Need help with Ice Cream Sandwich

[MikeNY]

I have only had an Android (HTC EVO) a little over a year and love it. I have HTC Sense (older version it seems). I like Ice Cream Sandwich on Nexus and curious if some of the things I saw in the video last night are standard with Ice Cream Sandwich or are the specific to each phone.

The lack of shutter lag for the camera where he took a few photos in a matter of seconds is that ICS or is that the phone so if you buy another phone with ICS that sweet camera feature does not exist. Facial recognition is ICS? The gallery for photos, etc. ICS?

The UI for the Nexus looks nice, I assume that is stock Android? What is that called? Ie Touchwiz, Sense etc are UI names for other phones what does Google call the stock UI we see on Nexus. Meaning, I have HTC Sense and like it, if one was to get an HTC phone with Sense which had Ice Cream Sandwich, will many of the features shown on the ICS demo video not be there?

I guess I am asking,what I am looking at with Nexus..that is their UI?

Sorry I still consider myself new to Android.

 

[Asterdroid]

I'll try to help you here:

1. Facial Recognition is ICS, most likely only available if your device has a front facing camera
2. Gallery is ICS
3. UI is ICS stock.
4. If you have an HTC phone, sense will be overlaid on top of ICS. The only functionality you might lose, other than the look of the launcher/home screens, is the People app. HTC has their own variation of this. That's purely speculation, though.

 

[MikeNY]

Thanks that helps.

 

[digitalslacker]

You are looking at stock Ice Cream Sandwich. It's a Pure Google Experience. It's Android as Google intends it to be. None of the overlays or custom UX/UIs, like Sense, have been added yet.

The best answer right now, and this might come off a little blunt, is it's way to early to tell.

Everyone's excited about ICS and about what it means for them and their devices, and they should be. It's a great upgrade. But the truth is we just don't know anything for sure yet and probably won't for several more months.

In your case it depends on 2 things

1. Will HTC even upgrade the EVO 4G to Android 4.0. It's an older device (relatively speaking) and at some point it'll stop getting upgrades. That might not be now, but it could be because HTC hasn't confirmed anything yet.
   
2. If they do, how will they implement it. What features will they change? How will HTC and Sense change the UX/UI. What features will simply not work on the EVO 4G because of hardware limitations.

HTC is the only one that can answer that.

 

[Asterdroid]

You can also always look into rooting, as long as they release ICS source code. Even if your phone doesn't get an official ICS release, that doesn't mean you can't get it

 

[MikeNY]

Thanks again, actually after 13 yrs on Sprint I am leaving for Verizon and just wanted to get the best phone that I think they offer. Right now seems to be Nexus. My wife has the Bionic and its nice but not a Nexus. The EVO is not getting any updates and I know that so at this point its Nexus or HTC Vigor but my choice is only Verizon at this point because I need to be on the better network. I want to make sure whatever phone I get has ICS.

 

[Asterdroid]

I am going with the Nexus, mainly because of the guaranteed software support. It's a huge plus in my book.