worth checking out.
5. CoPilot Live: GPS Navigation like you've never seen. About the only one I've found better than the Google mainstay. It downloads the maps to your SD. (About 250mb by region). This way it can guide you even if you lose data coverage. Clean interface. Easy to use and maps are updated often,
6. History Eraser by INFOLIFE: Simple. Cleans SMS MMS browser and call log in one click. Downside is even tho there is an option for you tube and search, it will lead you to manual erase.
7. iTag: Auto tags your mp3s. Adds album art from a huge database. This app is more complete than almost any program you can use for your CPU.
8. GTunes Music V6: music download. Has access to billboard charts to get popular radio play mp3s fast. But also finds songs that Frostwire can't. Upgrading unlocks more engines and you can find almost anything you can think of.
9. Crop Wallpaper: The ability to use entire picture as wallpaper. There is alot out there but this hands down the most effective and easy use.
10. Holo Launcher: ICS look and feel for GB. Super quick and small file size. Only surpassed in speed by TSF, this launcher does a great job emulating ICS when you still want use of FFC and camcorder. Not very customizable, but you're looking for ICS right?
Im sure there are a ton of apps out there "I" don't know about, but would become mainstays if I did. I encourage all of you to try some of these great apps out, but also give back and let others know some great ones you've found along your way.
Please refrain from posting about games, this thread is to be dedicated to "useful" apps.
Let's all learn a little more about the ever growing Android community.
Thanks for iTag didn't know about that one.
that stoner at Circle K
Buisness Calender: great if you use your smart phone as a personal organizer. This app syncs with Google so all your events will save to your account. Main advantage to this app is the plethora of Widgets available. With color combination and size structures. See below
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
CoPilot is just what I've been looking for. For some reason Google Maps will not pinpoint or navigate my phone when several other apps would so I know it's not my drivers.
Along the Calendar line, I use Pure Grid Calendar Widget...HipKat turned me on to that one
Battery Monitor Widget Free/Pro
Better Battery Stats...to check for wakelocks
Net Monitor...to check what tower you are connected to and signal strength and map to tower.
To name a few.
No Lock: very simple widget that will allow you to disable your lock screen. Simple. Effective. Can also be used as a fix for slow unlocks upon waking screen
SD Maid: a great program that cleans up the remnants of deleted files on your SD card. Thought you got rid of that stuff? Guess again. This program will 100% free up space on the SD. Whether its 1mb or 500mb you'll be happier in the long run. Try it out.
Indredicontrol for havs kernels
Easily and quickly adjust voltages and governers
KeepScreen: will disable screen timeout. Very useful when using certain car docks or Google books. Best part is you can set it to only work when specific apps are running.
Boot Manager....install and boot roms from sd card.... haven't yet dabbled with it but sounds cool
Screen Off Widget--click to turn off screen...also has an invisible widget!
Note Everything.... quite possibly the best note taking/reminder app I have used.
Reboot scheduler by dread7 let's u plan and schedule a reboot however often u want. Nice little widget also
sent using a freaking pigeon, with a note tied to its leg.
I like seeing people adding to this. Also glad that these apps you're listing are truly apps I've never heard of bit have caught my interest. Keep it going boys.
Llama, is a really useful app. You can train it to know your home /work area and then set actions based on when you enter/leave that area. So I have it turn to silent when I enter work, disable wi-fi etc then when I leave it switches all of those back on, handy!
Sent from my GT-I9000
Good idea man, here are a few I can't live without....
ChargeBar - Adds a highly customizable battery bar to whatever Rom you are on (Miui, reverse, or centered) (top or bottom or below status bar...or top or bottom of Nav. bar)
Amazon App Store - They give away a paid app everyday for free...nuff said!
Audio Manager - Perfect hide it app so your girl or friends don't see your porn files on your phone...also lets you hide SMS and apps you don't wanna have to explain...and its FREE! and updated regularly.
