Hey, everyone.
Eric Franklin here and I got a little present for you.
The Asus Transformer Prime running on Ice Cream Sandwich.
ICS is a latest version of Android and so far had only been available on smart phones.
This is the first time anyone seen it on a tablet in the wild.
So we're gonna dive in and see what if any difference is there are from Honeycomb.
The first thing we notice is that the lock screen now allows you to go straight into the camera app if you want, making the prospect of getting a shot of that super cool thing that's happening right now and a little bit more likely.
On the home screen, the biggest difference is how we access widgets.
Honeycomb had a little shortcut at the top of the screen or you could press and hold the home screen but now widgets have been grouped with apps, making them feel less hidden than before.
Moving down the screen to notifications, one of the annoying things about Honeycomb is that if your notifications start to fill up, you have to close each individual one.
Now, ICS allows you to kill them all in one full swoop and let the tablet god sort it out.
Also, instead of simply showing you the last message you have received, ICS consolidates all mail notifications into one showing how many new messages you have.
Moving into settings, you'll notice right off the bat that things are suddenly different.
Settings have now been split into four sections, Wireless and Networks, Device, Personal and System.
Beyond that, there aren't really any huge changes to find here.
Just a few useful refinements.
There's now a Data User section that details just how much overall data you've been using as well as individual app usage.
There's also a specific battery section showing more detailed battery information than we've previously seen.
Adding a new Google account now gives you options as to which specific Google services you want synch and new developer options allow you to access things like CPU usage, pointer location and my personal favorite, allowing you to kill apps as soon as you leave them.
Performance wise, we didn't notice much difference from the previous version.
GPS still works great in our testing but web browsing is still slower than the iPad.
Overall, the biggest new feature is probably the built-in photo editing tool which offers some pretty good options.
Well, we'll see what my cat thinks at least.
I also like the fact that recent pass can now be closed with just a quick swipe.
Well, that's pretty much it.
ICS feels like a step up from Honeycomb if only a small one and I definitely recommend installing the update.
Check out the foreview of the Transformer Prime for more details on these and other changes.
Once again, I'm Eric Franklin and this has been the first look at Ice Cream Sandwich on the Transformer Prime.
