Late Night Dessert: Ice Cream Sandwich Arrives

Android 4.0, Ice Cream Sandwich Mascot

Android developers were treated to a late night dessert last night. At least those in North America. The Ice Cream Sandwich and Galaxy Nexus announcements were at 10pm in our local time zone.

What was announced? There were actually several different areas of the announcement. First, there is a new device coming: the Galaxy Nexus. Second, the Android 4.0 SDK is out -- download it now if you haven't already. Third, several new user features for Android were announced and demonstrated in the context of the Galaxy Nexus.

Beyond those basic announcements, though, came the release of Android SDK Tools R14, Eclipse plug-in R14, updated -- and renamed -- compatibility package. The compatibility package is now on release 4, and is called the support package. All come with updates. The SDK Tools may be the most interesting. The Android Open Source Tools blog has been highlighting recent changes, many of which look exciting.

What wasn't announced? There was no word on Google TV -- is it still slated for Honeycomb, or will it jump to Ice Cream Sandwich and when -- we don't know. There was no word on when older devices -- tablets and phones -- will get Ice Cream Sandwich, Android 4.0, firmware. Or even if they will (we assume they will).

Now that ICS is out and known, what are you expected from whatever J (probably not a trademark name, like we've seen rumored) dessert is chosen for the next major release?