Amazon Kindle Fire Eats Ice Cream Sandwich, Too [Amazon's $199 Kindle Fire Tablet Hacked to Run Early Android 4.0 ICS Build]
![Amazon Kindle Fire Eats Ice Cream Sandwich, Too [Amazon's $199 Kindle Fire Tablet Hacked to Run Early Android 4.0 ICS Build]](http://nexus404.com/Blog/wp-content/thumbs/alt/Amazon-Kindle-Fire-tablet-with-Android-logoTFTSThumb180125.jpg)
Amazon’s Kindle Fire tablet has been selling like hotcakes. Pretty soon, the tablet might also be selling like Ice Cream Sandwiches — that is, the latest Android 4.0 release, of course.
Credit it to the enterprising developers over at the XDA Forums to come up with hacks and ports of the latest mobile operating systems on various devices, even before the official release. Thus, while the stock Kindle Fire comes with Android 2.3 Gingerbread, the hackers have been able to install a pre-alpha release of Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich on the 7-inch tablet.
The stock Kindle Fire also comes with a heavily-customized variant of Android Gingerbread, such that Amazon services have replaced most of Google’s own, including the application marketplace itself. This results in an Amazon-branded experience, which Amazon hopes to make up for the loss it incurs on each Kindle Fire sale, due to the tablet being subsidized by sales and transactions from the Amazon store. The ICS variant installed on the Kindle Fire is a vanilla build — actually based on CyanogenMod 9 — meaning it doesn’t have all the extras that Amazon offers.
The build also lacks support for certain hardware features, resulting in audio glitches and the microSD card not being recognized, at least for now. Also, videos don’t fully work. If you’re a regular user, you might wonder about the point in installing Android ICS on the Kindle Fire at all, given these glitches and bugs. But of course, curious developers and hackers might want to have a go at it, if only to find out how to fix the bugs and how to make Ice Cream Sandwich work on a $200 tablet.
But then, if you want a cheap Android Ice Cream Sandwich tablet, you can also go for the $120 Ainol Novo 7 tablet we earlier wrotea bout. However, if Ice Cream Sandwich on the Kindle Fire piques your curiosity, then check out the XDA Developers forum post via the source link, or the demo video from Liliputing‘s Brad Linder below.
You may also like:
![Kindle Fire Android 4.0 Build Gets Some Improvements With The New Year [Android 4.0 ICS Has Been Improved For The Kindle Fire; Battery Life Is Better & A Persistent Volume Icon Has Been Added, But The Build Remains A Pre-Release]](http://nexus404.com/Blog/wp-content/thumbs/alt/twrp-kindle-fire-480TFTSThumb150104.jpg)
![Amazon Kindle Fire Costs $201.70 to Build - IHS iSuppli [IHS iSuppli Teardown Reveals Final Price Tag for Amazon Kindle Fire Components Not too Far From Retail Cost, at $201.70]](http://nexus404.com/Blog/wp-content/thumbs/alt/Amazon-Kindle-Fire-tablet-with-Android-logoTFTSThumb150104.jpg)
![Barnes & Noble Nook Tablet Reviewed [B&N Nook Tablet Has Good Performance & Build, But May Not Be Able to Compete With Amazon Kindle Fire Yet In Terms of Content]](http://nexus404.com/Blog/wp-content/thumbs/alt/Nook-TabletTFTSThumb150104.jpg)
![Google Nexus Tablet to Compete Against Kindle Fire Not iPad 3 [Google’s Upcoming Android Tablet Reportedly a Threat to Amazon’s Kindle Fire, Other Android Tablet Makers Should Also Worry]](http://nexus404.com/Blog/wp-content/thumbs/alt/Motorola-Xoom-tablet-with-google-logo-and-motorola-logo1TFTSThumb150104.jpg){kind=logo}
![Facebook Comes To Sony PlayStation Vita [PS Vita Gets Facebook App Last Night, As Rumors Of Hulu Continue, We Wonder If The PlayStation Handheld Can Be Considered A Tablet]](http://nexus404.com/Blog/wp-content/thumbs/PS-Vita-FacebookTFTSThumb150104.jpg)
![Box For Android Updated, Brings Several New Features Including A Free 50GB Upgrade [Box.net Android App Updated; Latest Includes New UI For Android 4.0, Bulk Uploads, Additional Language Support & More]](http://nexus404.com/Blog/wp-content/thumbs/box-for-android-screens-480TFTSThumb150104.jpg)
![United States Air Force Cancels iPad Order Plans [Security Issues Seem To Be The Primary Objection In USAF Plan To Order Large Quantity Of Tablets To Replace Flight Manuals & Save Fuel]](http://nexus404.com/Blog/wp-content/thumbs/ipads-in-cockpitTFTSThumb150104.jpg)
![Asus Transformer Prime Gets Its Ice Cream Sandwich Update Today [If You've Been Waiting For Your Shot At The Newest Android Version, Android 4.0, On Your Transformer Prime, The News Is At Least Somewhat Good For You]](http://nexus404.com/Blog/wp-content/thumbs/asus-transformer-prime-1TFTSThumb150104.jpg)
