Difference Between Android 3.1 (Honeycomb) and Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich)

Android 3.1 (Honeycomb) vs Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) | Android 4.0 vs 3.1 Features and Performance
 

Android 3.1, also known as Honeycomb was officially released on March 2011. Android 4.0, also known as “Ice cream sandwich” was officially released in October 2011. Android 3.1 is optimized for tablets while Android 4.0 is optimized for both smart phones and tablets. Following is a review on these two versions of Android mobile operating system.

Android 3.1 (Honeycomb)

Android 3.1, also known as Honeycomb was officially released on March 2011. However, “Motorola Xoom”, which is a tablet powered by Android 3.0, was officially available in the market from February 2011. There for Android 3.1 is a slightly upgraded version of Android 3.0. Honeycomb is the first Android version specially optimised for tablets.

The biggest differentiation between Android 3.1 to its predecessors is that it’s optimised for tablet devices. The user interface has been optimised for large screens available with tablet devices. The user interface is redesigned with a virtual and “holographic” theme. It can be easily said that the interface is more interactive and 3D. Android 3.1 comes with 5 customisable home screens. Users can add widgets and application short cuts to each home screen and arrange them according to personal preference. The widgets allow accessing information without opening the application, and the widgets on Android 3.1 have been designed to make the maximum use of landscape orientation and a larger screen size. Each home screen is complete with universal search and an apps icon (an icon which launches all installed applications). Users have access to notifications and system information across the system on the System bar available at the bottom of the screen. Soft buttons for Back, Home and Recent Apps are also located in the system bar. Switching between the home screens creates a new 3D look, which was not available in previous versions. “Pop overs” provide a thumbnail view of applications that are open. “Action Bar” is what allows users to access options, navigation, widgets and other content of the application. The Action bar is placed at the top of the screen.

The keyboard of android 3.1 is also redesigned to fit a larger screen. The keys are re shaped and re positioned to allow faster typing. Words can be selected by press hold and by moving the selection area by dragging set of bounding arrows. Android 3.1 introduces a system wide clip board, which allows copying any kind of data from applications, as well.

The support for 2D and 3D graphics has been improved in Android 3.1. A new animation framework is included in this version of Android allowing developers to animate UI and widgets. These animations will refine the user experience. These graphics operations are given a performance boost with the new hardware accelerated OpenGL rendered. A 3D graphics engine called “Renderscript” is also included to enhance the performance of 3D graphics. Android 3.0 also comes with a movie editing and photo editing software.

Browsing on Android 3.1 has been improved to allow users faster browsing and organizing web pages. Tabbed browsing will allow users to minimise the number of browser windows open enabling efficient switching between web pages. The touch input is more improved in the Android 3.1, and features like auto-fill, incognito mode, and bookmaking are also available. The rendering of non mobile sites has been improved in Android 3.1 browser, and it will be more enhanced when coupled with devices with larger screens. With the new enhancements, embedded HTML 5 video can now be played in the browser. The web pages browsed by the user can now be saved to ‘downloads’ for later view.

Support for external devices has also been improved in Android 3.1, as well. Users can plug in keyboards and mouse through USB and Bluetooth for a more productive experience. Enhancing the gaming experience

Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich)

The Android version designed to be used on both phones and tables was officially released in October 2011 alongside the announcement of Galaxy Nexus. Android 4.0 also known as “Ice cream sandwich” combines the features of both Android 2.3(Gingerbread) and Android 3.0 (Honeycomb).

The biggest improvement of Android 4.0 is the user interface enhancement. Further confirming the commitment to more user friendly mobile operating system, Android 4.0 comes with a new typeface called ‘Roboto’ which is more suitable for high resolution screens. The virtual buttons in the Systems bar (Similar to Honeycomb) allow users to navigate back, to Home and to recent applications. The folders in the home screen allow users to organize applications by category simply by drag and drop. The widgets have been designed to be re sizable and allow users to view content using the widget without launching the application.

