The latest version of Android is alive and well in the AT&T version of Samsung’s Galaxy Note.
A ROM of the Android 4.0 (also known as Ice Cream Sandwich or ICS) update has been leaked on RootzWiki, with a lot of success stories reported and only a couple bugs.
Ice Cream Sandwich is one of the biggest updates to Android yet, and includes such features as scanning your face to unlock the phone, a much more robust speech-to-text software program, and an entire platform of data sharing that focuses on Near Field Communication (NFC).
NFC so far has been mostly focused on using your phone as a payment device in retail stores, but with Ice Cream Sandwich’s Android Beam, it can also allow users to easily share contact information, Youtube videos, or website addresses simply by waving two phones next to each other.
This trend of seemingly fully functional Ice Cream Sandwich updates being leaked on the Internet before launching to the phones themselves, time and time again, is fascinating.
We didn’t really see it with previous Android updates, which suggests that manufacturers and carriers are being extra cautious this time around – that they have final code for the update but want to be extra careful about making sure it will work smoothly.
The two first devices that were slated for upgrades – the Nexus S phone and the Transformer Prime tablet – ended up getting tons of negative publicity after the update crashed the system for numerous users. As a result, manufacturers have been increasingly tepid about pushing the update.
Nevertheless, a bunch of phones currently running an older version of Android will be eligible to upgrade to Ice Cream Sandwich beginning in the coming months.
