Google's new
Android 4.1 Jelly Bean OS detailed
Promotion: Hot deals
Google introduced the latest version of the
Android operating system at its I/O developer event last night, called Jelly
Bean, which will be available for platform lead devices by mid-July, along with
the source code. Of course, we’ll have to wait a while for
manufacturer-customized devices to get their own updates.
The search giant also introduced two new devices
at I/O – the Nexus 7 and Nexus Q, which we’ve detailed here.
Android 4.1 Jelly Bean is an incremental update
to ICS (not Android 5.0 as had been expected), which is aimed to make Ice Cream
Sandwich “smoother, faster and more fluid”. It mostly brings UI changes ranging
from improved notifications and onscreen keyboard, to widget control, voice
typing and the native camera app. Most importantly however, are the host of
developer changes (full list available on the Android Developers site) it
brings, which promise to give app creators greater flexibility and control.
Project Butter
First up, in the list of changes to Jelly Bean,
is Project Butter – which uses vsync timing and triple buffering to make the
touch responsiveness of Jelly Bean devices as smooth as butter. All animation,
display refreshes will be locked to a 16 millisecond vsync heartbeat. Google
says touch responsiveness has been further improved by predicting where the
next touch will be, and in case of a time-out, will use a CPU input boost to
ensure minimal latency.
Widget Control
Google has improved the widget-adding experience
with Jelly Bean. App widgets can now be automatically resized, depending on
where the user drops them on the homescreen, the size to which the user expands
them, and the space currently available on the homescreen. Developers will now
also have control to reorient the interface of the widget, depending on the
size.
Notifications
One of the biggest changes to Ice Cream Sandwich is the new Notifications menu in Jelly Bean. Essentially, notifications will be more than just pieces of information, but now, will be interactive, and can be expanded or collapsed to show more information, access features, etc, without opening the relevant app. Notifications will now support image content, feature up to three preset actions (such as sharing, or +1-ing), and, display priority is now user-configurable.
.jpg)
.jpg)
Voice Typing
and Search
Google has introduced Offline Voice Typing to Jelly
Bean, placing the previously-cloud-accessed Google Speech Recognizer on the
device itself. For now, it only supports U.S. English, but more languages are
due to be added later. Google has also improved voice search, with faster
response times, increased accuracy, and a more natural sounding voice.
Relevantly, Google also announced it would be supporting more languages soon,
with 18 new languages, including Persian, due soon.
Camera and Gallery
Google has made improvements to the native Ice
Cream Sandwich camera and gallery apps as well, with the new Jelly Bean version
supporting such features as an undo button, simple deletion UI, and a film
strip mode.
Google Now
Lastly, Google has finally introduced a
Siri-competitor, called Google Now, which will use the Card UI and voice to
provide search information, before you search it – something Google has been
advocating for years now. It will automatically check things like traffic and
public transport information, and update the user. It can also remind users
about the events, etc. We’ll have to wait and see just how it works to get a
better idea, though you could check out the video below for a glimpse.
