Just when you
thought life couldn't get any sweeter, Google's new Android 4.1 Jelly Bean OS
is making its way out of the oven and into the world.Google's Jelly Bean release builds upon the foundation of Ice Cream Sandwich -- a.k.a. Android 4.0 -- and adds plenty of polish, performance enhancements, and fresh features into the mix. It isn't as transformational of an upgrade as ICS was, but it's certainly significant -- and certainly something you'll want on your tablet or phone.
So what exactly is new with Jelly Bean, and what'll it mean for you? Here are answers to all of your most pressing questions.
If you're coming
from Ice Cream Sandwich, the visual differences in Android 4.1 are subtle --
more refinements than revolutions. (If you're not yet on ICS, you've got some
big changes in store; see my Ice Cream Sandwich FAQ for the full scoop on the
4.0-level revamp.)
Jelly Bean keeps the basic look and feel established in Android 4.0 but
fine-tunes a lot of details. The notification pulldown has a new look, with
larger text and more gray and white in place of blue. (It also has some new
functionality -- more on that in a bit.)
Lots of new effects and transitions are sprinkled throughout the system, too. When you move your finger over the lock screen, for example, a circle of tiny dots follows your touch. And when you open an app from your home screen, the app opens by zooming up from the space you touched. These types of subtle improvements all add up to make the Android interface more polished and impressive than it's ever been before.
Lots of new effects and transitions are sprinkled throughout the system, too. When you move your finger over the lock screen, for example, a circle of tiny dots follows your touch. And when you open an app from your home screen, the app opens by zooming up from the space you touched. These types of subtle improvements all add up to make the Android interface more polished and impressive than it's ever been before.
What about performance? Is Jelly
Bean really faster than ICS?
Believe it or not, it is. Google
calls its Android 4.1 performance push "Project Butter" because it's
meant to make everything run much more smoothly (either that or because it's
salty and delicious -- but I'm assuming the former).
It's no mere gimmick, either: The
difference in speed from Android 4.0 to 4.1 is immediately noticeable. With
Jelly Bean, the phone rotates far more quickly than it did in past Android
releases. Transitions, especially between the home screen and app drawer, are
significantly faster. And the "recent apps" list loads instantly when
you tap the button -- the slight delay present in ICS is a thing of the past. I
tested two Galaxy Nexus phones side by side, one with Android 4.0 and the other
with 4.1, and the improvements were obvious.
(You can learn more about what it's
like to actually use Jelly Bean in my Android 4.1
hands-on impressions.)
All right, Mr. Wizard, how'd they
make Android 4.1 so much faster, then?
Well, señor and/or señorita, take a
deep breath: Google increased the speed of the Android OS by improving the
system frame-rate and display refresh signal and also developing a new touch
input system that anticipates where your fingers will land and then gives the
CPU an extra shot of power when you touch the screen.
Whew -- got all that?
If you really want even more
technical detail, do me a favor: Go outside and breathe some fresh air, maybe
interact with a real human or two, then come back. I'll wait.
Still interested? My, you are a
tenacious little monkey. The full technical nitty gritty of Project Butter is
more than I'm going to get into here, but you can find all the details you
crave at Google's Android developers' website – specifically.
Okay, let's talk features. Tell me
about Jelly Bean's new search and voice control stuff.
I thought you'd never ask! Android 4.1 gets a whole new
search system, and boy, is it cool. Instead of simply showing you Web results
for whatever term you enter, the Jelly Bean search setup gives you
informational cards with detailed answers about what you really want to know.
(You can still find standard search results beneath the quick info cards.)
Search is also now more thoroughly
integrated into the Android system: In addition to the Google search bar at the
top of the home screen, you can get to the Android search tool from the lock
screen -- by swiping upward on the slide lock -- or from anywhere in the OS by
swiping up from the virtual home button.
The most impressive new thing in
Jelly Bean search, without a doubt, is the revamped voice search system. While
Google's Voice Actions have allowed you to issue
specific voice commands for years, the new 4.1-level setup allows for more
natural types of queries as well.
Once in the search tool, you simply
say "Google" to activate the new voice command system. Then, you can
ask all sorts of questions and Google will show -- and tell -- you the answers.
If you ask "How tall is
Scarlett Johansson," for example, the system returns a card with the
actress's face (nothing wrong with that) and her height; it also speaks aloud
and tells you the information. If you ask "How hot is it gonna be
tomorrow" or "Is it supposed to rain this week?" -- or pretty
much any other weather-related question -- Google delivers the answer in a
similar graphic-plus-audio form.
The options go on and on. You can
ask for good Chinese restaurants near you, tell Google to navigate you to a
specific location by car or by foot, or ask for any type of Web-accessible information,
ranging from when your favorite sports team plays next to when your friend's
flight is scheduled to arrive. The existing
command-style prompts still work, too, if you want to send yourself a
note, compose and send a text, or start listening to a particular band or song.
