IntroductionWe have already taken a quick look at the 4.2 Jelly Bean update in our Nexus 4 review, but now that we’ve gotten to spend some time with it and take a look at how it performs on other devices like the Galaxy Nexus, it is time for a deeper review.
4.2 Jelly Bean is not a revolutionary leap in Android. It is rather a feature pack on top of the 4.1 Jelly Bean. That is why Google did not rush to bump up the Android version number to five, nor even change the name of the update to Key Lime Pie (all of that is coming in the future).
There is no single big feature to catch the eye, but Google has improved Jelly Bean in virtually every aspect where it needed the extra coat of polish: camera, lockscreen, clock app, keyboard and security. Let's dive straight in.
 |
1. Camera
It’s hard to pick one particular feature we love the most about Android 4.2 Jelly Bean, but when you consider recent studies that it is the camera that is the most used feature in phones nowadays, let’s start with it. Google has rebuilt the camera interface with a new radial menu that appears whenever and wherever you tap while in the camera app. It allows you to fine tune Flash usage, Exposure, White Balance and Switch between cameras with a single finger, and is extremely convenient.
The second big update is the addition of Photo Sphere, a 360-degree panorama mode, that Google lifted from its Street View Maps team. The technology is similar to Microsoft’s Photosynth, but without the proprietary file formats. It is quick and works very well in most situations. It won’t always stitch everything perfectly, though. We had some issues with evening out the white balance in shots, and of course it does not work well when there are moving objects in the image.
But what strikes us the most is the fact that the camera feels snappier to use even for single shots. We’ve been running Android 4.2 on a Samsung Galaxy Nexus, and while its camera was fast, it seemed even quicker to capture multiple shots after the update.
You also get a bunch of Instagram-like filters that come built in the Gallery application. Not just that, there are tons of editing options starting with most basic cropping and rotating the image, to deeper tweaks - levels, contrasts and other adjustments. All of this is recorded into a full history of your actions so you can revert back to earlier stages of your image manipulations. This is great news for photography enthusiasts.
 |
4.2 Jelly Bean brings widgets to the lockscreen. Android phone makers like Samsung and HTC have long been trying to fix the static lock screen in stock Android, adding some shortcuts to it, but now Google finally solves this problem. You can now sidescroll right to go into the camera and left to look at widgets. Out of the box there are only four widgets that you can add to the lockscreen, but third-party apps have already started offering lockscreen widgets, so in addition to the stock Gmail for example, you can have say a Twitter widget (via Plume for instance). Good news is that all of those lockscreen widgets are dynamically updated in the background. Whenever you receive a new email you can check it out straight from the lockscreen widget and without going into the mail app.
One word of caution though. Lockscreen widgets do not require a password. Even if you have your device password-protected, anyone can see the widgets without being asked for a password. That means that if you have a Gmail lockscreen widget, anyone who picks up your phone can read your emails on the widget (not in the app, though). This is not a bug, this is a feature. It is there for your convenience, so if you are concerned about the privacy of your email the solution is simple - don’t use those lockscreen widgets that reveal your information.
We love the idea of lockscreen widgets so you can check out basic things like the time and weather without having to unlock your device. However as it is right now, Google allows only one widget per screen. You can’t have two widgets on the same screen. Imagine you want a Twitter and Gmail widget on a single lockscreen panel. That is not possible in the lockscreen right now. We really hope Google fixes this in an update soon, allowing for more than one widget on a single lockscreen panel.
 |
Next on the list of updates is Quick Setting, a menu of the most oft used toggles and shortcuts, designed to save the average user a trip to Settings. You bring this by either scrolling down from the top to bottom with two fingers, or bringing the notification shade and pressing the Quick Button icon in the top right corner.
Those are welcome additions - displaying things like the battery percentage, and allowing to set the screen brightness, but we do feel that Google could have easily gone with direct toggles for some of the things. Instead we get shortcuts. One glaring example is brightness. Instead of a brightness slider right into the menu, you have to first tap on a shortcut, and only then you get to adjust the screen brightness. That might be picking the nits, but we had to get it off our chests.
4. Updated Gmail
Gmail also gets a small, but very welcome update with features like "auto-fit messages." What this means is that instead of a zoomed-in version of emails, now all messages fit vertically so you only have to scroll up and down, and not left and right to see them. This is something we know from iOS, and a very simple and useful thing to have. The trick is though, that auto-fit is not automatically enabled. You have to go into Gmail settings and enable it from there.
You can also pinch to zoom inside messages, and in your inbox a simple swipe to the left or right archives messages, a very convenient way to clear up your mailbox.
5. New Clock app
4.2 also introduces a brand new Clock app. Finally, it brings native stopwatch and count-down timer, with a convenient number pad to quickly set the timer.
The alarm UI has been overhauled and vastly improved. Fonts are bigger, cleaner, easier to read. Setting multiple alarms is done in a straightforward transparent way. It is robust - you can set alarms repeating across days, hours, and with different ring tones.
Those who just can’t get enough sleep, can now snooze the alarm using the volume down button or with a simple swipe to the left. Hey, five minutes of extra sleep always count!