ScoreMobile - If you are a sports fan, this is a great app to use to follow your teams. You can set up alerts for the teams in whatever sport you wanna follow, also has up to the minute scoring in a great looking widget also has stats for the game at the push of a button...and its F.R. DOUBLE. E.!
Zedge - Hands down the best all in one wallpaper, ringtone, and notification downloader ever all in a beautiful interface and also FREE!
Quickpic - The best gallery replacement your phone will ever need. It has a beautiful UI and great animations, its updated regularly, and also FREE!
Doggcatcher - I love podcasts simply put, this app is expensive but worth every penny. Its easy to use, you can find what you want, and it has worked like a champ regardless of whatever Rom I've been on. Alot of the free podcast apps I've used are crap, can't pull everything I listen to, or can only stream. It is also updated regularly!
Enjoy!
Sent from my Curiosity rover on Mars using radio waves
bimmerman7 said:
Good idea man, here are a few I can't live without....
ChargeBar - Adds a highly customizable battery bar to whatever Rom you are on (Miui, reverse, or centered) (top or bottom or below status bar...or top or bottom of Nav. bar)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for that 1 bimmerman7!!!
I'd nominate BeWeather & Widgets Pro for a good weather app/widget. The animations are just beautiful and well worth the $.99 IMO.
From the developer:
Bellshare Inc said:
Makes even bad weather look good!
See the current weather in stunning high definition weather animations! Contains many beautiful and highly customizable weather and clock widgets.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah. I like that BeWeather widget with the simple text. I got to say that's pretty tight.
Contact Picture Sync: you can pull any profile picture off Facebook and link it with anyone in your contact. Very quick and useful for those roms that have problems syncing Facebook to contacts.
sms backup and restore. a necessity for you flash junkies.
alaman68 said:
sms backup and restore. a necessity for you flash junkies.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Might as well pair that with Call Log backup and restore.
Sent from my PC36100 using xda premium
These are some of the mainstream apps that I find useful:
Better Battery Stats: provides a comprehensive analysis of your battery usage
Titanium : backs up apps, system settings & data, call logs, messages
Pixlr o matic : a very useful picture editing app. Has tons of options and very easy to apply.
Audi manager pro : let's you set profiles and set schedules for them. Useful for me as I don't have to keep decreasing the volume when I get to work or setting the phone to silent when I sleep. The profiles are applied based on the set time.
Cam scanner : use your phone as a scanner. Allows you to take batch scans, enhance images, convert to pdf, password protect docs, integrated with Drop Box and Box for cloud storage
Convert pad : one stop for all your conversions. Let's you set user defined metrics too.
Glympse : real time gps tracking.
Distance and area measurement : let's you calculate distance of travel or area of the closed path you've taken.
SMS scheduler : schedules SMS to be sent whenever. No more grief from those friends who get upset if you don't wish em at 12am on their birthday
Smart app protector : lock specific apps. Useful to lock up social apps when handing your phone over to nosy people.
Adobe reader : very useful pdf reader.
DROID Stats : keeps a track of your calls, SMS, data and let's you keep a track of your costs and limits.
Sent from my GT-I9100
What do you wish for your HTC One? tell the world and the developers, what should be improved.
for example:
1. I wish the lock-screen was more beneficial, to see more notifications (like from Gmail App and Viber) + quick launch of google now from the lock
2. Quick Settings toggle (kinda solved thru mods)
3. Automatic screen wake up on certain notifications
any other ideas? please share
osahum said:
What do you wish for your HTC One? tell the world and the developers, what should be improved.
for example:
1. I wish the lock-screen was more beneficial, to see more notifications (like from Gmail App and Viber) + quick launch of google now from the lock
2. Quick Settings toggle (kinda solved thru mods)
3. Automatic screen wake up on certain notifications
any other ideas? please share
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think it would be nice for them to add a couple of fresh animations in there, such as when you press the App Drawer icon that animation is absolutely awful, and a bit laggy too! I think it's the one Google used in stock Gingerbread. It would be nice to see them add themes back, for example Sense 2-4 all had themes that you could set and it just added to that personalization of the device.
