Android 4.0: Ice Cream Sandwich review

The contacts system has been much improved with Ice Cream Sandwich, with a completely different font (called Roboto, and used throughout Android 4.0) and pleasantly clean blue and white interface to roll through.

The contacts list is the same as it's ever been - insofar as it's a list of people with contact pictures next to their name. But the differences are quite large: for instance, social networking updates from the likes of Google+ and Twitter are available by tapping to open a contact profile then swiping to the left.

The layout is lovely though, especially on the larger screen of the Galaxy Nexus making it easy to scroll through all your buddies in one go. The large tab to let you jump the correct letter of your contact's name has gone, but now just sliding your finger along the right hand side of the screen is enough.

The downside to the OS, and one that the likes of HTC will leap upon to improve, is the linking of the contacts together. You have to open the person's profile, tap the menu to edit, then tap the menu again to Join contacts together from other social networks.

It's a really long-winded way of doing things, and one that should be almost automatic - even the suggested contacts once we'd asked to join them together weren't very accurate.

We do like the Google+ integration, as while it's not the most widespread social network around there are some nice tweaks.

For instance, the Groups tab now has automatic links to your Google+ Circles making it easier to connect with the people you care with. However, you've also got a favourites tab to play with, and as there's no way to mass communicate with a Circle from the Contacts tab, it's a little redundant.