Acer A500 and Ice Cream Sandwich

Ever since the word got out that Android 4.0 (aka Ice Cream Sandwich or simply ICS) started going out, the wait for the update has been infuriating.  Every time I check my device for updates, it has always insisted it didn't have any.  I knew it was already out there though and its inability to find it was aggravating.  People had mentioned that the Iconia Tab Updater needed to be updated but as far as Google was concerned, it was which only made matters more irritating.

Finally I decided to go to Acer's local support website and looked for this apk and bit the bullet.  As soon as the app replaced the one installed by Google, it picked up 4.0.3 right away.  I knew ICS had problems but I was willing to bite the bullet.  After the update went through without a hitch, I've decided to write down my thoughts on this.

First and foremost, ICS looks great aesthetically.  It truly is a step above Honeycomb with most of the visual stuff.  It feels snappier and looks sharper.  But beneath the razzle dazzle lay problems.  ICS may be a step forward but it ain't ready for prime time.  It all starts with the subtle inconveniences.

ICS switches up quite a few things that for one that is familiar with Honeycomb, you find yourself a little lost.  Some of the no-brainer controls you've come to expect from Honeycomb just simply isn't working as expected on ICS such as the manner of adding widgets to your workspace.  Perhaps Google thought the change would be good.  Okay, fine... but that's just the tip of the iceberg.

For some reason, ICS's volume control really, really is broken.  In Honeycomb, it's easy to mute and unmute your sound but for some reason, ICS makes this so difficult to accomplish.  In order for me to get the device to mute, I have to hold the volume control button down to push the slider to zero.  This seems to trigger a vibrate before the entire device goes to silent mode.  But apparently, this sometimes causes a glitch preventing the system from unmuting.  People have suggested of getting your own mute widget which I haven't done yet, but these stuff should be working out of the box.  What's more disconcerting is that you couldn't simply tab the volume icon to mute the machine as you would in Honeycomb.

Acer has apparently removed the face recognition security but hasn't made a good job at turning it completely off.  Once you lock the screen, you still have the camera icon and the padlock icon both of which will unlock the screen.  The camera though will launch the camera app, but it won't really do any face scanning since the actual feature has been disabled.  It just really looks broken and unprofessional.

Wifi won't always automatically connect to my hot spot.  This one is a major step back from Honeycomb. My previous version 3.2.1 would pick up the hot spot I use almost instantly as soon as the machine boots up.  This new version though most of the time just forgets to do that.  At times, it puts out a notification asking me about the wifi hot spots it has detected.  Ugh.

Last problem is the compatibility of apps that used to run in Honeycomb.  Granted this is a software manufacturer fault for not supporting ICS, but Google will need to get its act together and reach out, because ICS users are being left in the cold for the apps that aren't getting fixed.

ICS is a very pretty upgrade, but isn't ready for prime time...  not when it's looking pretty broken.