Even though it had been rumored for months and unofficially confirmed with the arrival on the Jelly Bean statue on the Google campus, Google officially announced Android 4.1, dubbed Jelly Bean. Here are some of the new features built into Jelly Bean:
- Redesigned architecture which allows for higher frame rate and smoother interface.
- Full on-board speech recognition so the voice keyboard can be used offline (U.S. English only currently).
- Support for 18 additional languages added.
- New camera app that allows instant review once a photo is taken.
- Improved Notification system. Apps can now be accessed from the Notification bar and the top notification is allowed more space. Music can be accessed and controlled via the Notification bar.
- New search interface with card system, allowing quick access to your search results.
- Improved voice search with functions similar to Apple’s Siri.
- Introduction of Google Now which provides access to transit routes, sports updates, and dining advice. It is designed to be the all-around app for everyday life.
Google announced that the Galaxy Nexus, Motorola XOOM and Nexus S will be the first existing devices receive the Android 4.1 update. The developer SDK is available now and the source code will release mid-July.
The new notifications and offline voice sound pretty cool.
Good news but this will mean HTC will probably get the update out at the end of June NEXT YEAR. I’m a loyal HTC follower and have been for years but they are always slow in getting updates out, that’s why I went out and got the One X as the latest version of the software on an HTC, pitty they haven’t re decided to get the ICS for the Flyer (expensive nice door stop though)!!
HTC actually has the best track record when it come to updating their handsets to the latest version of Android. they were the first OEM to push out Gingerbread and Ice Cream Sandwich updates. The switch from 2.3 to 4.0 was a significant change, but it looks like going from 4.0 to 4.1 will be a lot easier. also, the announcement of the android PDK (product development kit) means HTC and others will be able to start porting the latest version of android before google officially releases the source code
Which current/announced HTC phones do you predict will get Jellybean? I have the Rezound but since we are just now about to get ICS, I’m not confident it will get JB although it meets the specs. Considering the updates to Voice Search, I imagine JB will be for dual-core and 1GB+ RAM HTC phones only. So definitely the HTC One X, HTC EVO LTE, Droid Incredible 2, maybe the HTC EVO 3D and HTC One S.