Android Engineer, Dan Morrill, Sounds Off On Unannounced Android 4.0/ICS Features

[dgstorm]

If you have had a chance to peruse our article from last night's Galaxy Nexus/Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich launch, then you will know that ICS comes with a massive amount of new features. However, apparently, not all the features were shared during the event last night. One of the lead engineer's over at Google, Dan Morrill, decided to rectify that. He shared his personal favorite features of ICS that were not revealed in the Hong Kong presentation. Here they are below:

• Updated Settings – We’ve seriously revamped the Settings screen organization. Items are arranged much better now, and it’s easier and usually fewer actions to find what you are looking for.
• Disabling Apps – ICS adds the ability to disable an app outright. Don’t like an app that came preinstalled? Disable it! Its resources never run and its launcher icon is gone until you re-enable it. (This doesn’t free up any space — it can’t, since pre-installed apps are included in the read-only system storage. But it does put them “out of sight, out of mind.”)
• Camera Controls – The camera controls have been redesigned and are easier to find and mess around with.
• Improved Download Manager – It looks better and is easier to find and use, and to see and clear any downloads you might have.
• Support for Encryption for Phones – Honeycomb added full-device encryption, but ICS brings it to phones.
• Audio Effects – There’s a new audio effects API. Nuff said, really.

It was also made clear that there are still more amazing new features built into the new generation of 'Andy.' The SDK should be released soon so that developers can dive in to find them all.

Source: DroidMatters and Dan Morrill - Google+