Google have published 4.0’s source code

The Galaxy Nexus – the first device running Android 4.0, hasn’t even been released yet, but Google have already released the source code for the new OS. This means, that developers can start making custom ROMs running 4.0 for a lot of devices – some of which will never officially receive Android 4.0 and some, which were not supposed to run Android in the first place (like the HTC HD2). Device manufacturers will also start working on official updates for some of their more powerful phones and tablets.

Google have said it’s better to not download it right away as it’s very long and will take time to fully synchronize. The version they’ve released is 4.0.1 – the one the Galaxy Nexus will run upon release. There are even more good news – this source code includes all previous versions of Android, including Honeycomb, which was not available until now. But because Honeycomb was just a temporary solution and isn’t very optimized, Google advise developers to focus on Ice Cream Sandwich.