I think the 'Power Saver' in the scroll down Menu should be moved into the 'Power Saving' menu and you should be able to select a certain battery percent that it comes on at. It would be nice to have a quick settings in a way that HTC used to have them, though I am certain we shall see that in the near future as Android 4.2 has these.
One thing I loved about the iPhone, was the ability to save what you have copied to the clipboard after restarting the device. I'd love to see this implemented onto the One.
Also, the way you add Shortcuts to the homescreen is just terrible. You should NOT have to go to the widget add Menu.
Mike
jaaystott said:
I think it would be nice for them to add a couple of fresh animations in there, such as when you press the App Drawer icon that animation is absolutely awful, and a bit laggy too! I think it's the one Google used in stock Gingerbread. It would be nice to see them add themes back, for example Sense 2-4 all had themes that you could set and it just added to that personalization of the device.
I think the 'Power Saver' in the scroll down Menu should be moved into the 'Power Saving' menu and you should be able to select a certain battery percent that it comes on at. It would be nice to have a quick settings in a way that HTC used to have them, though I am certain we shall see that in the near future as Android 4.2 has these.
One thing I loved about the iPhone, was the ability to save what you have copied to the clipboard after restarting the device. I'd love to see this implemented onto the One.
Also, the way you add Shortcuts to the homescreen is just terrible. You should NOT have to go to the widget add Menu.
Mike
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you so much for your input very interesting points. I guess many people like to choose themes and be able to personalize their HTC One, the way they like. It's a matter of taste and personal choice really.
Other thing i noticed about android or HTC One compared to iphone is auto vido conversion when i send a video clip thru WhatsApp. i wanted to send a short video to my friend and whatsApp couldn't do that because the file was over 12 MB. iOS coverts the video automatically! That's another tiny annoying thing i found about the HTC.
I think there is much room for improvement to make this device the best handset ever!
If anyone else has ideas, please post
Your right, this handset is easily the most beautiful android one ever created, along with the HTC Magic and in my opinion, also the Hero.
Your welcome
Sent from my HTC One using xda app-developers app
I completely agree about waking the screen for certain notifications especially text messages and calendar alerts. The chompsms app will light up the screen for text messages but I haven't found a solution for calendar alerts.
This is something I really miss coming from ios. I have to say ios is actually better in the way it handles notifications in allowing you to select what appears in the lock screen and having a centralised notification centre where you can change settings for all your notifications.
Sent from my HTC One using xda app-developers app
tdingene said:
I completely agree about waking the screen for certain notifications especially text messages and calendar alerts. The chompsms app will light up the screen for text messages but I haven't found a solution for calendar alerts.
This is something I really miss coming from ios. I have to say ios is actually better in the way it handles notifications in allowing you to select what appears in the lock screen and having a centralised notification centre where you can change settings for all your notifications.
Sent from my HTC One using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes! iOS handles lock-screen notifications way better! there is an App called LockerPro Lockscreen. It's clean and it solves this problem but it interferes with the display time settings these things should be solved out of the box but luckily we have really great enthusiastic developers here on XDA who love to create custom ROMS and mods to make our life easier and even prettier
I hope some of these developers will read this thread and maybe will release new mods and fixes
My wishes:
- when i look on power it should show display (battery) usage like on vanilla android
- better idle comsumption
- folder should take more then 16 apps
RoachPapa said:
My wishes:
- when i look on power it should show display (battery) usage like on vanilla android
- better idle comsumption
- folder should take more then 16 apps
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks four the input. Interesting stuff. If you are into custom ROMS and mods. I strongly suggest you try out TrickDroid from troxx. one of the tweaks there, which you can apply. is to increase the max icons in the folder up to 25.
the customs ROM has so many other cool tweaks and minor UI enhancement.
