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Note: Google rolled out Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich on Wednesday. What's in, what's out, and what features did Google steal from the competition?
It appears that no feature is safe from being poached these days when it comes to the smartphone wars. The mighty Google took inspiration not only from iOS, but from Windows Phone, and webOS, too, in its most recent version of Android. Let's take a look.
Google's Android Chief Andy Rubin took the stage Wednesday morning in Hong Kong (or late Tuesday night, if you're on the East Coast) to introduce Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS). Android 4.0 arrives approximately 11 months after its predecessor, Android 2.3 Gingerbread, and clearly shows that Google has been hard at work improving its mobile operating system.
Android 4.0 has an entirely new look and feel. Google's design chief, Matias Eduarte, was very proud to show off a new font for Android 4.0 called Roboto (hold the Styx jokes, please). It is pleasing, I guess, or at least not offensive. It gives the entire operating system a more Zen-like look to it.
Android 4.0 is big on integration and shortcuts, especially on the home screen. Consider the dock at the bottom of the Android home screen, for example. Often it holds shortcuts to four applications....