Ice Cream Sandwich

One of my favorite things about the Android platform is its openness.  Google gives its users the freedom to tinker, which results in an incredibly active and engaged developer community.  Yesterday, Google released the source code for the latest version of Android Ice Cream Sandwich for the GSM version of the Nexus S.  I have the CDMA/WiMax version of the Nexus S, which would have meant that I would be stuck running the old Gingerbread (Android 2.3.7) software until an official release… but tonight, a fully compiled, almost 100% functional version is available for my phone, thanks to a dedicated bunch on the XDA-Developers forum.

I’ve always thought that the Android OS lagged behind Apple’s iOS and Microsoft’s Windows Phone in terms of aesthetics, but not anymore.  Ice Cream Sandwich features a totally overhauled User Interface on par with the other mobile OSes on the market.

The one bit of functionality that’s missing from this build of ICS is Google Wallet and Near-Field Communications.  Community developers have managed to get Wallet working on the “officially unsupported” Galaxy Nexus, so I’m sure it will only be a matter of time before they get it up and running on the Nexus S.  If not, I’ll gladly trade Wallet functionality for early access to the otherwise flawless build of this fantastic operating system.