Unlike the iPhone 5, whose arrival date is still unknown, Android Ice Cream Sandwich is here. There was no letting on, no cryptic messages. Google and Samsung has sent their message perfectly clear in their event in Hong Kong: Everybody gets an Ice Cream Sandwich.

Google Opening

"I'm very excited to be announcing our next-generation Android phone with Samsung as well as with Android 4.0 -- Ice Cream Sandwich," said the vice president of mobile at Google, Andy Rubin, as he opened the event for Google and Samsung.

One of the promises for the Ice Cream Sandwich is that not only will it be smart, it would be easy to use and aesthetically pleasing. Both qualities that Apple's iOS are known for will now be coming to the Android platform. Rubin also stated that it would "go beyond smart" by making cloud computing available to the Android. "That is the essence of what we wanted to do with the Android."

The Nexus

Kevin Packingham, the senior vice president of product innovation of Samsung America, states that there will be four main aspects about the Nexus; namely speed, screen, design, and OS.

For speed, the Samsung Nexus would have HSPA+, EDGE and GPRS for network and LTE will be available depending on the region. With LTE, Packingham states that it would mean faster Internet connectivity and with the 1.2 GHz dual-core processor with 1 GB of RAM, the phone offers "ultra-smooth" multi-tasking.

The display screen would be a 4.6 inch HD super AMOLED screen that would run in the 720p resolution. The phone also boasts a 4.29 millimeter bezel, making the whole phone mostly screen display.

The design of the phone is very different from Samsung Galaxy. It features a curved design with a texture at the back called "Hyperskin" to minimize slipping. The phone also does not have any buttons at the front as all button pressing in the phone operation will be done on the touch screen. The camera at the back of the phone has a "zero shutter lag," which is funny because camera phones have no shutters. This just means it can takes more shots per second. The phone can also be used as a mobile wallet.

The Ice Cream Sandwich

Matias Duarte opened his segment by stating that they have studied why users didn't "love" the Android. This scrutiny led to three design principles: "Enchant me, simplify my life, and make me awesome." Google has looked at the latest in graphic designs to nspire the new look of Android. The first design decision they unveiled is the new default font for the Android called "Roboto." They have envisioned the new user interface like a magazine with animations.

The user interface gets some new features resembling iOS, like notifications that are available even if the phone is locked. As usual the notifications can be slid down from the top as always in the Android. Folders are made when one icon is dragged to another icon with adding another item as easy as dragging another icon to the folder. From that folder icons can be arranged. The recent apps icon can switch you in between apps while flicking any app off will make it stop. Treat it as a more streamlined task manager.

There is also the speech to text feature that is enabled to all apps with text input. It may be still a work in progress with a few errors here and there. The face recognition feature called "Face Unlock" to unlock phones is also given a demonstration twice and has failed both. This also raises a question if it will work on a picture. As a security feature, voice recognition would be a better alternative.

Ice Cream Sandwich comes with a desktop-class browser, supporting up to 16 tabs. It can also synch with Google Chrome to help you remember your favorite sites outside of your desktop computer. The platform also is integrated with other Google products such as Gmail and Calendar.

The OS offers the feature of limiting your bandwidth use with each app. Ice Cream Sandwich can show people how much bandwidth a certain app uses with charts so you could set bandwidth limitations on it if you want.

The integrated photo app also comes with photo editing capabilities. The camera can focus in an area to set focus and exposure. It also has a zoom function and face detection. Hopefully, this face detection works better than Face Lock. There are also filters to use for a more artistic or "hip" look on your photos. A panorama mode can be used by swiping the camera from side to side. The photo gallery is also revamped, making it more simple, composed only of thumbnails set side by side and on top of each other with a semi-transparent box below it to show the folder name.

The People App was said to be the heart of the new Android OS. It integrates photos of a person with all their social network and contact data in one place. Facebook, Linkedin, Google+ and Twitter connections can be shown and other apps can connect with it too. People in your contact list can now be messaged not only with their phones and e-mail but also their social network in the OS.

The last feature to be presented was the Android Beam. It lets users share anything with another Android device. If a user plays with an app, he or she could beam it to another Android device and a link towards the marketplace for the app shows up. YouTube videos, people cards and more can be shared with the Android Beam. They couldn't share apk files to save bandwidth but it may be more of a precaution against not buying an app from the market rather than making a user use up their bandwidth.

Can Ice Cream Sandwich Take on iOS 5?

While the Ice Cream Sandwich is obviously an attempt of Android to be more design oriented, it succeeds more than fails in its features. Obviously the face recognition system would need more work to be a viable security function as well as more work is needed with speech to text feature. Google is more competent than Apple in handling data and may provide a better speech-to-text app in the near future. One more thing it might excel against iOS 5. The Ice Cream Sandwich can be seen as a more social- driven phone than the iPhone 4S. The iOS 5 only integrated with Twitter but the Ice Cream Sandwich can be integrated with many other social network platforms.

Below is the video introducing the Samsung Nexus with the Ice Cream Sandwich and the first hands-on for the Samsung Nexus.