Cool Features Of SGS2 ICS Update - With Pictures

Ice Cream Sandwich brings new features not found in Gingerbread. But that statement alone probably won't convince you to update your Samsung Galaxy S2 to Android 4.0. Which is why I'm writing this post to highlight everything cool about the official ICS update for SGS2.


Be warned. This post is not for Touchwiz haters.


When going through photos, anything placed side by side would be a comparison between Gingerbread (on the left) and Ice Cream Sandwich (on the right).

Lockscreen

The first thing you'll notice is the new lockscreen. The clock is now positioned on the top instead of the bottom.

Note: The photo on the right is the ICS lockscreen for a leaked build of SGS2 and is therefore not final. However, the clock positioning is already similar to the recent release. 

Coming from older versions of Gingerbread, you know that the swipe action moves the entire lockscreen out of the way. But newer versions of Gingerbread already have a similar "swipe to unlock" action as Ice Cream Sandwich. When you press the lockscreen, a ring will appear. Dragging your finger out of that circle will unlock it.


It's not obvious but check the clock on the status bar on photos below. The clock will not appear on the status bar for Ice Cream Sandwich while the lockscreen is on. 

    

What I really like about the new ICS lockscreen for SGS2 is that you can access the notifications drawer without unlocking your phone.

You can now easily check for notifications and access them directly through your lockscreen. But if you set up a Passcode, Pattern, or Face Unlock, you are unable to access the notifications drawer from the lockscreen - a great security measure, if you ask me. Face Unlock is a key feature of Ice Cream Sandwich. It is a new method of unlocking your phone through face recognition.

When you receive messages or miss calls, the slide action will still take you to them - like how Gingerbread worked.

When playing music using the stock media player, a music controls widget will automatically appear on the bottom side of the lockscreen. 

Homescreen

After you unlock the phone, you will be taken to the homescreen. The clock will reappear on the right end of the status bar after unlocking. There's nothing else left to say about the homescreen other than "It still has Touchwiz".

Menu Touch Button

The menu touch button has a new interface. If you click it, the menu will be displayed as a list and not a grid. The interface is similar across most apps, except for those who weren't optimized for Ice Cream Sandwich.

Status Bar

Icons are noticeably larger on the status bar of Ice Cream Sandwich for SGS2. I don't know about you but I really like them and I think people with vision problems would appreciate the change too. Icons for WiFi, 3G/4G, and battery also get minor redesigns.

Notifications Drawer

The notifications drawer has a similar appearance but a different interface. In addition to the "Clear All" notifications feature, you can now individually remove notifications from the drawer. Also worth noting is the music widget which appears when playing music using the stock music player.

Recent Apps View

In Gingerbread, long-pressing the menu button will take you to the task manager. In Ice Cream Sandwich, the action will lead you to the Recent Apps View. Recent Apps View lets you access recently used applications in the touch of a button. To remove an app from the list, just use the swipe action.

  

You can still access the Task Manager from the Recent Apps View by clicking the corresponding button that appears on the bottom.

Internet Browser

The all-new internet browser on the Ice Cream Sandwich update is really awesome. One of the first things you'll notice is that if you go online, the browser will instantly sync to your Google account. If you set up Google Chrome, bookmarks saved on your device and Google Chrome for PC will be synced to your account - allowing you to access all of them with your phone or computer.

If you check the photos below, the bookmarks saved on my Google Chrome browser were synced to my phone.

 

You can learn how to sync Google Chrome to your Android here.

When viewing pages on full screen mode, touch the sides of the screen to access the menu, open a new tab, and perform other functions.

Incognito mode is another interesting feature present in the internet browser of the phone's ICS update. When you access the Windows Menu on the internet browser, you can switch to Incognito mode by clicking the icon on the top right portion of the screen - the one beside the plus sign. Incognito mode prevents your phone from saving search history and history of viewed pages. This new feature - along with the option to open in a new window - is presented in a new interface for Ice Cream Sandwich. 

      

Select Input Method

Whenever you're typing using the keyboard - regardless of the app used and default keyboard - a Select Input Method Icon will appear on the status bar and your notifications drawer. This lets you easily switch between different keyboards when needed.

Text Selection

Text selection is different in Ice Cream Sandwich - and much easier to use, IMO. When you long press a typed word, a selection method with four icons will initially appear on top of the screen. From left to right, there is the Confirm button, Select All option, Cut option, and Copy option.

Moving the selection cursors lets you select specific phrases.

Select All lets you select all of the typed text.

Cut removes the selected text from the screen and adds it to the clipboard.

Copy lets you copy text to the clipboard without removing it from the screen.

Once you have added something into the clipboard, a new icon will appear when you select text the next time around.

The new icon (which appears on the far right of the screen) lets you replace the selected text with cut/copied text from the clipboard. The icon also includes the option to see all cut/copied text on the clipboard.

Long pressing on a blank space gives you the option to paste recently cut/copied text or access the clipboard for more options.

All the features I mentioned above aren't everything that the ICS update has to offer for Samsung Galaxy S II owners. However, they were the best I could find. Hopefully, I was able to convince you to update your phone to Ice Cream Sandwich just as I have. 

Remember to check my reviews of ICS builds because some of them are extremely buggy and unstable (even if they're official releases by Samsung). I am currently using UHLPE for Trinidad and Tobago which seems to be the most stable ICS update for SGS2 - so far, based from what I've tested.