Cyanogenmod 9 on my Samsung Galaxy Nexus

I have really enjoyed my Samsung Galaxy Nexus and Ice Cream Sandwich, Android 4.0, since I have had it in January. We all complain more about the bad than praise the good, so why change now. I have written blogs about the ease of the ICS for turning off apps that are running in the background. Having all of my bookmarks synced to my computer's Chrome browser is very great too. The bad is the slow to no updates through Verizon.

Verizon did keep me from the frustration the owners of the Galaxy Nexus were having with their data not working. I did download and update my phone myself over a month ago to 4.0.4 which solved my issues with the calendar not showing all of the information for an appointment. It also ran a little smoother. I understand that the update disappeared for a couple of weeks and is now back again on Google's Developer website. And it still is not pushed over the air.

The Motorola Xoom WiFi edition was pushed Ice Cream Sandwich in February. The Verizon model still is waiting for the update although Motorola claims they are still testing it. I have been running Cyanogenmod 9 for a few weeks now and love it. I love that they update it almost everyday to be better. I even installed Cyanogenmod 9 on a couple of Samsung Fascinates and a Motorola Razr. Each install was working great, but is it really necessary for my Samsung Galaxy Nexus?

Each home screen on my Nexus has a Power Control Bar so I may turn off WiFi or Bluetooth quickly and easily. This is needed because the factory versions of ICS do not included those options in the Notification Bar like my past Thunderbolt. Cyanogenmod 9 includes the Power Controls in the Notification Bar area and you can customize your phone to display the ones you want. There are a number of options, but the ones showed in this picture show my favorite. These controls are extremely helpful when using Bluetooth to stream music in my car.

The other cool part of Ice Cream Sandwich is the unlock screen as you can go directly to your camera when unlocking your phone. Opening the camera was very slow in the first versions of ICS, but is much smoother with the new 4.0.4. With Cyanogenmod 9, you can customize the unlock screen to go directly to different apps as you see in the picture below. I just set it up and hope I will use the shortcuts.

What is great is that my phone works the best it has worked since I bought it. I believe the power consumption will be better too. I will let you know