A growl-sounding tone a few moments ago alerted me to a Download Available message from my cell phone carrier, Fido. Android v4.0.4 finally arrived, a long wait from the "after Thanksgiving" date originally promised by Google. I excitedly wrote my son, "Android 4 is downloading onto my phone. Hope it doesn't screw up the phone for my trip to SF!"
The 180MB download took a few minutes, the download was verified, and then the phone asked for permission to reboot. Upon restarting, a new spinning logo replaced the animated fireworks logo from Android v2.3.x. The new logo looks like colorful quadrilaterals spinning in a vertex.
Next up, a series of dialog boxes announced other steps, such as installing the upgrade and upgrading some 20 apps -- all announced by the new gloomy blue and gray color scheme. Within 15 minutes, the deed was done, and I was presented by a new lock screen.
Unlocking the screen, I saw that the status bar has a new look, with new icons and blue color. Fortunately, Android 4 kept all the settings of my ADW-customized desktop. All ten widgets work.
Moments later I was alerted that six apps were available with updates: Flash, Camera ICS, Gmail, Google Books, Google+, and Vignette.
The new UI and color scheme are not entirely new to me, for some apps were already designed with the new look under Android 2.x, such as Camera ICS (Ice Cream Sandwich).
The new UI makes it faster to get to settings: swipe down from the status bar, and a new icon takes me to Settings. The Settings screen first shows what might be the most-used options, Wifi and Bluetooth toggles, before listing all sections. Android-4 apps have quite new looks, like GMail and Gallery, while others like Maps have more subtle changes. Apps by third-parties look just like before, except for the use of the new Google-designed font -- unless the apps have a toggle that automatically employs the v4 UI, like Vignette.
The old shortcut of holding the status bar to show the date no longer works; you need to swipe down to see it.
I'll post more here as I come across other changes, pro and con.
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