The possibilities are practically
endless.
What's this Google Now thing all
about?
Google Now is another new part of the Android 4.1 search
tool. In a nutshell, it uses a combination of your location, search history,
calendar, and other habits to automatically deliver relevant information to you
throughout the day.
(And if you're worried about
privacy, yes, it's optional; Google Now works only if you choose to opt in.)
The concept seems very cool, though
it'll take some time to see how useful it actually ends up being. So what kinds
of things can Google Now do? Some examples: It can tell you the weather at the
start of the day, show you how much traffic to expect as you head out the door
to work, show you your favorite sports team's score when the game's underway,
and show you when the next train is scheduled to arrive as you step onto the
platform.
If you have an upcoming calendar
appointment, Google Now can look at the appointment's address and at your
current location, then estimate travel time based on current traffic conditions
and let you know when you need to leave in order to arrive on time. If you're
in a new area, Google Now can recommend nearby restaurants and other places of
interest. Cards that are particularly timely appear as notifications on your
phone; all other Google Now cards are always available in the Jelly Bean search
tool.
Crazy concept, eh?
What's new with notifications in
Android 4.1?
Everything! Jelly Bean notifications
are a whole new game compared to past Android releases. Visual differences
aside, notifications in Android 4.1 are both expandable and action-oriented.What that means is that you can drag down on notifications, using two fingers, to expand them and get additional information and options. When you expand a missed call alert, for example, you get options to call the person back or text them right from your notifications panel. With new email, you can expand to see details about multiple new messages in your inbox. And with a captured screenshot, you can expand to get an option to share the image right then and there.
Not too shabby.
How's about the home screen --
anything new going on there?
You betcha, bucko. We already talked
about a few of the tweaks (the new search bar, the swipe-up-to-search command
on the virtual home button), but fear not: There's more.
For one, Jelly Bean makes it much
easier to add and arrange widgets and shortcuts on your home screen. When you
slide in a new widget, the system automatically moves other items in the area
to make room for it. If there still isn't enough space, it'll resize the widget
for you to make it fit (as much as possible).
The same thing happens with regular
app shortcuts: You can slide an icon next to another icon to bump it over and
open the space.
Android 4.1 also has a handful of
new integrated system widgets, including a bunch of Google Play-related items
(to see your purchased/rented multimedia, recommendations for app or multimedia
downloads, and so forth) as well as a new Sound Search widget that's basically
the same thing as Shazam or SoundHound: You tap the widget while a song is
playing, and after "listening" for a few seconds, it tells you the
name of the song and the artist who performs it.
Why would Google want to build its
own version of such a thing, you might ask? Simple: Along with the song and
artist info, Google's Sound Search widget gives you a one-tap option to buy the
track directly from the Google Play Store. Cha-ching!
How will Jelly Bean look on a
tablet?
An excellent inquiry, my dear
Watson. As it turns out, the way Jelly Bean looks on a tablet depends upon the size
of said tablet.
I'd go into more detail, but my
fingers are getting tired. Luckily, a devilishly handsome writer already did a
splendid job of explaining the situation; you can bask in the exotic beauty of
the info (or, you know, just get the basic facts).
What, that's it? Nothing else new in
Jelly Bean?
Oh, ye of little faith. Jelly Bean
has plenty of other surprises.
Here's a laundry list of other
random bells and whistles awaiting you in Android 4.1:
- An updated Camera app that lets you swipe on the viewfinder to jump directly into your Gallery of images for easy photo viewing and sharing
- An updated system keyboard with better dictionaries, improved text-to-speech functionality, offline text-to-speech support, and intelligent word prediction (a la SwiftKey)
- Added support for contact-free NFC sharing of photos and videos
- "Smart app updates" that let you download only the changed portions of updated applications instead of having to download the entire app every time an update rolls in
- An improved face-unlock security mode that requires you to blink before your phone will unlock A slew of new gesture-based navigation commands for visually impaired users; also added support for Braille input and output devices
Got it. So will my phone/tablet get
Jelly Bean? And if so, when?
That's the million-dollar
question, isn't it? Unfortunately, aside from the current crop of pure Google
experience devices -- the Galaxy Nexus, Motorola Xoom, and Nexus S (all of
which are set to begin receiving 4.1 upgrades sometime in July, according to
Google; the HSPA+ version of the Galaxy Nexus started getting its upgrade last
week) -- it's still too soon to say much about specific upgrade plans for most
phones and tablets.
The reason: Outside of
Nexus and Google experience devices, Android upgrades are in the hands of
manufacturers. And until manufacturers start telling us what devices they plan
to upgrade and when, all we can do is guess.
If you're still waiting
for Ice Cream Sandwich, you can find the latest upgrade status for your device
in my Android 4.0 upgrade list; it's always kept up to date with the most
current info available for all phones and tablets. And once we know more about
the various manufacturers' plans for Jelly Bean upgrades, I'll make that
information easy for you to find as well.
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