here is a link to the thread:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2192324
1. I missed so much USB mass storage mod on my SGS3 last year fortunately there was some 3rd party apk, but it wont work on HTC Ones internal storage so please make some UMS mod most people will be glad I think
2. definitely 60fps videos improvement. After i saw most of the 60fps videos on youtube I was so dissapointed. Im talking about both slow motion and fast 60fps videos in year 2013!!! even SGS3 was able to handle 60fps slow motion better after SW mods than One with such a powerfull HW and 240p? HTC are you serious? this will be cool to have them at least @720p THX santa
3. ofcourse some mods on camera photos too
4. if its even possible to camera interface...whats one of the most used function? Exposure! I saw how long took the photographer to adjust exposure for one photo! Look at the last years samsung GS3 camera interface. 4 in words FOUR customisable shortcuts...thats cool and I wish something like that on HTC not Zoe which wont be used most times...where is brain and logic only ads and marketing I see in HTC One SW BTW Im waiting for One so do not blame me for trolling as its the most popular word last month after One was unveiled LoL
1. Long press back for menu
2. Customisable/user added content for blinkfeed i.e importing of google reader feeds
3. Scrollable wallpaper
4. Hide power bar from pull down menu (this does not work on my sim free phone)
5. Pull down toggles for wifi etc as per android 4.2.2
6. Change font size on blink feed articles
7. Sort blinkfeed by content type
daleski75 said:
1. Long press back for menu
2. Customisable/user added content for blinkfeed i.e importing of google reader feeds
3. Scrollable wallpaper
4. Hide power bar from pull down menu (this does not work on my sim free phone)
5. Pull down toggles for wifi etc as per android 4.2.2
6. Change font size on blink feed articles
7. Sort blinkfeed by content type
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ya.. Blinkfeed should be improved! sadly there is no mods for it yet.. but for the most other stuff you mentioned you can try the mods on the Android Development page.. try TrickDroid! they have this cool toggle mod which looks very native and nice. i hope HTC will improve some of these stuff soon with next firmware update.
I don't have the device yet, but from what I've seen with the custom ROMs on here, I would like to see:
1. Various camera tweaks, such as enforcing a set bit rate for videos and audio, having photos set at 100% quality (ie, minimal jpeg compression), and using volume buttons as a shutter.
2. Add more flexibility to Zoes, such as increasng the length of the videos recorded, having the ability to change video resolution, and enforcing a set picture quality.
3. Make Prism (Sense 5's launcher) more like Sense 4's Rosie. Things such as a scrollable wallpaper, the 3D rendered home screen transitions, the normal way of adding app shortcuts, landscape mode support, and a horizonally scrolling app drawer were nice in my opinion. Also, a 5x6 app drawer and stock jelly bean transitons when returning from an app would be great too.
4. Having the ability to choose and apply themes just like in previous Sense versions.
5. BlinkFeed customizations: having custom feeds, having the ability to remove BlinkFeed from Prism, making BlinkFeed a widget, content sorting by type.
6. Android 4.2 quick settings or Sense 4 quick settings.
7. Adding an additonal lockscreen that has the ability to add widgets.
8. Choosing whatever combination of button presses does what (ex: double-tap home for either menu, recent apps, search, custom app, etc., long-press home for menu, recent apps, search, custom app, etc., you get where I'm going.)
9. Customizable 3-finger gestures.
The following is also something a bit more nit picky, since I've been spoiled with the Venom ROM on my Sensation:
>Setting custom backgrounds for the pulldown notification screen and app drawer.
>Status bar themes.
>App icon packs for the stock launcher.
>A sub-setting/app that bundles all possible customizations under one interface.
WeegeeNumbuh1 said:
I don't have the device yet, but from what I've seen with the custom ROMs on here, I would like to see:
1. Various camera tweaks, such as enforcing a set bit rate for videos and audio, having photos set at 100% quality (ie, minimal jpeg compression), and using volume buttons as a shutter.
2. Add more flexibility to Zoes, such as increasng the length of the videos recorded, having the ability to change video resolution, and enforcing a set picture quality.
3. Make Prism (Sense 5's launcher) more like Sense 4's Rosie. Things such as a scrollable wallpaper, the 3D rendered home screen transitions, the normal way of adding app shortcuts, landscape mode support, and a horizonally scrolling app drawer were nice in my opinion. Also, a 5x6 app drawer and stock jelly bean transitons when returning from an app would be great too.
