ICS Official changes

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littlewierdo

Senior Member
Dec 10, 2010
549
163
Ok folks, what Im going to do here is go through some of the major things I have noticed since installing the official ICS but before I do that, let me give my two sentence review.

Its nice. If you are wondering what the Note SHOULD have performed like on launch, this is it. MUCH improved scrolling, better performance and slightly more aggressive app handling.

Ok, I lied, three sentences.

Changes:

NOTE that I will NOT be covering changes to the launcher portion of ICS.

1. Overall performance is better. Using Go Launcher, with the app drawer set to 6x6, it scrolls MUCH more smoothly. The market scrolls much smoother, settings, the same. It isnt 'butter' but it is much more acceptable now, not stuttering to the point of overshooting apps.
2. Notifications menu now has two new toggles - Flight Mode and Power Savings. There is now also a fast Settings button that will take you straight into the Android Settings app.
3. The power menu (long pressing your screen on/power button) has had accessibility moved to the top of the menu (if you had this enabled) and now has a 'Reboot phone' option (YAY!!)
4. ALL system apps that CAN be linked to the market are now correctly linked. This means your list of installed apps will be a bit longer (when looking in the play store list) and also means that these apps will be able to be updated without manually searching for each one by one.
5. There are obvious signs of the original UI ICS all over the place, notably the spinning circle but you'll see it everywhere.
6. Improved battery life, for the amount I have used the phone, its at a much higher percentage than it normally would have been.

One quick point to interject, apps can now be disabled :)

Originally Posted by j101399j View Post
You can now also disable most stock apps.

I know this worked on some of the ICS roms, so I just looked and verified that even though you cannot uninstall some of the bloat (without root), you can disable it . For example, I can disable Swype and install Swype Beta now. I hate AT&T Navigator, so I disabled it. If it cannot be uninstalled, disable it.

(settings --> applications --> all --> select the app and uninstall any updates --> disable) kinda like freezing the apps without root

City ID
Device help
Media Hub
Polaris Office
Swype
Yellow pages
YPMobile
Yahoo finance

Here are a few more that I just disabled, thanks for this tip :)

AT&T Navigator
Email (I use the gmail app)
Google+

Now. the rest of this is the stuff under settings. Im going to cover what I recognize to be new.

Under Settings:

First off, you'll notice that everything is now categorized into different groups now, making finding things in Settings a bit easier.

Wireless and Network

Tapping on Wifi or Bluetooth now takes you to the screens to configure the advanced settings for these features. Tapping 'On/Off' on the right side enables or disables the radios.

Data Usage

Here is where you can set up your billing cycle dates and put hard caps on your PHONE to keep your data usage under what your carrier allows. Fairly straight forward but make sure you set your billing date up correctly or this will be of NO use.

More

Here you will find NFC (YAY), Android Beam (send data between two devices using NFC), and Wifi Direct (connect two devices with a wifi antenna without the need for a router/hub).

Device

Call

Nothing new here, just a few things moved around a bit.

Sound

Again, nothing new, just shuffled a bit to make things easier to get to. Note that the menu button now no longer brings up any advanced settings here, they are all accessible by navigating the screen options.

Display

A few things moved around a bit BUT a new feature, Show battery percentage in notifications bar. NICE Also, Gyroscope Calibration is now an option.

Power Saving

Unchanged

Storage

Prettier but unchanged, a little bit more information but not much.

Battery

Unchanged

Applications

Unchanged, tho it should be noted that you can hit your menu button while in this screen to sort the list by Size

Personal

Accounts and Sync

Unchanged

Location Services

Unchanged

Security

Big one here but this is where you will find face unlock and even a voice recognition feature that can I believe be used in conjunction with another method to unlock your phone. I havent had much time to look at it yet.

Language and Input

Largely unchanged but its a bit more intuitive to change your keyboard now. And, for an interesting 'feature' that Samsung forgot to disable, Pointer speed, which has NO effect on our phone, this option is only for phones with a trackpad (Samsung forgot to disable this - made me smile).

Back up and reset

Nice, this option used to be buried under privacy and is now brought out into the main settings list. Much easier to find, it

System

Dock

Unchanged

Pen Settings

New option, Hovering pen icon (shows a pen icon over the screen where the pen is hovering)

One Handed Operation

3 completely new settings, to configure the calculator, dialer, and unlock pattern to be configured for use with one hand (clumps everything on one side of the screen so that you can say dial numbers with just your thumb rather than the usual having to hold the phone with one hand and dial with your other).

