Ice Cream Sandwich ⇥

Ryan Heise:

There are still two big problems, though. First, the ecosystem is the same: shitty compared to iOS. Second, this really feels like a complete reinvention of Android. Even the guy whose phone it was, who is a stalwart Android user, agreed that he was having to relearn a lot of the OS.

Far from a shit sandwich. In some places, it’s a complete rethinking of what the OS needs to accomplish, occasionally to the detriment of initial user experience. In some places, it’s just a buff and a shine, keeping Android familiar to long-time users.

But in some places, particularly the marketplace, there has been little progress, if any. That’s the one massive area that needs to be fixed. In iOS, the sticking point used to be notifications, which Apple fixed in iOS 5. The ecosystem is Android’s notifications dilemma.

Heise also makes a couple of notes regarding the Galaxy Nexus. Overall, he likes the phone and he likes the OS. I agree — Ice Cream Sandwich is a massive improvement.