Google unveiled the latest version of its mobile operating system, Android 4.1 Jelly Bean at Google I/O 2012 event currently live in San Francisco. It brings the fastest and smoothest version of Android yet. It’s an incremental upgrade but brings in a number of valuable features like Project Butter, improved Google voice transcription, Google Now, enhanced Notification and lots more performance tweaks. Let’s have a deeper look into this new features:
Project Butter – Android 4.1 now feel fast, fluid, and smooth. It has bumped up the frame rates to 60 FPS, and implemented vsync and triple buffering to tighten up the user experience. Now users can have smoother UI and apps performance, moving between home screens and switching between apps is effortless. It also brings in more reactive and uniform touch responses. Jelly Bean makes Android device even more responsive by boosting the device’s CPU instantly when user touch the screen, and turns it down when user don’t need it to improve battery life.
Notifications – Google has fully revamped the Android notification system and now users take action directly from the notifications shade. So if you are l ate for a meeting? Email everyone to let them know. Missed a call? Call them back in an instant. And because they’re expandable, you can get an even deeper look into the things that matter most, like multiple emails or photos on Google+.
Improved Camera – Jelly Beans brings new UI for camera, users can now just swipe over from camera to filmstrip view to instantly view the photos they just took, and quickly swipe away the ones they don’t like. Can also quickly delete images by swiping them off the screen (also option to undo that).
Text Input – Android’s dictionaries are now more accurate, more relevant. The language model in Jelly Bean adapts over time, and the keyboard even guesses what the next word will be before you’ve started typing it. With improved text-to-speech capabilities, voice typing on Android is even better; it works even when you don’t have a data connection, so you can type with your voice everywhere you go.
Android Beam – With Android Beam on Jelly Bean users can now easily share photos and videos with just a simple tap, in addition to sharing contacts, web pages, YouTube videos, directions, and apps. Just touch two NFC-enabled Android devices back-to-back, then tap to beam whatever’s on the screen to your friend. Instantly pair your Android phone or tablet to Bluetooth devices like headsets or speakers that support the Simple Secure Pairing standard by just tapping them together – no more syncing or searching required.
Google Now – An incredible useful feature introduced by Google on Jelly Bean, Google Now gets you just the right information at just the right time. Google Now understand everything about you (using the Google services you use) and everything that you previously wanted to know, and combines it to keep everything on track automatically. It tells you today’s weather before you start your day, how much traffic to expect before you leave for work, when the next train will arrive as you’re standing on the platform, or your favorite team’s score while they’re playing. Google Now Cards appear throughout the day at the moment you need them. More can be learned about this service here.
The SDK for Android Jelly Bean is currently available to developers and Google will be pushing Android 4.1 to devices, such as Galaxy Nexus, Nexus S, and Motorola Xoom via OTA updates starting from mid-July.
On the go enjoy the latest facts on Android –