Date and Time

Unchanged

Accessibility

Two new options, Speak passwords. Havent had time to check to see if this works for unlocking the phone as well, but if it does, that would be silly. Tap and Hold delay can now be configured as well as allowing or disallowing the installation of web scripts.

Motion

New option, Double Tap to allow voice dictation easily. Sweet

Developer Options

Several new things you can make visible for the nerdy types but Im not going to cover them here since they are really only for developers :).

About Phone

Unchanged

Ok, that should give you an idea of what to look for, if someone else wants to cover the touchwiz stuff (adding or removing widgets/icons/homescreens) I can add it.

Also, if there is anything I missed or got wrong...
 
Last edited:

bigmout

Senior Member
Oct 8, 2007
476
81
Awesome write up! Do you have any idea how -- or if -- we can add app shortcuts to the lockscreen like the SGSIII?

PS: I have Widgetlocker but would prefer to use the system for this if possible.
 

andrawer

Senior Member
Jun 3, 2011
686
147
Under Settings Developer Options you have the ability to adjust the Window Animation scale and also Transition Animation Scale.

When I set these to 0 then launchers like Go launcher behave much quicker.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using Tapatalk 2
 

littlewierdo

Senior Member
Dec 10, 2010
549
163
whats the downside to GPU rendereing? decreased battery life?

My understanding is, one of the major improvements made to ICS is the ability to offload some of the processing to the processor / gpu depending on current load - ie. cpu is extremely busy at the moment so offload some processing to the gpu (or vice versa). Enabling this option I believe forces the gpu to handle everything regardless of the state of the cpu.

Reports have claimed enabling this option has mixed results. If the app supports gpu acceleration, you will see better performance. If it doesnt, the app will actually have worse performance and may actually crash the app in some rare cases. All ICS updated apps support this and chances are, if the software you have on your Note has been updated to support ICS, you have no issues.

So, the advice from the streets is to either keep is disabled and pretend you didnt see it or enable it and keep in the back of your mind that you might need to disable it occasionally for certain apps. The performance improvement is supposedly pretty minimal.
 
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littlewierdo

Senior Member
Dec 10, 2010
549
163
Under Settings Developer Options you have the ability to adjust the Window Animation scale and also Transition Animation Scale.

When I set these to 0 then launchers like Go launcher behave much quicker.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using Tapatalk 2

Yea, there are a couple of negatives about this however. Any native Android apps will loose some of the fancy 'little' touches (for example fading when going from one screen to another in settings). Some have reported however a small improvement in battery life doing this so its up to you. Persoinally, performance wise, I didnt notice anything differently with these set to 0. But then again, I have only one homescreen.
 

littlewierdo

Senior Member
Dec 10, 2010
549
163
One other note, I just got off a 2.5 hour phone call from a full charge. Ended the call with 70% battery left. This is a HUGE improvement over GB where I likely would have been around 50% left.
 

pez13

Member
Dec 23, 2010
26
6
not really usefull but in about phone, if you tap the android version a bunch of times you get a 8bit android in a icecream sammich.

also after the update I have no more black crush!!!
 
Last edited:

Justinfedor

Senior Member
Jul 17, 2011
419
51
not really usefull but in about phone, if you tap the android version a bunch of times you get a 8bit android in a icecream sammich.

also after the update I have no more black crush!!!

And if u rub it u get flying ones. Old news

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using xda app-developers app
 

pez13

Member
Dec 23, 2010
26
6
oh hey!!!! thats a new one on me!!! cool! what did it do on GB? We lost the ability to change the brightness by pulling down notifications a little bit and swiping left or right :( I liked that feature
 
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eviltango

Senior Member
Apr 17, 2012
184
33
oh hey!!!! thats a new one on me!!! cool! what did it do on GB? We lost the ability to change the brightness by pulling down notifications a little bit and swiping left or right :( I liked that feature

In gb it an artwork painting of the Android dude surrounded by zombies

Sent from my SGH-I717M using xda app-developers app
 

rajendra82

Senior Member
Jul 17, 2010
1,451
531
Atlanta, GA
My understanding is, one of the major improvements made to ICS is the ability to offload some of the processing to the processor / gpu depending on current load - ie. cpu is extremely busy at the moment so offload some processing to the gpu (or vice versa). Enabling this option I believe forces the gpu to handle everything regardless of the state of the cpu.

