Android newest sweets... The Android Jelly Bean!

2012-07-04T10:39:00.001-07:00

Android Jelly Bean (4.1) has been unveiled, and as a good Android and Nexus user I have installed a leak version of it into my Galaxy Nexus. Over all the use of it is exactly the same as Android's 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS).

Unlocking The Phone

Here are some screens describing the new futures.
Canon T3i 18.0MP Digital SLR Camera with 18-55mm IS Lens - Digital Canon EOS 7D 18.0MP Digital SLR Camera - Body Only - Digital SLR Canon SX40 HS 12MP 35X Optical Zoom Digital Camera Black 5251B001 Panasonic Link2Cell Dect 6.0 Plus Cordless Phone System - DECT 6.0 Blackberry 9810 Torch Cell Phone with Optical Trackpad Nokia E5 GSM Quadband Phone- Unlocked Black AT&T Blue Z221 GoPhone Prepaid Cellular Phone - Z221 Armored Coinless Phone - Pay Phones Panasonic Dect 6.0 Plus Expandable Digital Cordless Phone System with

Here you can see that the dots where my thumb was. As you move the thumb the dots move around giving the sequence and animation a cool look. Also in the same perimeter of the unlock icon and the camera icon at the top there is a Google word. If you slide the dots over to the Google word it open Google Now. And it looks like this:

Google Now

First screen has either the traffic or the weather. At sometime it will ask you where your home is and it will tell you how long to get home if you're out of it, or it will try to find your work and how long it take to get there. If you press the microphone it will send you to the second screen and you can talk whatever you want to it. On the third screen you can see I asked directions to HP Pavilion. Now any iPhone/iPod/iPad owner will say "Siri does that already", well Android has done it way before Apple invented/bought Siri. However, it is now more interactive and fun to use.

You can also access Google Now by long pressing the Home button and dragging it upwards to The word Google.

The Notification Area

The notification screen had a little overhaul. Now it shows Google Now at times, and it's either the weather or the traffic. If there are multiple email it will show a small list of email, if you recently received an emai it will show like the second screen. If you decide the message is too big but don't want to erase it, you can drag it up with two finger and the message will be like the third image.

By dragging left or right the notification you can delete it from the notification area.

Missed called

When you miss a call, in the notification pull down area, there are new options. Now it will show Call Back option and a Message option. If the Call back button is pressed, it will cal back the number. If message is pressed, a message option is open and you will be able to send a text message.

Opening a link

When a link is pressed and you don't have a predefined app to open the link on ICS you will see a list of apps to open the link with. In JB (Jelly Bean) the screen changed and now you choose the option and select either to make it predefined or open it once only option.

Conclusion

Overall Google made a difference in Jelly Bean 4.1. With all the new option and the optimized transition between screens make this version better than ICS. Too bad it will take phone makers long before we see a version of JB. I'm just truly grateful I bought this phone.

By the way all the pictures except for one were snap shot of my Galaxy Nexus.

Update

If you are logged in to your Google account and did a search in Google Maps, it will appear in your Google Now.

Android Fragmentation. Should I care?

2012-06-25T08:07:00.000-07:00

What is Android fragmentation? Well if I would thought about it with out knowing I would say it had something to do with a problem with the storage of an Android. Well that is not the case. Android fragmentation is a fancy way to say that there are so many Android phones out there that a developer has problems keeping up to date on those phones.

But should I care? First of all lets check Google's numbers. There are 7 Android version

1.5 - Cupcake
1.6 - Donut
2.1 - Eclair
2.2 - Froyo
2.3 - Gingerbread
3.1 - Honeycomb
4.0 - Ice Cream Sandwich

http://developer.android.com/about/dashboards/index.html

Already at software level there is fragmentation. Now, I would say that 1st 4 versions are obsolete; although, there are phones still running it.

http://www.mobot.net/opensignalmaps-yeah-android-pretty-fragmented-42039

As you can see there are way too many companies making Android phones. For a developer it is hard to develop their apps thinking of a phone in particular. What works in a phone does not necessarily work on the other. Smartphones are evolving fast. There are phones that are running from a processor, there phones running from a Dual-Core processor and there phones running quad-core processors.

This is where I believe comes the beauty of Android phones. What if I can't afford an Verizon bill and want a smartphone? You can still get a cheap phone from a carrier like Metro PCS at a price of barely 100 bucks. Not bad right? Phone will still do most of the essentials and a little bit more. And this is where Android fragmentation for the normal user is music for their ears. Variations? We love variations. We love to have phones to pick from. We have other things to pick from. Cars, we can choose the make of a car and still have the choice to choose from within the make a different model. It is the absolute same thing. So instead of trying to beat Android out because of the fragmented operating system we should be happy to have where to choose from.

Android