back to article Ice Cream Sandwich Android out 'by November'

Google's next major Android release, Ice Cream Sandwich, will be out in the October-November timeframe, Eric Schmidt has revealed. Speaking at Salesforce.com's Dreamforce conference earlier this month, Schmidt said: "We have a new operating system - which is known internally as Ice Cream Sandwich for some reason - which is …

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  1. Sartori

    4.0?

    I have been under the impression, and thought it had been established for some time that ICS was going to be 2.4? I could of course be completely wrong, I have thought this for so long that I can't remember the source(s) now.

  2. Richard 81

    Just in time

    Just in time for me to get a new phone when my contract runs out.

    1. Spearchucker Jones

      You may have to wait.

      If Q4 devices shown at IFA are running 3.2, and v4 is also out in Q4, then I imagine that there won't be too more than a single v4 device* until Q2 next year.

      Clearly, fragmentation is not something Google is too concerned about.

      * 10 gets you 1 it's a Motorola.

  3. DRendar

    Nice

    At least I hope so. But what i want to know is will Google finally start listening to their customers and start integrating or allowing critical features such as:

    IPSec VPN Support

    Accurate time settings (You currently can't set the time seconds)

    Timesync (NTP) / Allow user apps to set system time (With user authorisation)

    System Proxy Settings

    WORKING AND RELIABLE BLUETOOTH VOICE DIALING (Honestly, seriously - it's a fucking phone OS and you can't reliably voice dial)

    Google Docs support

    and many more that THOUSANDS of Android users have requested and are summarily ignored.

    Take a look at http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/list?can=1&q=&sort=-stars

    It's an eye-opener, and one that Google should be ashamed of.

    1. TeeCee Gold badge
      Happy

      @DRendar

      "WORKING AND RELIABLE BLUETOOTH VOICE DIALING"

      Ah yes, that old chestnut. Find an old WinMo device and install MS Voice Command. Chuck the result at Google with a note attached saying: "Like this, stupid.".

      That should sort it. Nothing else I've tried comes anywhere near the sheer simplicity[1] and comprehensive recognition of esoteric names pronounced very badly that MSVC has. Runs perfectly on antique shit with one-lung processors and bugger all memory too. You'd never guess it was a MS product.

      Trouble is, I'm stuck with bloody WinMo while waiting for someone else to get it right. Maybe MS would like to port VC to Android? Pretty please?

      [1] <BT headset or car button> <Beep> "Dial so-and-so on such-and-such" <Readback> "Yes" <Dialling noise>.......

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        "Ah yes, that old chestnut. Find an old WinMo device and install MS Voice Command. Chuck the result at Google with a note attached saying: "Like this, stupid."."

        And then find yourself on the wrong side of a lawyer waving a bunch of patent papers at you demanding pots of money!!...

        in fact, its probably exactly why voice dialling on android is so dire... trying to do it in a different way than how its been done before must be a megga bitch

    2. caffeine addict
      FAIL

      voice dialing

      "WORKING AND RELIABLE BLUETOOTH VOICE DIALING (Honestly, seriously - it's a fucking phone OS and you can't reliably voice dial)"

      Ten years ago Nokia let you voice dial by:

      * press button.

      * speak

      * phone compares sounds to recordings you made previously

      * dials most likely number

      Nowadays, on my shiny new Android I have to

      * wait for a E/H/3G connection

      * press the search button

      * record my voice

      * wait for it to go to the server, get mangled by voice recognition software, get sent back

      * Wonder as it translates my words into gibberish and tries to ring someone who doesn't exist.

      The Nokia version didn't care about accents or how clearly you pronounced the words - as long as the two samples were fairly similar, you got what you wanted. Now you need a data connection and (presumably) a Californian accent.

      Yay! Progress!

    3. Mark #255
      Happy

      keeping time

      My android phone keeps rather good time - it's synced to the GSM/3G time, which in turn uses GPS (or another atomically good source of time).

      Of course, how a wifi-only tablet would fare is anyone's guess, but you seem to be complaining about it's utility as a phone OS - in which case, problem already sorted.

      1. DRendar

        'merkin perchance?

        "My android phone keeps rather good time - it's synced to the GSM/3G time"

        I'm guessing you're a 'merkin then. Android has a form of timesync in the shape of NITZ, which is what you are obviously using in the US. However in the UK, as in much of the world, we don't have NITZ.

        Google developers don't seem to realise that NITZ is not available everywhere.

        1. Mark #255
          Facepalm

          Nope, I'm British, with a UK phone. (The "GSM/3G" part of my reply might have indicated that I'm not American).

          I was very impressed when I went to France-land, and it automagically updated the local time (but kept all my calendar entries pinned to BST). Until I realised that this was possible since the advent of GSM, and I'd been browbeaten by mediocrity to expect:

          networked electronics wouldn't, by default, keep their sodding clock synchronised;

          location-aware electronics wouldn't, by default, know which timezone they're in; and

          a calendar application on a globally portable electronic device wouldn't be able to deal with timezones.

          So, nice, but three mobile phones too late.

  4. Huntsman
    Joke

    Ice Cream Sandwich

    More like Shit Sandwich.

    1. James Hughes 1

      Excellent

      One of the best and most in depth reviews I have seen so far.

    2. fishman

      They're here!

      I see the Microsoft astroturfers and Apple Fanbois have arrived.....

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        These downvote buttons...

        ... go to 11. (Can you see what it is yet?)

      2. Graham Lockley

        @fishman

        Fanbois and Astroturfers apart, voice dialling in the old Winmo and Nokia phones 'just worked' (Copyright Apple Electronica).

        Its odd that this is one of the few areas that recent mobile phones have worsened while having massively more processing power available for the task ?

  5. K. Adams
    Flame

    I don't care what you call the latest-greatest...

    just release the @%&#! source to Honeycomb, already!

  6. Guillermo Lo Coco
    Unhappy

    XMPP voice call ?

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