4. Having the ability to choose and apply themes just like in previous Sense versions.
5. BlinkFeed customizations: having custom feeds, having the ability to remove BlinkFeed from Prism, making BlinkFeed a widget, content sorting by type.
6. Android 4.2 quick settings or Sense 4 quick settings.
7. Adding an additonal lockscreen that has the ability to add widgets.
8. Choosing whatever combination of button presses does what (ex: double-tap home for either menu, recent apps, search, custom app, etc., long-press home for menu, recent apps, search, custom app, etc., you get where I'm going.)
9. Customizable 3-finger gestures.
The following is also something a bit more nit picky, since I've been spoiled with the Venom ROM on my Sensation:
>Setting custom backgrounds for the pulldown notification screen and app drawer.
>Status bar themes.
>App icon packs for the stock launcher.
>A sub-setting/app that bundles all possible customizations under one interface.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
wow..that is one one hell of a list for someone who doesn't even own the device lol but yeah. Zoe needs some flexibility indeed. It sucks that i can't convert the video to a smaller size! and somehow the whole Zoe Highlight video thing is hidden. It took me some time to figure out, that is under events! some of your wishes has been already resolved. there are many EQS mods now and they are getting better!
anyway, most of what you have mentioned, should have been resolved by HTC and gave us a better out-of-box experience!
osahum said:
Ya.. Blinkfeed should be improved! sadly there is no mods for it yet.. but for the most other stuff you mentioned you can try the mods on the Android Development page.. try TrickDroid! they have this cool toggle mod which looks very native and nice. i hope HTC will improve some of these stuff soon with next firmware update.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No interest yet in rooting as I want to keep my warranty but in the future you never know.
daleski75 said:
No interest yet in rooting as I want to keep my warranty but in the future you never know.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ya well. i was hesitant at the beginning too but then i decided to take the risk. the whole warranty issue is still under debate. There are some legitimate claims, that rooting doesn't necessarily void the warranty. It\s different anyway from country to another.
for me, i want be able to do whatever i want with my device. When i buy PC. then i can install any OS i please and have access to everything. If someone over-clocks his CPU and fries it. then i undersand the warranty is voided, but just because i root my device and install some mod to enhance my settings menu. then logically and even maybe legally, HTC has no right to punish me like this.. in all cases, i really don't care
I want to try custom ROMs later and ATM my phone is on the way to repair. My blinkfeed freezes after each boot. I couldn't repair that.
If you want more visual effects, you will loose the smoothness.
gesendet vom Galaxy S
I just decided to get a One because I heard you cannot install apps to Micro SD, so I'd rather have 32GB internal than 16GB of the GS4, also though looking at the OLED screen, the thing has black clipping issues in pre release form anyways. I watch a lot of video when walking the dog like F1 live stream and I really don't want headphones, so the speakers help.
One thing I hate is Blinkfeed, I really wanna be able to turn it off, I wouldn't mind it if I could customize it so the phone functions like Windows Phone, I really love live tiles. The problem is you cannot do much with it and you cannot turn it off, it almost ruins the phone for me, I don't see why it needs to be there.
I don't use social features like Facebook, I hate that crap and I don't want any news, I just use Websites for that....... just such a pointless feature. I also think the gallery is ****, don't see why I need to have my friends photos pop up, I just want mine thanx.
Cannot wait till Cyanogenmod or something comes out for it, I don't get some design choices HTC have made.
Terrorantula said:
One thing I hate is Blinkfeed, I really wanna be able to turn it off
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You may not be able to turn it off but I'm fairly sure you can set a different screen as your home screen, effectively hiding it
A 5 inch display
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"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
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"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
Maybe a 5" edge to edge display with on-screen Android soft-keys? Threw this together to show what it might look like. But seriously, it doesn't really add much; this phone is already pretty perfect the way it is! I'm sure I can get used to the two button capacitive navigation controls. I can't wait to get mine!