Multitasking is one of the strong features in Android. In Android 4.0 (Ice cream Sandwich), the recent apps button allows users switch between recent applications easily. The systems bar shows a list of recent applications and has thumbnails of applications; users may instantly access an application by tapping the thumbnail. The notifications are also enhanced in Android 4.0 (Ice cream Sandwich). In smaller screens, notifications will appear at the top of the screen and in bigger screens notifications will appear in the System bar. Users can also dismiss individual notifications.

Voice input has also been improved in Android 4.0 (Ice cream Sandwich). The new voice input engine gives an ‘open microphone’ experience and allows users to give voice commands any time. It allows users to compose messages by dictation. Users may dictate the message continuously and if any errors are available they will be highlighted in gray.

The lock screen comes packed with improvements and innovation. On Android 4.0, users can do many actions while the screen is locked. It is possible to answer a call, see notifications and browse through music if the user is listening to music. The innovative feature added to the lock screen would be ‘Face Unlock’. With Android 4.0, users can now keep their face in front of the screen and unlock their phones adding an even more personalized experience.

The new People application on Android 4.0 (Ice cream Sandwich) allows users to search for contacts, their images across multiple social networking platforms. Users own contact details can be stored as ‘Me’ so that information can be shared easily.

The camera capabilities are another area much enhanced in Android 4.0. Image capturing is enhanced with continuous focus, zero shutter lag exposure and decreased shot-to-shot speed. After capturing images, users can edit the images on the phone itself, using the available image editing software. While recording video users can take full HD images simply by tapping the screen, as well. Another introducing feature on the camera application is the single-motion panorama mode for larger screens. Features such as face detection, tap to focus are also onboard Android 4.0. With “Live Effects”, users can add interesting changes to captured video and video chat. Live Effects enable changing the background to any available or custom image on captured video and for video chat.

Android 4.0 is the mobile operating system, which takes Android platform into the future. There for it is no surprise that the new operating system has focused on the NFC capabilities of future Android smart phones and tablets. “Android Beem” is a NFC based sharing application which allows two NFC enabled devices to share images, contacts, music, video and applications.

Android 4.0, also known as Ice cream Sandwich comes to the market with many interesting innovative features packed. However, the most important and noteworthy enhancement would be the upgrade the user interface has received to give it a much needed finishing touch. With fast passed release cycles, many previous Android versions seemed a little rough around the edges.

What is the difference between Android 3.1 (Honeycomb) and Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich)?

Android 3.1, also known as “Honeycomb”, was officially released on March 2011, and Android 4.0 also known as “Ice cream sandwich” was officially released in October 2011 alongside the announcement of Galaxy Nexus. Android 3.1 was specially designed to be used on tablets while Android 4.0 was designed to be used in both smart phones and tablets. Both Android 3.1 and Android 4.0 are designed for large screens. Android 4.0 further introduces the “Roboto” typeface more suitable for high resolution screens, and this is not available in Android 3.1. Both Android 3.1 and Android 4.0 have soft keys for Back, Home and Recent Apps. Both Android 3.1 and Android 4.0 have customizable home screens that can be customized by the user with shortcuts to applications and widgets. Switching between these home screens gives users a nice 3D navigation experience. In both versions of Android, the systems bar shows a list of recent applications and have thumbnails of applications. Performing actions such as voice search and composing text messages via voice input are available in both Android 3.1 and Android 4.0. However, in Android 4.0 this has been further improved to give an ‘open microphone’ experience. In Android 4.0 (Ice cream sandwich) users can answer calls, see notifications and browse through music if they are listening to music without unlocking the screen. With Android 3.1, the actions one can perform without unlocking the screen are limited to answering a call. Android 4.0 offers the ability to unlock the phone with face recognition but a similar feature is not available with Android 3.1. In Android 3.1 and 4.0, the browser allows tabbed browsing. Both browsers have better performance in-terms of rendering non mobile sites. The camera application on Android 4.0 introduces “Live Effects”, which can replace the background of images and video, while they are being captured. A similar feature is not available on Android 3.1.