Reports have claimed enabling this option has mixed results. If the app supports gpu acceleration, you will see better performance. If it doesnt, the app will actually have worse performance and may actually crash the app in some rare cases. All ICS updated apps support this and chances are, if the software you have on your Note has been updated to support ICS, you have no issues.

So, the advice from the streets is to either keep is disabled and pretend you didnt see it or enable it and keep in the back of your mind that you might need to disable it occasionally for certain apps. The performance improvement is supposedly pretty minimal.

I am sorry to tell you that you are incorrect. Here is information about that toggle and other android graphics issues straight from the woman who designed the OS.

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sour...I-C08yEO63mvHG6BQ&sig2=bamQd77PjEBd050c6s96EQ

TLDR:
Before ICS, android used the GPU to accelerate the animations of the windows, but it left the choice of how to render graphics inside the windows to the app developer. What the toggle does, is to force GPU rendering inside the windows, even if the app did not ask for it. There are two downsides to this forced rendering. The forced rendering can break compatibility. It can also increase memory usage unnecessarily.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using Tapatalk
 
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Jim Dead

Member
Mar 16, 2012
49
7
Chicago
Last edited:

Jim Dead

Member
Mar 16, 2012
49
7
Chicago
Just received an email from Samsung saying to upgrade to ICS (did it via kies when 1st available). The email stated there is a newly introduced "Desktop View". This is for the default web browser.....

If you want to switch to "Desktop" browser mode, bring up the settings and select "Desktop view". So now its easier to switch between mobile and desktop browser modes.

Before you had to do "about:useragent"
 

j101399j

Senior Member
Aug 5, 2008
1,176
57
Dallas, TX
Something to add to the OP; you can now also disable most stock apps.

I know this worked on some of the ICS roms, so I just looked and verified that even though you cannot uninstall some of the bloat (without root), you can disable it . For example, I can disable Swype and install Swype Beta now. I hate AT&T Navigator, so I disabled it. If it cannot be uninstalled, disable it.

(settings --> applications --> all --> select the app and uninstall any updates --> disable) kinda like freezing the apps without root

Apps I disabled
City ID
Device help
Media Hub
Polaris Office
Swype
Yellow pages
YPMobile
Yahoo finance

I'm sure there are more, but these are the ones I hate
 

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  • 14
    Ok folks, what Im going to do here is go through some of the major things I have noticed since installing the official ICS but before I do that, let me give my two sentence review.

    Its nice. If you are wondering what the Note SHOULD have performed like on launch, this is it. MUCH improved scrolling, better performance and slightly more aggressive app handling.

    Ok, I lied, three sentences.

    Changes:

    NOTE that I will NOT be covering changes to the launcher portion of ICS.

    1. Overall performance is better. Using Go Launcher, with the app drawer set to 6x6, it scrolls MUCH more smoothly. The market scrolls much smoother, settings, the same. It isnt 'butter' but it is much more acceptable now, not stuttering to the point of overshooting apps.
    2. Notifications menu now has two new toggles - Flight Mode and Power Savings. There is now also a fast Settings button that will take you straight into the Android Settings app.
    3. The power menu (long pressing your screen on/power button) has had accessibility moved to the top of the menu (if you had this enabled) and now has a 'Reboot phone' option (YAY!!)
    4. ALL system apps that CAN be linked to the market are now correctly linked. This means your list of installed apps will be a bit longer (when looking in the play store list) and also means that these apps will be able to be updated without manually searching for each one by one.
    5. There are obvious signs of the original UI ICS all over the place, notably the spinning circle but you'll see it everywhere.
    6. Improved battery life, for the amount I have used the phone, its at a much higher percentage than it normally would have been.

    One quick point to interject, apps can now be disabled :)

    Originally Posted by j101399j View Post
    You can now also disable most stock apps.

    I know this worked on some of the ICS roms, so I just looked and verified that even though you cannot uninstall some of the bloat (without root), you can disable it . For example, I can disable Swype and install Swype Beta now. I hate AT&T Navigator, so I disabled it. If it cannot be uninstalled, disable it.

    (settings --> applications --> all --> select the app and uninstall any updates --> disable) kinda like freezing the apps without root

    City ID
    Device help
    Media Hub
    Polaris Office
    Swype
    Yellow pages
    YPMobile
    Yahoo finance

    Here are a few more that I just disabled, thanks for this tip :)

    AT&T Navigator
    Email (I use the gmail app)
    Google+

    Now. the rest of this is the stuff under settings. Im going to cover what I recognize to be new.

    Under Settings:

    First off, you'll notice that everything is now categorized into different groups now, making finding things in Settings a bit easier.

    Wireless and Network

    Tapping on Wifi or Bluetooth now takes you to the screens to configure the advanced settings for these features. Tapping 'On/Off' on the right side enables or disables the radios.

    Data Usage

    Here is where you can set up your billing cycle dates and put hard caps on your PHONE to keep your data usage under what your carrier allows. Fairly straight forward but make sure you set your billing date up correctly or this will be of NO use.

    More

    Here you will find NFC (YAY), Android Beam (send data between two devices using NFC), and Wifi Direct (connect two devices with a wifi antenna without the need for a router/hub).

    Device

    Call

    Nothing new here, just a few things moved around a bit.

    Sound

    Again, nothing new, just shuffled a bit to make things easier to get to. Note that the menu button now no longer brings up any advanced settings here, they are all accessible by navigating the screen options.

    Display

    A few things moved around a bit BUT a new feature, Show battery percentage in notifications bar. NICE Also, Gyroscope Calibration is now an option.

    Power Saving

    Unchanged

    Storage

    Prettier but unchanged, a little bit more information but not much.

    Battery

    Unchanged

    Applications

    Unchanged, tho it should be noted that you can hit your menu button while in this screen to sort the list by Size

    Personal

    Accounts and Sync

    Unchanged

    Location Services

    Unchanged

    Security

    Big one here but this is where you will find face unlock and even a voice recognition feature that can I believe be used in conjunction with another method to unlock your phone. I havent had much time to look at it yet.

    Language and Input

    Largely unchanged but its a bit more intuitive to change your keyboard now. And, for an interesting 'feature' that Samsung forgot to disable, Pointer speed, which has NO effect on our phone, this option is only for phones with a trackpad (Samsung forgot to disable this - made me smile).

    Back up and reset

    Nice, this option used to be buried under privacy and is now brought out into the main settings list. Much easier to find, it

    System

    Dock

    Unchanged

    Pen Settings

    New option, Hovering pen icon (shows a pen icon over the screen where the pen is hovering)

    One Handed Operation

    3 completely new settings, to configure the calculator, dialer, and unlock pattern to be configured for use with one hand (clumps everything on one side of the screen so that you can say dial numbers with just your thumb rather than the usual having to hold the phone with one hand and dial with your other).

    Date and Time

    Unchanged

    Accessibility

    Two new options, Speak passwords. Havent had time to check to see if this works for unlocking the phone as well, but if it does, that would be silly. Tap and Hold delay can now be configured as well as allowing or disallowing the installation of web scripts.

    Motion

    New option, Double Tap to allow voice dictation easily. Sweet

    Developer Options

    Several new things you can make visible for the nerdy types but Im not going to cover them here since they are really only for developers :).

    About Phone

    Unchanged

    Ok, that should give you an idea of what to look for, if someone else wants to cover the touchwiz stuff (adding or removing widgets/icons/homescreens) I can add it.

    Also, if there is anything I missed or got wrong...
    2
    And if u rub it u get flying ones. Old news

    Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using xda app-developers app


    bwwaahhhaaaa.... sorry but when I opened this thread it landed on you post.... and I read it out of context :eek:
    1
    Ok, one more new thing, the phone now charges correctly off your USB port, ie. charges faster.
    1
    whats the downside to GPU rendereing? decreased battery life?

    My understanding is, one of the major improvements made to ICS is the ability to offload some of the processing to the processor / gpu depending on current load - ie. cpu is extremely busy at the moment so offload some processing to the gpu (or vice versa). Enabling this option I believe forces the gpu to handle everything regardless of the state of the cpu.

    Reports have claimed enabling this option has mixed results. If the app supports gpu acceleration, you will see better performance. If it doesnt, the app will actually have worse performance and may actually crash the app in some rare cases. All ICS updated apps support this and chances are, if the software you have on your Note has been updated to support ICS, you have no issues.

    So, the advice from the streets is to either keep is disabled and pretend you didnt see it or enable it and keep in the back of your mind that you might need to disable it occasionally for certain apps. The performance improvement is supposedly pretty minimal.
    1
    oh hey!!!! thats a new one on me!!! cool! what did it do on GB? We lost the ability to change the brightness by pulling down notifications a little bit and swiping left or right :( I liked that feature