What Do You Think of Google Ice Cream Sandwich OS?

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During Google I/O 2011 in San Francisco, the Google guys demonstrated the upcoming newest of their mobile operating systems, Android Ice Cream Sandwich, and the word is that Ice Cream Sandwich will be a universal OS for both smartphones and tablets, so as the Google guys say…one OS Everywhere.
According to an article over on Engadget, Ice Cream Sandwich will join Android 2.3 Gingerbread and the tablet centric Android 3.0 Honeycomb to play nice on the smallest Android smartphone to the biggest Android tablets, probably why they call it sandwich.
The Google guys apparently demonstrated a few new additions to the new operating system during the keynote including such stuff as camera focus shifting based on voice recognition and face tracking.
Also the Google guys have come up with peer-to-peer NFC sharing, something my colleague Lawrence reported on previously, although most of the details on the new OS are being kept under wraps.
So we’d love to hear from our readers in what they think of the Google Ice Cream Sandwich OS so far, so please cast your opinion in our commenting area below.

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Official T-Mobile G2 Gingerbread ROM Leaked

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We’ve already seen a test build of the Gingerbread ROM that’s soon to be headed to T-Mobile G2 customers, but 911Sniper has leaked yet another. And this time, it looks to be a final, stable build. ROM makers are going to want to get their hands on this one right away, but for those of you who don’t fancy doing that sort of stuff today’s leak suggests T-Mobile is just bout ready to roll this out to users. Let’s hope to hear official word about it from them sometime soon. Download link is here. 

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Samsung Galaxy S II overclocked to 1.5GHz, used to obliterate benchmarks (video)

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What do you do after you've bought the most powerful smartphone to yet grace the Android universe? Some timid folks would urge you to just enjoy it, but if you're like us, you'll probably want to know just how high that dual-core Exynos 4210 birdie could fly. The processor inside the Galaxy S II started off life at 1GHz, then got sped up by Samsung to 1.2GHz just before release, and has now been taken all the way to 1.5GHz thanks to coolbho3000 over on the xda-developers forum. He's been nice enough to provide the source code and instructions necessary to reproduce this stable overclock on your Galaxy S II, but don't rush off just yet -- there's video of the GSII romping through Quadrant and Linpack after the break. 

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iRobot Ava mobile robotics platform hands-on at Google I/O (video)

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If you're under the impression that robots were all over Google I/O this year, you'd be right -- after all, it's a only small leap from robot to Android. Yesterday we got some hands-on time with iRobot's Ava mobile robotics platform and came away rather entertained. Ava is an autonomous robot that's equipped with and array of sensors (two Kinnect-like 2D / 3D cameras, a scanning laser, ultrasonic transducers, and contact bumpers), driven by omnidirectional wheels, and controlled by its own Intel Core-based computer. The base hosts batteries, motors, as well as electronics and supports a telescopic mast that carries a pod containing touch ribbons, speakers, and a microphone. On top of this pod you'll find a "head" that can tilt / pivot and basically acts as the dock for any Android tablet. Ava is able to navigate a mapped-out space on its own while avoiding obstacles and people along the way -- going as far as to "blush" via RGB LEDs in the base if it accidentally bumps into anything or anyone. This autonomous behavior allows the robot to be controlled by simply setting waypoints and letting the onboard computer do all the hard work of coordinating sensors and motors to get it there safely. Google and iRobot have worked together and created APIs that allow Android developers to write apps -- from telepresence to roaming testimonials -- that control Ava wirelessly from the docked tablet. Both partners are hoping this will spearhead the development of unique new projects which combine the power of robotics and Android devices. There's no word on pricing or availability at this point, which comes as no surprise given that these machines are still very much prototypes. We'll leave you to look at our gallery below and watch the robotic ballet in our hands-on video after the break. 

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View Google And Touchdown Exchange Calendars In Quick Agenda For Android

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Some of my favorite apps to review are ones of productivity.  I’ll take anything from any developer if it’s going to make my life easier in the least slightest form.  Next up to make the productivity apps list is an agenda view widget that integrates content from both Google and Touchdown Exchange calendars along with a ton of other data sources.  The widget is extremely customizable and offers easy access to check out your events, tasks and even contact birthdays while on the fly.  The coolest aspect of the  application is that it can be launched as an app by tapping on the icon from your home screen or by applying the widget to one of your home screen desktops.  If you choose to use it as an app with an icon on the desktop, the widget functionality will not open up until you tap it, subsequently saving you a whole home screen of real estate.  Hit the break to check out another screenshot of the app and to view more info from the developer along with a full list of specs and tasks supported.  Download links are available after the break as well.  Feel free to let us know what you think of the functionality in the comments below.  

Download Links:

Android Market
From The Developer:
Feature list:
- a widget that can show one upcoming event/task, either the next event or and event chosen by you
- an quick loading agenda view that combines calendars and tasks from various data sources
- swipe actions in quick agenda view
- an ICS (iCal) receiver/sender. The send function is still primitive however the receiving function handles most cases as it is based on icsbot
-*lots* of skin and color customizations for all components of the widget, initial look matches Simi clock
If you would like to unlock the full version features you can do it in the application from widget settings or the app drawer icon settings page.
Support for:
- Google calendar
- Touchdown exchange
- Astrid
- Google tasks organizer (GTO)
- SSI gTasks
- Dato gTasks
- Got To Do tasks
- Calengoo tasks
- Due Today tasks

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