Hello Everyone,
The second part of the review is this thread.
The first one is here.
The second is this thread
The third one is here.
ColorOS and Connectivity
So ColorOS… ColorOS… ColorOS
A new UI for me. Pixel and Stock OS have been my best friend for years now, including Oxygen OS up to 11. After seeing its direction, I used MIUI for a long time and got fed up with it.
So, first boot: Android 12 of the box with ColorOS 12.1 + a D1 OTA/February Patch.
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}
It's themed like many OEMs. However, you can see the Android 12 base behind the curtains and sometimes even Android itself with no customization.
However, OPPO made many customizations in their system when you dig into it. Launcher, notifications, Icons, settings, smart sidebar, their own privacy sub-menu, including the Android functionalities. They have tons of their applications such as OPPO Share, Omoji, gallery, video, even the clock, files app, O Relax (?) and so many apps like App cloner, App Enhancement, App services or others OPPO in-home system apk. Not mentioned on top of the Android Framework, you will also find an OPPO/OPlus framework to make all these works together (surely necessary for the Phone Manager that looks like the security center in MIUI).
We are on Google App for Android for the Phone Dialer and SMS/Messages APP. No OPPO system apps for that. And I like that. So, no debate here.
At first glance, all these apps are just giving the users some native functionalities Android already integrates into Android 12. And give the impression that they are reminiscence of a China firmware variant without Google services in this local market. But lots of them are marked as EU APK variants. And many system apps can't be uninstalled (disable only). And all of them are not available on the Google Play store as they should be if we follow Android Guidelines.
I said earlier, no biases. I have to get it a try…. And it was hard at first.
It gives the impression that OPPO has integrated Android 12 functionalities made by Google, added theirs on top to expand them, and managed to balance it somehow.
But... But… It's weird. It's a heavily customized UI based on Android, with the flavor of a Fork and a clean OS (which is not).
Let's start with the launcher. It's fast, allows many options, got the discover/at glance functionality, and you can add widgets (works well with OPPO widgets, less with 3rd party apps/Google widgets), change the layout of the home screens, change the shape or even colors of the icons, notification shade icons. So, you will say Material You. Nope. It seems an OPPO solution, including a wallpaper's colors picker.
And it's the same for many things. Notification shades are a struggle for me. Too many operations to have a global view and enter the app. I have many email accounts and receive many emails. You can all the notifications grouped for each inbox; that's great. You can unfold them and see each notification for each mail. Great. But when it's folded, clicking on the shade, you should get you in the inbox with all read and unread mail. Here, you need to unfold, select an email, go into the email in the app, go back, and then be in your inbox.
And the system is still responsive, the battery is good, and no drain due to these additions, and you customized the X5 to get a closer look at a Pixel/Stock OS. Some options or functionality will pop, giving you more of this feel… or the opposite.
I choose the US region on the phone, meaning lots of functionalities are deactivated to comply with local regulations… No Omoji, Themes, or way to customize the OS. Usually, when these options are free (like themes), the product is you (and your data). The X5 doesn't have Air Gestures functionality like its big brother, the X5 Pro. It can be a nice touch; for me, it's just a gimmick, like a quick ball, smart bar. I tried them. I understand the addiction, but it's not for me. At least the goal of Android, personalize it for your own usage. And it was the same for O Relax. It allows you to relax with a mix of music and video for a time duration you have decided. Zen attitude. Yeps, great for those who need, nope for me.
For Privacy, OPPO stated, "User privacy is about transparency. OPPO has been improving data compliance through storage and process. With servers deployed in multiple locations worldwide, OPPO guarantees that user data stays in the nearby servers, saved in a non-plain text transmitted using a proprietary protocol."
ColorOS 12 comes with Private System, Private Safe, App Lock, and more security features with Android 12 Privacy Dashboards. However, on the phone, their privacy notice is outdated from November 2020. It seems the servers are in Germany for EU users, so OPPO complies with GPDR.
