The Gmail app received a performance update today bringing Ice Cream Sandwich functionality to Honeycomb users and new label API’s to Froyo and Gingerbread. Honeycomb users will benefit from the new Ice Cream Sandwich features, including:
The latest distribution numbers are out and it appears Ice Cream Sandwich is gaining momentum. In a 14-day period ending on April 2, 2012, Android 4.0 appeared on 2.9% of devices accessing the Google Play Store. Yes, that’s still a pretty paltry number, but compared to last month’s data, it’s up 1.3%. That’s good news for an operating version that has been mostly stagnant since its release back in November of 2011. We’re finally starting to see OEM’s and carriers roll out the Android 4.0 update to their phones and this latest data is reflective of that.
Every month Google puts out a platform distribution chart to give us a better idea of what OS version Android devices are running. Not much has changed since last month which is quite disheartening considering it’s been a few months since Android 4.0 was released. Ice Cream Sandwich is Google’s latest and greatest Android version and yet less than 2% of devices are running it. It really is a shame and it’s too bad OEM’s and carriers are taking so long because Android 4.0 is such a great improvement to the user experience.
We knew there would be a few surprises at MWC and it turns out Samsung is the first to catch us off guard with their new projector smartphone, the Samsung Galaxy Beam. This cool little device has a built-in projector with a nHD (640 x 360) resolution and 15 Lumen brightness for those moments when you feel like projecting Angry Birds onto the bathroom stall door. It’s definitely not your run of the mill smartphone, which is refreshing, and we can’t wait to try it out. For all of you wondering, the Galaxy Beam features:
