Google Now ported to Ice Cream Sandwich ROMs

Google Now is the most exciting new feature of Jelly Bean -- the brand-new version of Android -- and its amazing location-based prompts and info have already made a big impression. But despite it being exclusive to Jelly Bean, the febrile mind of 'febycv' has ported the feature onto Ice Cream Sandwich.

If you're lucky enough to own one of three confirmed devices to receive the Jelly Bean update later this month, you probably already know how powerful Google Now is. But for those who haven't been confirmed to receive the update, the features are now available, as long as you've rooted your phone and run stock, AOSP Ice Cream Sandwich.

I tried the exploit on both the Nexus S and One X running a variation of AOSP builds, and was disappointed that it refused to work on either device. The app crashed a few times, allowed me to see the Google Now cards once, then seemed to delete the app automatically.

Others have been luckier in their quest to get their hands on the latest and greatest thing. I have no doubt this works, considering the avid, excited response from the XDA community, but I haven't been successful.

So what's all the fuss about? Google Now uses location and search history to determine what information may be relevant to you at any given time.

Say you arrive at the train station every day, and use a particular route, Google Now will learn this and present you with updates on possible obstacles, service outages and delays, speeding up your consumption of this information and hopefully making your journey a little less stressful. It's so clever, it can notify you of needing to leave at a particular time to make a meeting based on your location and local transport conditions.

Head over to XDA-Developers, try it out for yourself, and let us know if it worked for you in the comments below or on our Facebook page.

Image credit: Android pipe