My dislike of ICS is no secret, and my phone is running – and will continue to run – Android 2.3 Gingerbread. The reasons for that are many, and they’re all my own, personal, subjective reasons.
First off, ICS breaks compatibility with a number features, some of which I rely on daily. As an example, Unlock With WiFi doesn’t work with pattern locks in ICS, yet it works perfectly in Gingerbread. I don’t know why, and I frankly don’t give a rat’s ass, as it’s an app I love and will not be without. I should also note that I also ran into ICS compatibility issues with the LiveView, and while I haven’t kept notes, I’ve seen ICS compatibility issues with other apps I use in change logs for the last half year as well.
Then you have the UI changes. The menu button is being phased out, and this is much more prominent in ICS. I can’t stand the new menu bar, as it’s just a pointless way to use more screen real-estate. That seems to be Google’s new plan though, at least if you’re judging by those on-screen buttons which are on so many devices now. You guess right, I’m not a fan of those either. Touch screens are great because they allow you to have dynamic buttons that are there only when you need them, and give you a bigger screen to use when you don’t. Having permanent on-screen buttons takes away part of that screen real-estate and dedicates it to displaying buttons, which is basically the exact opposite of the advantage of touch screens. That menu bar is the second stage of a race in the wrong direction if you ask me, and I’m afraid to think where the finish line for that race is.
Despite all of this, my tablet is now on ICS. Why? Well, I don’t use my tablet that much, and I figured it would be good to see if my hatred for ICS would still be present after I got a device running it. Oh yes, it is, and to a larger degree than before.
The first thing that happened after I booted into ICS was that Unlock With WiFi popped up a dialog box, asking me to enable device administrator access for it and switch to a PIN code. I was expecting that to happen, so I just uninstalled the entire app – I don’t use my tablet enough for it to matter that much (unlike my phone).
Then I noticed a couple of blue lines across the screen in ADW Launcher EX. Apparently this has to do with the new menu bar and how ADW Launcher hasn’t been updated to handle it properly. Apps being abandoned by developers and left incompatible with never OS versions is not a new thing, and you wouldn’t be wrong to blame the developer. I still can’t help to think though that a launcher that has worked perfectly fine for me on two major Android versions is left unusable in ICS because of a UI change that I don’t even want. Therein lies my core gripe with ICS.
To me, ICS is not an upgrade in any way that matters to me. They changed the UI, made it faster (yes, it is noticeably faster on my Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus), and stole some third party app ideas and integrated them in the OS. Aside from the bit about being faster, I don’t care about any of that. What I care about is being able to use the apps I use on Gingerbread on ICS, which I can’t. In some cases it’s the app developer that has thrown in the towel, in other cases it’s changes to the OS that makes it impossible to do things you could once do. Bottom line, I wouldn’t call it an upgrade – not for me personally. A 2012 Porsche isn’t an upgrade over an old ice cream truck if you’re an ice cream seller.
I’m well aware that ICS is generally well liked, and I guess that’s all that matters in the grand scheme of things. I still have my Gingerbread phone, and even if I get a new phone at some point, there are enough Android-exclusive feature to keep me on Android, at least for now.
For me it is the new notifications, the faster phone, the better browser, support for Google chrome, faster WiFi connections, better copy and paste that make ICS much better than GB. But as you said, we all like our own thing.
Indeed it’s all subjective. New notifications would be nice, but thats JB. I use dolphin, so browser hasnt changed for me. Dont know if you mean that wifi connections are faster or if connecting to a wifi network takes less time, but I havent ever considered either of those as problems. I guess Im just too weird to appreciate it
In notifications it’s the possibility to them away one by one that I really like. Also the option to control your music right from there (but I guess this matters more on a phone than on a tablet).
And at least on my (ageing) Xperia Arc, wifi connects much faster and if the connection fails (I walk away from router for example), reconnection takes sometimes less than a second.
What I miss from GB is the fact that GB is meant for devices with 512MB of RAM (like my Arc), and ICS is clearly aimed at 1GB RAM phones.