Android 4.2 Jelly Bean Review
1. Android 4.2 Update notification
2. New lockscreen with widgets
3. Swiping to the right takes you into camera
4. At start, there are four native lockscreen widgets
5. Gmail is one of them
6. Quick Settings is a two-finger swipe away
7. New clock app
8. It includes a stopwatch
9. And a timer
10. Both are handily displayed in the notification shade
11. The camera UI is overhauled
12. There is a new PhotoSphere option for 360 panoramas
13. They mostly turn out well (but not always)
14. Image filters are not a built-in feature in the Gallery
15. Deeper editing options like Curves are available
16. Along with other image manipulation options
17. You can add frames as well
18. This 360 panorama was taken on a Samsung Galaxy Nexus
19. It not always turns out perfect
20. Image editing history
21. Keyboard Gestures are like Swipe, but native
22. Gmail supports new gesture - swipe to archive
23.
24. And auto-fits messages
25. But you have to enable the option from Gmail settings
26. December is missing in the People app in 4.2
27. Security gets a boost
28. Accessibility options improve with triple-tap to zoom in
29. Daydream mode
30. All the new cards in Google Now
6. Gesture TypingThe stock keyboard on Android is great, but to make it even better Google brings Gesture Typing, a Swipe-like experience, on 4.2. We still feel faster typing with our two hands, but if you want to type single-handed, Gesture Typing is definitely a good option to have. With your finger leaving a fading blue trace, all it takes it a slight pause on a letter to get Google’s intelligent word recognition software kick in.
7. Google Now
Google Now, the card-based system that was introduced in 4.1 is also updated. It taps into your Google search history and automatically assembles short cards with relevant information. It now integrates flight and hotel reservations, arriving just the day of your flight for example.
8. Improved security
Security is given a big boost in Android 4.2. Android is already a very secure platform if you shop on Google Play. If you experiment with third-party stores, though, problem is they don’t have any malware scanners, and this could be a problem. Google now solves the third-party app problem as well. Back in February the company introduced Bouncer, a Google play system that detects malware and basically does not allow malicious apps.
However Android has remained troubled by premium texting applications and spyware. As you’d guess, such apps do not come from the Play Store. With Bouncer now on Android 4.2, you can however easily and quickly have Android check even third-party apps for such misconduct. Kudos, Google.
Android is a massive platform - it is the world’s biggest mobile operating system. It beats iOS by a huge number. That is why accessibility for all kinds of users is very important. In Android 4.2, Google adds options like triple-tapping acting as a magnification gesture. Additionally, the system helps out blind users by voicing their every action.
9. Daydream mode
Daydream mode is another small improvement in the system, but this one is better suited to devices with larger displays. Imagine you could turn your tablet into a picture frame with a built-in application. That is daydream. You can customize your device to show most recent news and the time as well.
10. Miracast, multiuser support
Miracast is a very important feature, but it is one of the future rather than the present. For starters, out of all Android devices, it is only available on the Nexus 4. What’s more it requires a Miracast-enabled TV. What it does with this setup is wirelessly mirror the content of your device to the TV set. The implications could be great for gaming, watching movies and just about everything you do on the device. And with the constantly varying MHL/HDMI cable standards (for example the Galaxy S III uses a 5-pin MHL port that requires a new cable, different than the 11-pin one for say the Galaxy Nexus), this could answer many people’s prayers.
At the moment, though, it is a promise that is not yet fulfilled.
Android 4.2 introduces multiple user support for tablets. In quick settings, you’d notice your profile name along with a picture, and while that is not functional on smartphones, a simple tap on that icon switches users on tablets. If you have a tablet, chances are it has become the kids’ (wife, girlfriend, etc) favorite. Having multiple user support allows you to not only keep your data safe and out of their reach, but also gives the opportunity for everyone to customize their homescreens, and use the device happily in the family.
Conclusion
Android 4.2 Jelly Bean is a gradual update that polishes the platform’s interface and introduces a number of tweaks to the camera, gallery, lockscreen and apps like Gmail and Clock to noticeably improve the user experience.
Google is doing tremendous work on its operating system and keeps pushing the pedal with quick updates, and it seems that it has taken a confident lead in terms of features over iOS and Windows Phone.
It would be fare mentioning, though, that the 4.2 update also seems a bit rushed. Along with the minor updates, come even tinier bugs, but in a noticeable quantity. Starting from the conspicuously missing month of December in the People app, going through issues with auto-brightness, slow charging and even random reboots, and ending with Bluetooth connectivity problems, this seems like the buggiest Android release since Honeycomb. Truth is, though, Google is already starting to roll out the 4.2.1 update to patch a lot of those, so hopefully it obliterates most of these problems.
We have been saying this for the past years, not months - what Google needs to do is make sure everyone gets it. The celebrations cannot start when a fraction of Android users have the latest version of the operating system. Truth is carriers and OEMs are the first to blame for slow updates, and with the approach Google has taken to the ecosystem that is a huge risk. It does have to be managed and dealt with effectively, though. The slow penetration of Android updates should not continue.
The latest launch of the Nexus 4 shows some early signs that Google is finally taking a strong stand on this. By hugely subsidizing the device, not launching a carrier-specific version of the device, and even by skipping LTE, Google shows that it is not all up to carriers. Let’s keep our fingers crossed that Google manages to push this change to operators and manufacturers. Otherwise, there is no reason why you should not update to 4.2 Jelly Bean as soon as it becomes available to you.
Pros:
- Camera app gets a modern and very practical new UI
- User experience improves in many ways
- Tablet interface gets unified with phone interface
Cons:
- It will take months until carrier and OEMs deliver this
- Some features like Miracast are not yet practical
- A lot of small (and not so small) bugs have crippled in
Follow Us:
Twitter Facebook RSS