Of IceCream Sandwich and Jelly beans

Fandroids know of Ice Cream Sandwich and Jellybeans and they usually prefer the heady binary kind.
For the non-familiar,the non-edible Ice Cream Sandwich and Jellybeans are versions of the Android Operating System namely Android 4.0 and Android 4.1

Android phones are popular and are most sought after. These phones run on the Android Stack which comprises key applications. What attracts one to Android phones? Most are sleek,yes. Android also happens to be hot! (and cool too!). Android users swear by their phones and can be usually seen hooked to applications or as they are popularly called, Apps.Apps can be downloaded from 3rd party sites (such as www.appup.com  and www.androidzoom.com)or one can buy them from online stores such as Google Play [erstwhile Android Market].

Versions of Android
-Astro
-Cupcake
-Donut
-Eclair
-Froyo
-Gingerbread
-Honeycomb
-Ice Cream Sandwich
-Jellybean

Android 4.0  

The Android 4.0 is named Ice Cream Sandwich and has 14 to 15 APIs including but not limited to android.media (this API provides classes that allows several levels of audio and video interactions),android.gesture(this API provides classes that allows us to create,load and save various gestures). This means you get more features and added functionality.

Whenever Google releases a new OS,it releases what they call the Stock Android experience. This lets the manufacturers of handsets take the OS,run it and fiddle with the Stock.

For Android 4.0,the Stock User Interface was a big change from the previous versions of Android..!

1] One could control what icons can be placed on either side of the launcher.
2]Folders could be created by dropping one icon on top of the other  In a drag and drop style.
3] Colour schemes across the UI were changed. The colours scheme was changed to simple colours.
4] The camera could be accessed from the lock screen



The SDK(which basically provides tools and APIs for application development using java) for Android 4.0 is based on Linux kernel 3.0.1,an excellent upgrade from the previous version,Honeycomb (that has a Linux kernel 2.6.x).

Android 4.0 handsets have virtual buttons rather than capacitive buttons.It also has great functions like integrated screenshot capture capability. Screenshots can be taken by pressing the power and volume down button together.Handsets have good real time speech to text transmutation.Android 4.0 has a built in Android Beam. Android Beam enables data communication and sharing between handsets in proximity.Ice Cream Sandwich has a new typeface,a clean and modern font,Roboto and has a smoother screen rotation as compared to previous version of Android and gives better Camera performance

In some Android 4.0 handsets,few functions differ such as screenshot capture in Samsung Touch Wiz is not the usual press down of power and volume down buttons. Folder creation also differs. In Touch Wiz,folders had to be first created after which icons could be dragged and dropped in.

Android 4.1

Google announced Android 4.1 Jelly Bean at the Google I/O conference on June 27,2012. It released Jelly Bean to AOSP on July 9,2012.

Android 4.1 is based on Linux kernel 3.1.10 and has 16 APIs! It is an incremental update with the objective to enhance the user interface in performance and behaviour.
The progression to boost the performance informally termed as "Project Butter" brought about touch anticipation,triple buffering,extended vsync timing and a fixed frame rate of 60fps to create a "buttery" smooth User Interface.

Comparing the Ice Cream Sandwich and Jelly Bean,

• Flipping through applications appears smoother in Android 4.1...Much like turning pages in a book.
• Galleries loaded with Picasa and Google+ content load faster in Android 4.1
• The homescreen is more flexible
• Jelly Bean provides higher functional and expandable notifications
• Gives an option to open links the same way every time or just once.
• Project Majel : Much like Apple's Siri-an evolution of existing voice services. The actions include question and answer communication with your Android along with graphics such as the answers you seek are presented to you on a business card on your phone along with Google search results that match your answer.
• Face unlock is here. You can unlock your phone with the facial recognition software pre-installed. Eye blinking maybe required to tell the software that you're the live person registered and not a photo.
• Android 4.1 also brings Gapless playback for you.This ends your annoyance with the usual playback latency

Yeah,Android 4.1 also has improved security and browsers with better HTML5 and fantastic user experiences.

You know you're hooked and falling in love with Android when you know you can rely on the apps for your day-to-day activities. There are a million apps that range from cosmetic guides (the kind that suggest which eye shadow will look great on you,matching with your clothes) to the Runkeeper app (that tells you how much distance have you jogged/walked/trolled in your current session).
It only gets better! With incremental upgrades,you are bound to get more out of it.
You never know which app will be flung your way.

I'm looking forward to one that will tell me precisely how sleepy or how hungry I am and suggest the accurate and required dietery intake or number of minutes of slumber that needs to be undertaken just to restore myself to my non-hungry,non-sleepy state.

Do you want Jelly?