ICS released for XOOM Wi-Fi, here’s what’s new

Having once been the world’s first device to receive Google’s tablet tailored OS — Honeycomb –, the Wi-Fi version of the Motorola XOOM now also becomes one of the first tablets to receive an official update to the latest version of Google’s venerable gadget operating system, Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS).

Motorola released a changelog for its ICS update, and, as with Honeycomb, you can expect as close to a plain vanilla Android 4.0 experience as you can hope for. According to Moto’ the update includes a refined user interface, numerous enhancements and “innovative new features”. XOOM owners in the US are first in line to receive the update, no word on availability elsewhere just yet.

Without further ado, here’s what you can expect from the update.

Updated Browser with faster rendering, zoom and pan
Users now save pages for offline reading and request desktop versions of websites.

Swipe to dismiss notifications, tasks, and browser tabs
You can now dismiss browser tabs and individual notifications and apps from the Recent Apps list, with a finger swipe motion.

Redesigned app launcher
In the All Apps launcher, you can now drag an app to get information about it, immediately uninstall it, or disable a pre-installed app.

New System Font for Improved Readability
The new Roboto typeface optimized for high-resolution screens improves readability and brings a polished feel to the user interface.

Updated “People” Application
It replaces contacts and integrates seamlessly with Google+ and other social networks.

Improved text input and spell-checking
The keyboard now features improved accuracy to make text input faster. It also now includes an in-line spell checker to make corrections easier.

Type with your voice
Voice input has been improved. Text appears in real-time, so there’s no waiting for server processing when writing emails, SMS, or any other text. More than 20 languages are supported.

Richer and versatile imaging capabilities
For capturing larger scenes, the camera introduces a single motion panorama mode. Furthermore, you can now take still shots while shooting video by tapping the screen as video continues to record. You can also launch the camera directly from the Lockscreen. When you shoot videos, you can now choose from a number of silly faces and other fun effects which recognize individual facial features which can give your friends big eyes, squeeze heads, make noses bigger, or change the scenery with background replacement.

Redesigned Gallery app with photo editor
To help pictures look their best, the Gallery now offers a powerful photo editor so you can crop and rotate pictures, set levels, remove red eyes, add effects, and more.

Richer, resizable widgets
You can expand widgets to show more content, or shrink them to save space.