Well that is a big flame about ICS. I agree that ICS breaks things, but some of those changes may have been necessary. Namely to keep down security exploits. I am running GB right now, because I like tethering to work. With that said I think ICS is a great experience which I enjoyed.
Fixing security holes might be part of it, but I doubt it would be impossible to not break stuff. Also, things like support for some BT profiles was removed, which makes no sense.
Also, its hard to argue security on the os version that added face unlock xD
ICS has been out since October 19th, 2011. 10 months, 1 week, 4 days.
Unlock With Wifi was made ICS compatible on Feb 20th, 6 months ago. If there are any issues, contact the developer as he’s thought it’s been working according to website.
ADW Launcher was abandoned by the developer one year, 8 months ago. ADW EX works fine, although development of that launcher appears to have been abandoned shortly after ICS came out.
The on screen buttons have been an annoyance, however with the issues you listed I think the issue is you’re mostly running abandoned software or software that has had nearly a year to make itself ICS compatible and didn’t. That’s an issue with developers not making a couple of changes to accommodate an ever-changing operating system that just keeps getting faster and more feature filled.
Uww is updated for ics, yes, but some features are unavailable due to os changes. Explained in g play descr
What really annoyed me was the fact that all OS updates after Gingerbread have broken the ability to play full HD videos straight from my cameras. Even my Toshiba Tablet PC from 2004 can do that so why not Android?
I don’t think that’s an android issue, think that’s a manufacturer implementation issue.
Wouldn’t using tasker or llama be a another option than to uww
@TheHappyRock, @Andreas, Yes, Tasker with the Secure Settings plugin is just what is needed to fix this problem. It also fixes many other gripes with the OS changing.
@Andreas, As for not liking on-screen buttons, you can use almost any alternative ICS rom for your device. Most have the ability to remove on-screen buttons. CM10 is a good example. However, there are legitimate reasons to have on-screen buttons. If you ever purchased a device that never came with them in the beginning, you would begin to realize how nice it is. The problem is not the on-screen buttons, but the fact that your device came with physical buttons too.
I have a device that has nothing but onscreen buttons (and came with them), and one with physical buttons. Hate the onscreen ones. They pop all over the freaking place as the screen rotates due to app requirements or photo viewing, there’s no true fullscreen without hacks, and just now on the train – be it due to ICS itself or how ICS interacts with the hack above – the buttons disappeared. Poof. Didn’t fade into dots, they were literally gone. Rest of the status bar was there. Hope to god it’s a bug with the software i had used to hide the status bar earlier, or those who don’t have the ability to “restart” the status bar through that hack are going to be in trouble.
Tried that once. Was hopelessly unreliable :/ I love tasker, but whatever the reason is, it just didnt live up to uww
I agree with Andreas on his one gripe re. Icons on screen. I want buttons that I use all the time to be off screen. Just as I don’t want volume on screen so I want menu, back and home to off screen. I also want a dedicated camera button. This is a question of good design and as noted in the article the loss of screen real estate. I want my screen for seeing things, not for buttons!
Can’t wait for a job tablet to be mine
Hmm I dunno, since I have a Samsung phone touch wiz pretty much kills the menu problems(which i have to agree is stupid and annoying) and the update to ICS brings the native controller support that lets me use my PS3 controller and a holder to play games with. Most of the other changes I either dont see(touchwiz) or are simply not important to how I use the phone. Good flaming article though lol.
Hey, sorry to be off topic, but what is that clock app in the Screenshot? It’s beautiful.
Yeah it’s great, it’s called RvClock: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.aangle.rvclock
I agree with Andreas. Even though ICS brought much needed features like hardware acceleration im not really a fan of the UI. Its kind of a huge turn off with all the blue. But Jellybean is my favourite right now. Loving Project Butter.
Correct me if/where I’m wrong, but isn’t blue the prominent color scheme on Jelly Bean as well?