One of Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich’s most noticeable new features is the “Holo” theme, a set of UI widgets and design elements baked right into the operating system that give it a unique look. The Holo theme also provides a set of visual elements that help developers to create apps and widgets that will have a unified look and feel. Google is so proud of this new theme that the company has made the inclusion of an unmodified Holo theme a compatibility requirement for vendors that want access to the Android Market on their devices. Google is looking to give Android a more unified look, while still supporting manufacturer skins and helping more devices update more quickly. Themes such as Samsung’s TouchWiz, HTC’s Sense UI and Motorola’s MOTOBLUR interface can still be included on devices, however these themes cannot alter default widgets or other elements as much as they do now.

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Google’s chairman Eric Schmidt made comments during a press conference in mid-December that suggested his company was working on building its own Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich tablet. It’s entirely possible that Schmidt’s comments were taken out of context, so we’re still chalking the slate up as a rumor. If Google does in fact decide to launch a tablet, however, sources speaking to DigiTimes believe it could have an adverse affect on tablet sales for Google’s Android partners. DigiTimes’s sources said Google may deploy a newer Android 4.1 operating system on its tablets while forcing other vendors, such as Acer, Lenovo and Asus to launch devices powered by an older Android 4.0 build. As one might expect, Android 4.1 will likely offer features unavailable to Android 4.0 users, which could result in more customers favoring Google’s tablet over competing devices. Google partnered with Samsung to launch its “pure Google” Android 3.0 (Honeycomb) tablet, the Galaxy Tab 10.1, earlier this year. However, this time around it is suspected that Google will partner with Motorola, which it is currently trying to acquire for $12.5 billion.

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Nexus S owners may notice that the new Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich update, which began rolling out on Friday, isn’t properly installing after the download finishes. As it turns out, Google has “paused” the update in some areas while it monitors feedback from the initial population of Nexus S ICS users, which has thus far suggested there are bugs Google needs to address before it begins the mass rollout again. As such, many Nexus S owners could experience installation failures. Google’s Paul Wilcox explained the situation recently in Google’s support forums:

If you received an update notification a little while ago but the update isn’t currently available for your phone, this is likely the result of Google pausing the update in your area while we monitor feedback. The Android 4.0 update is continuing to roll out around the world so your phone will receive another update notification when it’s available again in your region.

Google typically moves relatively quickly to get its Nexus devices running the latest Android operating system, so we wouldn’t be surprised if the update begins to roll out again in the near future.

Via The Verge

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Google on Thursday announced Google Currents, a news reading application that will compete with the likes of Flipboard, News360 and more. Currents allows users to customize their news feeds and browse through stories in a magazine-style interface. It is currently available for iOS and Android devices, including both tablets and smartphones. Google partnered with 150 different publishers and is offering content from more than 180 different publications. It also provides access to “Google trending editions,” which allows users to read the five most recent trending stories in a variety of topics, such as entertainment, sports or science. Users can add their favorite blogs and feeds and each edition is available offline as well. The application is free and is available in the iTunes App Store and the Android Market now.

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We’re on Day 2 of Google’s 10-day, 10-cent, 10 billion app download celebration in which 10 apps will be sold for a dime.

Google hasn’t updated its promotion portal yet today, but here are the new apps we’re seeing on sale for 10 cents, as relayed by reader r007:

Anybody find the 10th app?

There’s been quite the hoopla over the past few days around the Galaxy Nexus volume bug — that’s the nasty little issue which results in the phone’s volume levels going crazy when it’s on a 900MHz 2G/EDGE network, or when it’s exposed to RF interference from another phone that is.

We reached out to Samsung for comment on the glitch, and they’ve responded today with the confirmation that a fix is indeed in the works.

We are aware of the volume issue and have developed a fix. We will update devices as soon as possible.

So hopefully that’ll be the end of that. It’s worth remembering that this shouldn’t be an issue in the U.S., because neither of the GSM carriers in the States operate on 900 MHz. That and the fact that the U.S. has neither the phone nor a firm release date yet. D’oh.

And don’t fret if it looks like the update’s coming from Samsung even though this is a Nexus phone. Google has issued the exact same statement this morning, and we’d expect updates to roll out the same way as with other Nexus phones — from Google directly.

For more Galaxy Nexus goodness, be sure to check out our full review of the GSM version.

Update: We’re being told by one developer that actually this wording is unchanged, and the 15-minute window still applies, it’s just that Google has that long to refund the money. We’re seeking clarification from Google, and watching our hope wane.

Google caused a fairly big stink nearly a year ago when it changed the window to uninstall and refund a purchased application to just 15 minutes — a far cry shorter than 24-hour window we’d previously enjoyed.

But according to a new version of the developer distribution agreement being pushed out today, that window has been expanded, and expanded to a full two days. Here’s the line from Section 3.4:

Products that cannot be previewed by the buyer (such as applications): You authorize Google to give the buyer a full refund of the Product price if the buyer requests the refund within 48 hours after purchase.

Good on Google for changing this one. While we don’t want anyone abusing the refunds process, 15 minutes was absolutely too short a time to try out an application.

By the way, if you’re a developer, make sure you log in to your developer portal to accept the new agreement. Wouldn’t want your app yanked unnecessarily.

Thanks, Joe and Nick!

The last version of Google+ to roll out, while having some nice additioons with it — also brought along some bugs as well. Google saw fit to go ahead and correct those for everyone and now v2.1.1 is available in the Android Market. You’ll get the homescreen posting widget back, installation issues should be fixed along with some various other unmentioned bug fixes.

Thanks, Brian!

This past summer, Google began rolling out a sample of its revamped Gmail user interface and on Tuesday it discussed many of the brand new changes that will be deploying over the next few days. Gmail’s conversation view has been streamlined and now includes photos of each contact. Additionally, it will automatically resize itself to look best depending on your screen size thanks to a new “elastic density feature.” Themes now support HD images and there is a new “smarter navigation” panel on the left hand side of the display that is customizable. Google also added a drop-down search box for more accurate email searches. The software giant says users will begin to see the option to “switch to the new look” in the bottom right-hand of their inbox over the next few days. A video of the changes follows after the break.

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