Before comparing Ice Cream Sandwich and Jelly Bean, it's worth clarifying that we're talking about versions of Google's mobile operating system here, not confectionaries.
Ice Cream Sandwich is Android 4.0, Jelly Bean is the latest version, Android 4.1.
Ice Cream Sandwich came on the scene towards the end of last year and it was a huge revamp from its predecessor Gingerbread, it had an entirely new style set and looked great.
Jelly Bean however is more of a refinement than a visual overhaul like ICS was.The core interface remains unchanged with five home screens, shortcuts and widgets. These can be added in the same way on ICS and Jelly Bean, however in Jelly Bean, the widgets are more intelligent, moving around to accommodate you, rather than sitting static once positioned.
The notifications bar has also been refined in Jelly Bean. This is a bar at the top of the screen on all Android phones which can be pulled down to display notifications like missed calls and email alerts. In Jelly Bean, an expanded view is available for these notifications whereas in Ice Cream Sandwich, there's just a small fixed view, showing less information.
Google has also tweaked the gallery slightly in Jelly Bean. Now, pinching all the way out of your pictures will take you to a scrolling marquee of your images, which is very easy to browse through.
The final key difference between the versions of Android is something altogether less tangible and it's called Project Butter. Project Butter ensures a 60 frame per second steady frame rate, translating to a much smoother user experience across the UI. It makes touch input feel instantly more responsive and it means Android now competes visually with iOS and Windows Phone.
So there you have it, the battle of the confectionaries is complete and you should feel informed as to how Android 4.0, Ice Cream Sandwich stacks up against Android 4.1, Jelly Bean.
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