With the release of the Galaxy Nexus, there is finally an offically supported phone running the latest and greatest version of Android. I’m not going to review the phone really, because, unlike in the iPhone world, you have many choices for Android, and you should pick the one that is most comfortable for you. For me and my large hands, a 4.6″ screen is no big deal, but for others, it might be. Some might like a keyboard, some may want an LED notification, and some may not care. So for this, I focus on Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS).
The overall look and feel of ICS is a vast improvement over Gingerbread and Honeycomb. The new “soft buttons” which change according to context have really grown on me. Swipes between screens are smooth, scrolling is smooth, and pinch zooming is smooth. Key word: smooth. Menus and options feel really polished, while the look of modals really looks clean and crisp. This is not your G1′s Android. If you’ve ever used an Android phone before and didn’t like it, you should try ICS, preferably the pure Google experience. The launcher in ICS is so good, you may never want to use a third party one.
From here on out I will highlight different apps and features:
* Gmail
Gmail is simply awesome in ICS. It looks great, many mail functions are exposed without needing to go to a secondary menu, and of course, it’s powered by a cutting edge email cloud service that millions of people use every day. I don’t spend a second thought worrying about accessing my email, it’s always a browser or phone app away. Everything, as always with Android and Gmail, is synced instantly across all my devices.
* Calendar
Pretty much the same as Gmail really. Google Calendar was always a strong point. I update an event on my phone, and the next time I log into my calendar from the browser, everything, again as always in Android, is synced.
* Widgets
Widgets are awesome. I really don’t know how iOS people use a phone without them. With a few flicks of my thumb, I can scan all my email and my calendar, without ever needing to enter an app. They’re resizable now and allow scrolling from within the widget. All my audio apps have widgets too, and it’s not unusual for me to go hours without ever entering an app since I can do so much from the homescreen.
* Battery life
You mileage may vary with battery life, because some apps just suck with battery usage. I’ve used Touchdown to access exchange email for years and it’s always been great. However, in ICS it’s a battery pig. I had to drop it and use the built in Exchange support, which is now both excellant and great with battery. I’ve played music over wifi for 9 hours and only used up 25% of the battery. It truly sips at battery power.
I was able to find out that Touchdown was the battery pig due to the great new battery tools you have that allow you to really nail down which app sucked down all your battery. Invaluable tool.
* Cloud integration
While iCloud has stolen a lot of the recent cloud thunder, I think Android has always been a step ahead. My photos, email, calendar, chats, music, and books are all stored in the Cloud with Google’s cloud services. Wherever I am, I can get to my things. I can edit documents on my phone, save them to the cloud, and then continue updating on my desktop. I’ve done this a couple times with spreadsheets I use for work. I think if you want the true cloud solution, you want Google. To borrow a phrase from Apple, it just works. You’re not locked into an Android device either, as all your data can be access via a browser, and if you’d like, downloaded to your machine with Google Takeout. It’s a story Google has not sold enough or mentioned enough.
* Final thoughts
I’m not an Android fanboy, I’m somewhat of an evangelist. I think iOS is a good OS and the iPhone is a good phone. For me, and I think a lot of people, Android has always provided a distinct experience better in many ways than in iOS. With ICS, though, it has clearly moved the bar farther than iOS 5 did. ICS proves you can have widgets, true multitasking, cloud integration, and polish, all without killing the battery. I invite everyone to check it out when Galaxy Nexus’s are finally on sale in the US.
