Kindle Fire Android 4.0 Build Gets Some Improvements With The New Year

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The Kindle Fire has been getting quite a bit of attention lately. Not only has it been selling rather nicely, something Amazon has told us all about a few times now, but there is also a growing community that appears to be determined to get Ice Cream Sandwich running.

Or maybe more accurately, a community that appears to be determined to get Ice Cream Sandwich running smooth and fully functioning. That being said, we saw an early build just after Christmas and now, coming just after New Years — it looks like a few additional improvements have been made.

Of course, we should point out that this does not mean Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich on the Kindle Fire is ready for anyone and everyone. In fact, the team behind the build still notes this as being a pre-release version. In other words, while interesting to see — this is probably not something that everyone should be considering just yet. Anyway, in terms of this latest build — some of the goodies that have been added and/or improved upon include the following;

• A persistent volume icon has been added.
• Support for CPU Scaling which means an improved battery life.

Breaking each of these down a bit further and we learn that the volume icon is set up next to the other three buttons on the bottom, however while it is there, it is noted as being “more of a proof of concept as the icon is robust and ugly compared to the other three.” As for the CPU Scaling, this means that the Kindle Fire should now be able to see up to 6.5 hours of battery life on a single charge. Additionally, the tablet has also gotten a custom skin (as seen in the above image) for TWRP 2.0, which makes it look quite a bit more like Amazon.

And lastly, while some improvements have been made, the bug list remains on the longer side. Some of the big items still on the bug list include inconsistent audio and issues with video playback. Plus, there are still some connectivity issues with Wi-Fi, the GPU acceleration does not work properly, the tablet cannot be mounted over USB and applications that require access to the SD or USB will not install.