Google has released Android Ice Cream Sandwich earlier than expected, but we don’t think anyone will complain. In an Android developer group on the company’s Google+ social network Google informed developers that it has released the source code for Ice Cream Sandwich. So the question you might be asking now is, “so Google released the source code, when is it coming to my phone?” The answer to that question is a little complicated.
Normally Google releases the source code to the newest version of Android on the same day as the newest phone model is launched. In this case we were expecting ICS to be released to the public when the Galaxy Nexus first became available. Seeing as the Galaxy Nexus has yet to hit the market, this news came sooner than expected.
Starting today developers are now able to see what Ice Cream Sandwich is able to do, and can start writing Apps made to run on the software. Today’s update will not allow users to update their current phone to the newest flavor of Android unfortunately. This does mean that companies like HTC, Samsung, and Motorola are now able to start working on their versions of ICS. Hopefully large companies were provided this software prior to today’s public release so that they could have as much time as possible prepare for the update.
What this also means is that Android large hacking community is now able to start working on unofficial versions of the software to run on all sorts of devices. It is highly likely that we will start seeing unofficial ports of ICS on phones and tablets in the next couple of weeks.
Now that ICS is officially on the market the clock is ticking for both phone makers and hackers. With all of the recent new phones released, most notably the Droid Razr, the pressure is on the phone makers to get ICS on as many phones as possible, as quickly as possible.
