Features galore in Google's Jelly Bean - CNET News - YouTube
So Google pulled the wrapper off of its new flavor of Android, version 4.1 Jelly Bean, at its Google I/O 2012 conference. It sure looks sweet but the question is how useful will it really be?
Faster performance
According to Google, Jelly Bean is built to harness the power of mobile processors better, as the company puts it, "improve CPU utilization". That makes sense since today's CPUs more often then not are dual-core chips with quad-core CPUs right around the corner--at least in the U.S. anyways. As part of the I/O 2012 demo, a Samsung Galaxy Nexus running Ice Cream Sandwich (Android 4.0) has pitted against the same model phone using Jelly Bean.
Google crowed about how much smoother the Jelly Bean device scrolled through menu screens and rendered animations, calling the improved speed and slicker graphics silky and smooth. In fact it's all called Project Butter. I for one welcome any way to make Android run, well, buttery smooth since that's a criticism Apple fans hurl my direction often. Google also said that Jelly Bean devices will also enhance battery life performance which I'm always buts a smile on my face.
Resizable widgets
Taking a page perhaps from some its hardware partners, most notably Samsung and its Live Panel within TouchWiz, Jelly Bean will also feature widgets that you can control the size of yourself. Widgets will also alter their size to fit around other widgets already placed on your phone's home screen. This is a feature I'd be happy to have since one of the most frustrating notifications to receive in Android is that there's no more room on an given screen to drop your widget down upon.
Easier photo sharing
Ice Cream Sandwich brought new camera abilities to Android phones such as burst mode and snapping pics while shooting video which handset makers such as Samsung and HTC have certainly exploited. Now with Jelly Bean, Google will add a Filmstrip view for faster photo navigation. You can also crop photos for sharing, and swipe away images you can't stand with a quick finger motion to delete. It sounds good to me since I'd much rather perform minor edits on my phone than have to muck around with images on a full laptop system.
Better predictive keyboard
First let me say I actually like the stock Android keyboard, ever since Gingerbread. I've always appreciated how word suggestions are placed on top of the virtual keys and aren't forced on me through an auto correct function. Google says though that it's made improvements to Jelly Bean's internal dictionary in an effort to be provide more accurate word completion options.
Voice typing
Here's one of Jelly Bean's slickest improvements, something Google calls Voice Typing. Essentially you'll be able to dictate whole paragraphs to your Jelly Bean phone and it will dutifully jot down what you say, even punctuation marks. Now that's a smartphone skill that could really come in handy--if it works as advertised. Even better, Jelly Bean will place the tools needed to perform Voice Typing locally so you'll be able to dictate offline and without a network connection.
Voice search
With Voice Search it's clear Google is gunning for Apple's Siri in a big way. Google has had what it called Voice Actions for years but Voice Search looks to be much more robust. While Voice Actions will launch some apps and initiate texts, emails, and Web searches, Voice Search seems to be made to behave like a personal assistant, providing complete results in one central location.
Wow all looks good, really looking forward to this... hope HTC work on getting this to the One X as soon as possible.
So Google pulled the wrapper off of its new flavor of Android, version 4.1 Jelly Bean, at its Google I/O 2012 conference. It sure looks sweet but the question is how useful will it really be?
Faster performance
According to Google, Jelly Bean is built to harness the power of mobile processors better, as the company puts it, "improve CPU utilization". That makes sense since today's CPUs more often then not are dual-core chips with quad-core CPUs right around the corner--at least in the U.S. anyways. As part of the I/O 2012 demo, a Samsung Galaxy Nexus running Ice Cream Sandwich (Android 4.0) has pitted against the same model phone using Jelly Bean.
Google crowed about how much smoother the Jelly Bean device scrolled through menu screens and rendered animations, calling the improved speed and slicker graphics silky and smooth. In fact it's all called Project Butter. I for one welcome any way to make Android run, well, buttery smooth since that's a criticism Apple fans hurl my direction often. Google also said that Jelly Bean devices will also enhance battery life performance which I'm always buts a smile on my face.
Resizable widgets
Taking a page perhaps from some its hardware partners, most notably Samsung and its Live Panel within TouchWiz, Jelly Bean will also feature widgets that you can control the size of yourself. Widgets will also alter their size to fit around other widgets already placed on your phone's home screen. This is a feature I'd be happy to have since one of the most frustrating notifications to receive in Android is that there's no more room on an given screen to drop your widget down upon.
Easier photo sharing
Ice Cream Sandwich brought new camera abilities to Android phones such as burst mode and snapping pics while shooting video which handset makers such as Samsung and HTC have certainly exploited. Now with Jelly Bean, Google will add a Filmstrip view for faster photo navigation. You can also crop photos for sharing, and swipe away images you can't stand with a quick finger motion to delete. It sounds good to me since I'd much rather perform minor edits on my phone than have to muck around with images on a full laptop system.
Better predictive keyboard
First let me say I actually like the stock Android keyboard, ever since Gingerbread. I've always appreciated how word suggestions are placed on top of the virtual keys and aren't forced on me through an auto correct function. Google says though that it's made improvements to Jelly Bean's internal dictionary in an effort to be provide more accurate word completion options.
Voice typing
Here's one of Jelly Bean's slickest improvements, something Google calls Voice Typing. Essentially you'll be able to dictate whole paragraphs to your Jelly Bean phone and it will dutifully jot down what you say, even punctuation marks. Now that's a smartphone skill that could really come in handy--if it works as advertised. Even better, Jelly Bean will place the tools needed to perform Voice Typing locally so you'll be able to dictate offline and without a network connection.
Voice search
With Voice Search it's clear Google is gunning for Apple's Siri in a big way. Google has had what it called Voice Actions for years but Voice Search looks to be much more robust. While Voice Actions will launch some apps and initiate texts, emails, and Web searches, Voice Search seems to be made to behave like a personal assistant, providing complete results in one central location.
Wow all looks good, really looking forward to this... hope HTC work on getting this to the One X as soon as possible.
