Top 10 reasons to be excited by Android Ice Cream Sandwich

A week after the hurly-burly of the iPhone 4S launch and it was Samsung's turn to grab the headlines with its Galaxy Nexus smartphone running on the long-anticipated Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS) Android 4.0 update from Google.

ICS has been on the cards for some time, so there were big things expected of its new features and capabilities, and the market wasn't left disappointed.

V3 has picked 10 of the most exciting developments unveiled in the operating system that we can't wait to see come to other Android devices, and possibly other smartphones, in the future.

10. Face detection for unlocking the phone
Google continues its quest to make devices easier to use by introducing facial recognition within ICS that lets handset owners unlock their device without having to input a PIN.

The system, dubbed Face Unlock, simply requires users to hold the device in front of their face to unlock it. If someone else tries to unlock the handset, they will be shown a message saying that their face is not recognised.

From demonstrations seen so far, Face Unlock looks rather swish and unlocks devices pretty much instantly and certainly represents a far higher level of security than any other method on the market.

However, some teething problems have been spotted. The system is unable to recognise faces in low lighting and reports are also emerging that a photo may be able to bypass the security. We expect Google to iron out these problems before the launch, though.

9. Improved keyboard and spell-checking
Typing on a smartphone touch-screen can be frustrating, so enhancements to the Android keyboard that promise improved error correction and faster text input are definitely welcome.

Furthermore, Google has added a spell-checking feature that provides a series of suggestions to any mistyped words, ideal for ensuring you don't send a load of nonsense, or worse, something inappropriate when typing on the fly.