Yes, this is a regression error, but they do not seem to be very interested in fixing it:
http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=23979 vote for him.
Since most manufacturers usually customize the browser anyway, they can implement it themselves. However, I have never come across any ICS phone that fully supports api history. can't say what i was looking though.
EDIT: It is claimed to be fixed in 4.0.4, however, only in the sense that the methods exist and do what you expect from them, but the URL bar is not updated.
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