Google kicked off its Google I/O
developer conference just a few minutes ago and it started the whole thing
talking about Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, it’s next major mobile operating system
refresh.
Google revealed on stage that over
400 million devices have been activated to date, 300 million since last year’s
Google I/O event, and that it currently activates 1 million devices per day, up
600,000 units compared to Google I/0 2011 – or about “12 new Android devices
every second of ever day.”
Before we take a look at the main
features of the new OS version we’ll point out the fact that rumors were right,
Jelly Bean does refer to Android 4.1 and not Android 5.0 as we would have
expected. And while that version number may suggest we’re looking at a mild
update rather than a full OS upgrade, you’ll certainly like what Google has
prepared for you. Here are the main features and improvements of Jelly Bean.
Project Butter
With Jelly
Bean, Google plans to offer users a more seamless UI experience by optimizing
Android to better take advantage of the hardware resources available. “Project
Butter” describes a series of improvements Jelly Bean will have to offer, compared
to its predecessors. These include VSync, Tripple Buffering and Touch
Responsiveness.
Jelly Bean
now supports a much higher frame rate (60fps), which make screen animations
move a lot smoother than before. Furthermore, Jelly Bean will make the hardware,
including the processor and graphics processing unit work together (Triple
Buffering) to offer a faster, improved experience across the board. The OS can
now dial down the CPU when the handset is in standby, and wake it up again as
soon as the user touches the screen. Moreover, part of the Touch Responsiveness
improvements is touch predictability, as Jelly Bean will know where the user
will touch the display next.
“Delightful Improvements”
Home Screen & Widgets
In Jelly
Bean, users will be able to further customize the appearance of their home
screens, and they’ll have a much easier job adding widgets to any screen. The
widgets will adapt to the current layout of the display, and resize
automatically to fit that area. In order to do away with a widget you’ll only
have to swipe it upwards and “out of your phone” – this also works with apps
and photos.
Text input
Google has
refined and improved its text input options, and Jelly Bean supports regular
touch-based typing, but also an improved voice-based typing alternative.
Jelly Bean
now supports 18 extra languages, and the default keyboard is significantly
upgraded compared to its predecessor. The stock keyboard will offer a better
dictionary and predictive text support.
Without
calling it Majel, Google’s rumored voice-based assistant project, the company
did improve voice typing in Jelly Bean by making it available in both offline
and online modes. The offline mode will certainly please Android fans that
don’t have a great data plan or that have a shady data connection.
Accessibility
Google is
making Android more accessible to various potential buyers, including blind
users. Jelly Bean will offer voice- and gesture-based interactions that will
let visually challenged people interact with the phone. Furthermore, Jelly Bean
devices will be able to connect via Bluetooth to third-party Braille devices.
Camera
While ICS
brought users updated Camera features, including a zero lag shutter, Jelly Bean
is about to let the same users access their photo library a lot faster. The
photo app offers a film strip view for faster scrolling, and images can be
shared with family and friends with a simple tap. Deleting pictures is very
simple, just swipe up to remove the unwanted shots. And just in case you delete
something that shouldn’t have been removed, an Undo feature is available
Android Beam
In Jelly
Bean, users will be able to do more things with the Android Beam feature that
was launched with ICS. Google will let users share images and videos between
NFC devices with just a simple tap, and NFC-ready handsets will be able to
instantly pair with Bluetooth devices, again, by simply tapping them together.
Notifications
Google
improved the user experience in Jelly Bean across the board, and that couldn’t
be done without updating the Notifications app. The notifications are now
“actionable, they expand and collapse and they’re customizable.” The new
Notifications menu will now let you perform various app-related actions right
from the notification of that particular app, without actually going into the
app. That means you’ll be able to do more things with less clicks.
Notifications
also come with pre-programmed quick responses which can be sent to chosen
contacts in various instances, such as being late for meetings and similar
time-sensitive daily matters.
And in case
you want more pictures in your Notifications, you’ll be happy to hear that
Google+ images are now available right in there, and they can be shared with
friends from right inside the Notifications app.
Another neat
visual trick is available in the Notifications menu, where users can swipe down
with two fingers to extend it and access even more data.
Google Search
Since Google
makes most of its cash from its advertising business, whether we’re talking about
desktop or mobile browsing, we’re not surprised to see the company update the
Google Search experience in Jelly Bean. And Google says that Google Search has
been redesigned from the ground up in Jelly Bean. The new Search offers a new
user interface, voice-based search and a Google Now feature.
The company
is using “the power of Knowledge Graph” to understand what the user is looking
for and display search results. Instead of plain old links and text, the
company is providing a richer format – cards that include text and images.
When it
comes to voice-based search – again Majel was not mentioned – the same
Knowledge Graph is used to understand the query and deliver the appropriate
responses. And from the looks of the voice search demo, it seems that Google is
ready to offer a very impressive assistant-like overall experience in Jelly
Bean.
In addition
to the immediate answers that Google provides, no matter how you search for
them, you’ll also be able to access all the other web results that match the
keywords you have introduced.
Google Now
While
interesting, this feature is not for those of you that value their privacy. In
short, Jelly Bean phones will be able to actively help you based on your
behavioral patterns, as long as you choose to share certain things about you
with Google, including search history, calendar, Google Maps data and others.
Once you do
that, your Jelly Bean phone will know where you’re going and how fast you’re
getting there, it will be able to offer alternative routes and commuting
information, commute duration, and it will even be able to calculate when to
leave to get to your meetings in time. With Google Now you’ll automatically
keep track of sporting events based on what teams you search for, get
restaurant recommendations when you’re away from home and local information
both at home but also if you’re traveling abroad, such as money exchange rate,
language tips, weather info and the time at home.
Google Now
also knows the status of your flight and/or travel plan and can help you make
better use of your time by letting you know when flights get cancelled and/or
delayed.
Google Now
works with various pre-programmed information cards that deal with these
various aspects of your mobile life, and Google says it will have more cards
available in the future to deal with other instances in your life than the ones
mentioned so far – commute, calendar, travel, flights, sports and restaurants.
As you can
see, Android 4.1 Jelly Bean has three main features, Project Butter, “Delightful
improvements” and a new Google Search experience. But when will it be
available?
Release Date
Android 4.1
Jelly Bean will be available as an over-the-air (OTA) update for Nexus-branded
devices including the Nexus S and the Galaxy Nexus and the Motorola Xoom in
July, while developers can already play with the Jelly Bean SDK today.
More
importantly, Google wants its OEM partners to have early access to its upcoming
OS versions well ahead of their releases, that’s why the company has announced
a PDK for Android device makers.
PDK stands
for Platform Development Kit and it contains all the details needed by these
companies to have Android devices running the latest Android version in stores
as soon as possible. PDKs will be available 2-3 months ahead of the launch of
the next-gen Android version, which should help them launch smartphones and
tablets running the latest Android version a lot faster, but also to update
current devices to a future OS version in a more timely manner. The Jelly Bean
PDK has been available to certain OEMs for a few weeks now, and it will be
available to everyone else starting today.
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