![Spotify Desktop App For Mac & Windows Gets An Update [Spotify Announces New Desktop Features For Windows & Mac; Goodies Include Gapless Playback, Crossfade & More]](http://nexus404.com/Blog/wp-content/thumbs/spotify-with-crossfade-480TFTSThumb150104.jpg)
![T-Mobile Announces The "Reinvigorated Challenger Strategy" Which Details The 4G LTE Launch Plans [T-Mobile Will Begin A "Major" Network Transformation This Year With 4G LTE Coming In 2013]](http://nexus404.com/Blog/wp-content/thumbs/tmobilelogo_1TFTSThumb150104.jpg)
![Android 4.0 ICS Update Begins Rolling Out For The Asus TF101 Transformer [Asus Begins Rolling Out Ice Cream Sandwich For The Transformer, Will Arrive As Firmware 9.2.1.11 & Beginning First In Taiwan]](http://nexus404.com/Blog/wp-content/thumbs/Asus-Eee-Pad-TransformerTFTSThumb150104.jpg)
![iPad 3 Release Date to Coincide With New Apple Retail Store Openings? [Apple to Open New Stores in Amsterdam & London in March, Harrods Location Pinpointing iPad 3 Launch?]](http://nexus404.com/Blog/wp-content/thumbs/ipad-3-illustration-header-imageTFTSThumb150104.jpg)
FACEBOOK
TWITTER
RSS FEED
MAILFeatured News
![iPad 3 Announcement Scheduled for March 7, Release Date Thereafter? [iPad 3 With Retina Display, Quad-Core A6 Chip & 4G LTE Support to Be Unveiled on March 7]](http://nexus404.com/Blog/wp-content/thumbs/alt/ipad-3-illustration-header-imageTFTSThumb155107.jpg)
![Motorola Offers Ice Cream Sandwich Status Update [Ice Cream Sandwich Status Update Provided By Motorola, Reveals That Most Devices Are Either Still In Development Or Still In The Evaluation & Planning Phase]](http://nexus404.com/Blog/wp-content/thumbs/alt/ICS-logo-with-motorola-logoTFTSThumb155107.jpg){kind=logo}
![iOS Address Book Privacy to be Protected by Explicit Permission, Apple Says [Apple Issues Brief Statement on iOS Contacts Debacle, It Kind of Ditches Responsibility For What Happened]](http://nexus404.com/Blog/wp-content/thumbs/alt/IOS-5-logo-with-BugTFTSThumb155107.jpg){kind=logo}
![Office for iOS Is Real, Unless It Isn’t. Unless It Is! [Microsoft Weighs In on Office for iPad Leak, Doesn’t Fully Deny The Product, But Doesn’t Confirm It Either]](http://nexus404.com/Blog/wp-content/thumbs/alt/MS-Office-on-iPad-with-Office-logo-and-made-for-iPad-logoTFTSThumb155107.jpg){kind=logo}
Breaking News
![NuForce Unveils Its Air DAC System [NuForce Air DAC System Allows For Wireless Streaming Of Music Between Rooms, Useful With Variety Of Devices]](http://nexus404.com/Blog/wp-content/thumbs/nuforce-1TFTSThumb7048.jpg)
![Facebook Comes To Sony PlayStation Vita [PS Vita Gets Facebook App Last Night, As Rumors Of Hulu Continue, We Wonder If The PlayStation Handheld Can Be Considered A Tablet]](http://nexus404.com/Blog/wp-content/thumbs/PS-Vita-FacebookTFTSThumb7048.jpg)
![BeoVision 12-65 From Bang & Olufsen Arrives In North America Starting In March [Huge New BeoVision Television Hits North American Markets In March, Does So Wielding Hefty Price Tag]](http://nexus404.com/Blog/wp-content/thumbs/beovision-12-65TFTSThumb7048.jpg)
![Box For Android Updated, Brings Several New Features Including A Free 50GB Upgrade [Box.net Android App Updated; Latest Includes New UI For Android 4.0, Bulk Uploads, Additional Language Support & More]](http://nexus404.com/Blog/wp-content/thumbs/box-for-android-screens-480TFTSThumb7048.jpg)
![United States Air Force Cancels iPad Order Plans [Security Issues Seem To Be The Primary Objection In USAF Plan To Order Large Quantity Of Tablets To Replace Flight Manuals & Save Fuel]](http://nexus404.com/Blog/wp-content/thumbs/ipads-in-cockpitTFTSThumb7048.jpg)
![Asus Transformer Prime Gets Its Ice Cream Sandwich Update Today [If You've Been Waiting For Your Shot At The Newest Android Version, Android 4.0, On Your Transformer Prime, The News Is At Least Somewhat Good For You]](http://nexus404.com/Blog/wp-content/thumbs/asus-transformer-prime-1TFTSThumb7048.jpg)
![Motorola RAZR (In White) Announced For The UK [Motorola Announces The White RAZR For The UK, Will Be Available Through Phones 4U With Pre-Orders Beginning Today February 23rd]](http://nexus404.com/Blog/wp-content/thumbs/white-motorola-razr-official-front-480x480TFTSThumb7048.jpg)
![Samsung Rugby Smart Announced For AT&T [Samsung Officially Announces The AT&T Compatible Rugby Smart, Will Be Available Beginning On March 4th]](http://nexus404.com/Blog/wp-content/thumbs/samsung-rugby-smart-for-att-440x440TFTSThumb7048.jpg)
The TFTS Team
