I have been fortunate enough to be able to ROM an early CM9 Alpha on my Samsung Nexus S. This has given me a perspective that most Android users don’t currently have. Android 4.0 a.k.a. Ice Cream Sandwich is a revamped Android like you have not yet seen. It is more intuitive in many respects. There are surprising additions that I would have never thought to make use of until all of a sudden…there they are. ICS will remember (in some circumstances) your previous choice. Then the next time you follow those same motions, your previous choice will be either brought forward or in some way, made more accessible. This is great!

In other areas of Android 4.0, there could be some improvement. The desktop environment. Specifically the long press access that we have all become accustomed to from all the earlier versions of Android, has now become simply a wallpaper changing tool. (almost useless) I want to be able to easily create shortcuts like before. It would also be nice to be able to access the widget menu this way instead of having to ‘flick’ through the available widgets located in the back of the App Drawer. Don’t get me wrong, I like being able to see what an app is going to look like before I place it on the homescreen. However, I would also like to be able to quickly add a widget from an app menu.

Why is this functionality missing?