Okay, user data are safe and encrypted. ColorOS even integrates the new A12 guidelines as permissions of apps to use the camera, microphone, localization (approximate or precise), the data used, and the green dot to indicate whether an app uses a microphone or camera.
Anti-peeping feature is also included, and the system will recognize if it's the viewer looking at the screen, so the notification or content can be hidden if tuned this way.
So, with the integration of Android 12 Features, OPPO custom-made additions, a new 3D engine for rendering, the wallpaper-based theming stuff, the smart sidebar, the nearby share integration, the quick return bubble, and all the animations On, what about the battery?
Surprisingly… Good. 3 Gmail accounts + 2 Exchange ones + photography + not a great network as fewer frequencies available here in the US with an EU variant + YouTube + some casual games here and there… You are good to go for the day. As usual, I turned my smartphone by restricting apps I don't use, and I need to refresh when I go inside them (and believe me, it makes a massive difference as ColorOs allows Foreground Activity, Background Activity, and Auto Launch options to enable or disable.
And if there is an issue, you can activate the Super power-saving mode making your smartphone a feature phone. You can add 3 apps on top of the clock, dialer and messaging apps. It will help you be reachable until you find a way to recharge your phone.
Like many OEMs, OPPO integrates the virtual RAM gimmick, adding virtual memory using your storage as paginated space for the less used apps still in memory and the multitasking mode. So, you will have from 2Gb to 5Gb more than the 8Gb RAM available in this variant. With UFS 3.1, the less used in-memory apps, no slowdown with that… but again, a gimmick to avoid pushing a 12Gb variant as the 101 available variants for a flagship.
Floating windows, flexible windows… all these kinds of things are available under Android 12 with PIP mode, and obviously, they are also present in the X5.
Except for the split-screen functionality, the others I don't use … on a smartphone. The screen is too small; Bingo is on a tablet, but here, again, not my usage. It's functional; animations are great, nothing to add. Some OEMs have an issue implementing on top of their framework, but this is not the case here. If you're a fan of it, you will have it with the X5 series.
ColorOS also integrates all you need for casting your screen. From Miracast to Chromecast, wirelessly to a wired way from TV to your computer screen.
You have your TV or Android or Google or whatever Box up to date, and you should have the opportunity to share your screen and the Audio.
To share your screen on your computer, you will need to download an app, PC Connect client for Mac or Windows, allowing the connection with your phone… And that's it. You will have a floating window on your desktop mirroring your OPPO screen. Fast and easy. Sharing clipboard functionality is also available.
The wired connection is working via USB-C to HDMI cable; gaming and YouTube are okay, but I had an issue with streaming apps like Prime Video or Netflix where I don't have any with other brands. Maybe it's up to these apps to allow or integrate this new model. The issue is a no go from the apps to decrypt protected content.
Speaking of updates, this Find series should usually receive 3 years of Major OS upgrades and 4 years of security updates (per month or as required…)
Something I didn't see a lot in OPPO communication is the O-Haptics functionality. I like it, and it gives a little punch to the notification or when you are using the smartphone. And you can finetune the intensity and synchronize it with the tones. The demonstration video is convincing, and I am waiting for a third-party app using the API/Library.
Another exciting thing is that the product has 2 IMEI, 2 SIM cards trays, and the eSIM option. I will bet the eSIM will deactivate the SIM 2 port if active. But saying eSIM is finally live is a great thing.
The Wi-Fi 6 is 2.4Gbps compatible in the Connectivity part, so easy to reach these numbers. With my GB internet plan, I reach 1.4Gbps on download, with the Wi-Fi meaning with got here the 2x80Mhz bandwidth instead of only 1x80 or 2x40Mhz for some competitors and blocked you only at 1.2Gbps.
For LTE, LTE-A, LTE NR, SA, NSA, 5G, or whatever, sorry, EU variant, and I am in the US, so that it won't be representative.
Let's go for Part 3 and the Final Thoughts
Again, thank you OPPO and @OPPO Ambassador Team for this opportunity.