(Image source: geek.com)

BY EVAN THOMAS
ANCHOR MEGAN MURPHY

You're watching global multisource video news analysis from Newsy.

Google debuted its latest Android operating system on Wednesday. Android 4.0, or Ice Cream Sandwich, has been overhauled inside and out.

Google says Ice Cream Sandwich features better notifications, widgets and multitasking. Users will be able to resize applications on their screen, organize applications into folders and edit pictures, right on their phone.

TechCrunch got its hands on the newest Android phone and has a hands-on demo of some of the tech built into Ice Cream Sandwich, like facial recognition.

“Look at the device, it says ‘Hi, Dave,’ and then unlocks me, like that. Now I need to prove this actually works, so we’re going to have to try it with your face. So I’ll just put it up in front here, and ‘sorry, I don’t recognize you.’”

And This is my next... got a look at another sweet feature: near-field-communication.

“So you’ve got to touch that to beam it."
“To confirm. Boom.”
“Awesome. You guys should go there.”

Ice Cream Sandwich has received a design revamp as well.  According to Engadget, the designers and developers put a lot of thought into how the OS looks -- all the way down to the new font.

“Sure, it may seem like just another rounded, clean sans serif typeface, but it's really an entire aesthetic ... Roboto may seem like ‘just a font’ to you, but for the folks behind [Ice Cream Sandwich], it's a mindset.”

That’s promisin,- according to a reporter for Paid Content. He adds, it’s good to see Google paying more attention to design philosophy.

“It’s a bit of a cliche at this point that Android is an engineer’s mobile operating system designed by engineers for engineers... But user-interface developments and new features shown off Tuesday … reveal a mindset at Google that wanted to focus much more on design elements that are pleasing to the eye.”

And even Apple fans are taking notice. 9to5Mac dusts off its backhand and concedes Apple’s “competition” got some stuff right.

“The keynote went a little bad over in Hong Kong with … features not working or crashing the device. Overall though, there are some interesting new features that certainly differentiate Android from iOS and Windows Phone 7.”

When phones receive updates depends on their carrier, but Google says Ice Cream Sandwich will be coming to Nexus phones in the near future.

Transcript by Newsy.