The overall look and feel of ICS is a vast improvement over Gingerbread and Honeycomb. The new “soft buttons” which change according to context have really grown on me. Swipes between screens are smooth, scrolling is smooth, and pinch zooming is smooth. Key word: smooth. Menus and options feel really polished, while the look of modals really looks clean and crisp. This is not your G1′s Android. If you’ve ever used an Android phone before and didn’t like it, you should try ICS, preferably the pure Google experience. The launcher in ICS is so good, you may never want to use a third party one.

From here on out I will highlight different apps and features:

* Gmail

Gmail is simply awesome in ICS. It looks great, many mail functions are exposed without needing to go to a secondary menu, and of course, it’s powered by a cutting edge email cloud service that millions of people use every day. I don’t spend a second thought worrying about accessing my email, it’s always a browser or phone app away. Everything, as always with Android and Gmail, is synced instantly across all my devices.

* Calendar

Pretty much the same as Gmail really. Google Calendar was always a strong point. I update an event on my phone, and the next time I log into my calendar from the browser, everything, again as always in Android, is synced.

* Widgets

Widgets are awesome. I really don’t know how iOS people use a phone without them. With a few flicks of my thumb, I can scan all my email and my calendar, without ever needing to enter an app. They’re resizable now and allow scrolling from within the widget. All my audio apps have widgets too, and it’s not unusual for me to go hours without ever entering an app since I can do so much from the homescreen.

* Battery life

You mileage may vary with battery life, because some apps just suck with battery usage. I’ve used Touchdown to access exchange email for years and it’s always been great. However, in ICS it’s a battery pig. I had to drop it and use the built in Exchange support, which is now both excellant and great with battery. I’ve played music over wifi for 9 hours and only used up 25% of the battery. It truly sips at battery power.

I was able to find out that Touchdown was the battery pig due to the great new battery tools you have that allow you to really nail down which app sucked down all your battery. Invaluable tool.

* Cloud integration

While iCloud has stolen a lot of the recent cloud thunder, I think Android has always been a step ahead. My photos, email, calendar, chats, music, and books are all stored in the Cloud with Google’s cloud services. Wherever I am, I can get to my things. I can edit documents on my phone, save them to the cloud, and then continue updating on my desktop. I’ve done this a couple times with spreadsheets I use for work. I think if you want the true cloud solution, you want Google. To borrow a phrase from Apple, it just works. You’re not locked into an Android device either, as all your data can be access via a browser, and if you’d like, downloaded to your machine with Google Takeout. It’s a story Google has not sold enough or mentioned enough.

* Final thoughts

I’m not an Android fanboy, I’m somewhat of an evangelist. I think iOS is a good OS and the iPhone is a good phone. For me, and I think a lot of people, Android has always provided a distinct experience better in many ways than in iOS. With ICS, though, it has clearly moved the bar farther than iOS 5 did. ICS proves you can have widgets, true multitasking, cloud integration, and polish, all without killing the battery. I invite everyone to check it out when Galaxy Nexus’s are finally on sale in the US.

This review won’t be too long, since my ears are still ringing and I still feel a little tired from getting to sleep at 3:30 AM, but here goes.

First, I missed the opening act. No loss there, didn’t know who they were and didn’t seem like anyone there cared either. I had tickets for the floor and by the time I got there it was 10:30 pm: they were scheduled for 11:00 pm. About 10:57pm, the lights go down, and the theme song for Dexter comes on, signifying that, yes, Guns n’ Roses et al, Axl Rose, was on time. Let me repeat that, on time. The opening song was “Chinese Democracy” from the album of the same name, and Axl nailed it, and sounded great. A month or so ago he looked bloated and sounded terrible. On this night, he didn’t look fat, perhaps just a little middle age paunch, while the vocals were on. Man were they on.

The second song was “Welcome to the Jungle” and the crowd went nuts. A crowed filled with 20 something hard rock fans to couples in their late 50′s, just started screaming and jumping up and down. Me, I probably always look bored at a concert, my only giveaway that I know what’s happening, is my left foot tapping along to the beat. I was just zeroed in on Axl, the drummer, the guitar players, hearing how they replicate live all the intricacies of the songs. The playing was tight, and Axl’s voice just blew through the speakers, sounding like there were perhaps two voices at once.

Comparing his vocals to Myles Kennedy’s is perhaps unfair, but in reality, Axl just demolishes Myles’s attempts at classic Guns material. Myles voice is too thin, while Axl has his signature wail that sounds like he’s shredding his vocal chords repeatedly. I will not be able to hear other people cover classic Guns without a bit of cringing. They never get the song right, once you hear Axl do it.

Someone else will put out the setlist and maybe I’ll add that, but some of the highlights for me were Mr. Brownstone, Estranged, Don’t Cry (not an instrumental btw, which has been done at some shows), November Rain, Better, Rocket Queen, Patience, and of course, the insane ending of Paradise City. I felt like they turned up the music even more for Paradise City, and again, the place just went nuts. Streamers and confetti everywhere. When it was all done, Axl and the band came out and did a bow, and Axl thanked the crowd. My phone read 1:52am. Nearly three hours wall to wall with music. The drive home was a long one for me since I live so far away, but the adrenaline and surprise at what I’d seen powered me all the way home until I hit the bed around 3:30 am. A great show, a great night, and even if I never see Axl sing again, I got do it once and that is enough for this guy.