Got a Samsung Galaxy S2 but still waiting on Ice Cream Sandwich? You know, we’ve already told you how to get the update. Still, if you’re waiting for it officially, or if you’ve got one of the several bazillion other Android phones out there that still haven’t made the jump, there are a few essential downloads that bridge the gap between Ice Cream Sandwich and older Android iterations. Read on for the ICS app downloads.
Ice Cream Sandwich keyboard
It’s still in beta, but this app is a pretty identical rip of the new, much, much improved keyboard from Ice Cream Sandwich. Given that previous stock Android and manufacturer-skinned keyboards alike have been pretty shonky, it’s a welcome app. Especially as it’s free.
All the ICS keyboard functionality is included: Speech to text, multitouch, configurable auto correction and the like. It’s a good way to train your fingers in time for the official update.
3G Watchdog
Ice Cream Sandwich brings with it a pretty sexy feature in Settings, by the name of Data Usage. It’s a top tool for keeping track of which apps are sucking up your monthly web allowance, as well as letting you set a limit.
3G Watchdog is a very similar beast. It performs the same task – keeping track of your usage and alerting you in your phone’s notification bar if you get near or go over it.
ICS launcher
As mentioned in our feature on Android launchers, ICS Launcher is a pretty competent clone of Ice Cream Sandwich, albeit without the official bells and whistles. What you get, in lieu of Google features like Face Unlock, is the ICS look, including the stock wallpapers and dock, among other aesthetic niceties.
Google Chrome to Phone
One of the slickest features in Android 4.0 is the link up between the Chrome mobile browser and the one on your computer. You can’t really achieve that on non-Ice Cream Sandwich handsets, but Chrome to Phone sort of fills in the gap.
It lets you beam pages, links, maps and more from the Chrome browser on your computer to your phone, as long as you’ve got both the Android app and the Chrome extension installed.
Visidon AppLock
Face Unlock: it’s a bit of a gimmick, but it’s a gimmick that you probably want if you don’t have it. While nothing on Google Play really lets you do the same thing for unlocking the phone, Visidon AppLock does let you do it for specific apps.
So say, for instance, that you want to make sure nobody ever tries to frape you, or muck about with your Twitter: you can lock them down so that the only way to access each app is with your malformed visage. Not the best for speedy access, but hey… You want face recognition, you got face recognition.
Further reading:
- The full Android ICS update list
- The 100 best Android apps in the world
