Let's face it, Google's latest mobile operating system, Ice Cream Sandwich has not even been rolled out to all possible devices across the world (whatever the reason may be). Yes it is frustrating for most, and to add to the misery to waiting, Google has gone ahead and introduced the next version 4.1 of their mobile operating system. Ladies and Gents, it is called
Jelly Bean. Why do we care you ask? Here is why:
Jelly Bean is optimized to deliver Android's best performance and lowest touch latency, in an effortless, intuitive UI. It reduces touch latency not only by synchronizing touch to vsync timing, but also by actually anticipating where your finger will be at the time of the screen refresh. This results in a more reactive and uniform touch response. In addition, after periods of inactivity, Android applies a CPU input boost at the next touch event, to make sure there’s no latency. Check out the video below to see the difference between ICS (Version 4.0) and JB (Version 4.1):
Jelly Bean also supports user installable keyboard maps, for additional international keyboards and special layout types. By default, Android 4.1 includes 27 international keymaps for keyboards, including Dvorak. When users connect a keyboard, they can go to the Settings app and select one or more keymaps that they want to use for that keyboard. When typing, users can switch between keymaps using a shortcut (ctrl-space).
Apps can now display larger, richer notifications to users that can be expanded and collapsed with a pinch or swipe. Notifications support new types of content, including photos, have configurable priority, and can even include multiple actions. Yes, you can actually take actions directly from the notifications pane instead of switching to the app that provided the notification. You also get improved App Widgets that can automatically resize, based on where the user drops them on the home screen, the size to which the user expands them, and the amount of room available on the home screen. You can store contact photos that are as large as 720 x 720 pixels, making contacts even richer and more personal. Apps can store and retrieve contact photos at that size or use any other size needed.
One of the features we are most excited to see is the updated Intelligent keyboard. 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.
Another huge paradigm shift in Jelly Bean is with Google's bread and butter, Search. With Jelly Bean, a redesigned experience uses the power of the Knowledge Graph to show search results in a richer way. It’s supposed to be easier to quickly get answers and explore and browse search results. Oh and it will also let you search the web with your voice, and it’s convenient for getting quick answers on the fly.
With all the new features and modifications, the wait might just not be such a bad thing, especially since the possibility exists that compatible devices might get fast tracked to Jelly Bean instead of Ice Cream Sandwich (in case you haven't upgraded to ICS yet). What keeps us scratching our heads is why Google just didn't release ICS with all these features in the first place!? Roll-out of Jelly Bean begins in mid-July.
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