The newest version of Jelly Bean (Android 4.2) didn't go well initially with the critics. With people citing the issues like the "December Bug" and problems with Bluetooth connectivity, there was a lot more missed than expected in the launch of this flavor version of Android OS. But as always Google and its Android Team made amends (seems like), by fixing the so important December miss and in the process giving the systems running this new version (Android 4.2.1) a speed/performance boost. None the less, we do a review of the best features that 4.2 comes to offer to the few devices that its shipped with and the ones that have started to get the OTA for this version.
Multi-User Access (On Tablets only)
We heard about this for some time now but the feature makes its first presence on the tablets and not on smart-phones. The smart-phones for now have been kept aside as far as multiple users usage is concerned.
For tablet users especially if your tablet is a shared device, this should come to you as a very welcome feature. Tablets on 4.2 are now able to have separate logins for separate users. Which means each user will have their own customized home screen on the device. Cool isn't it? The capability to switch users without a login logout cycle is cool too.
With this feature you can now share your videos playing on the smart-phone with your HDTV. This gets accomplished via a Wi-Fi connection where "Android 4.2 allows devices to enable wireless display". All you need to do is to connect a wireless display adapter to the HDMI port of your TV.
DayDream
Your smart-phone shouldn't be lying somewhere in the corner of your room when not in use. With Daydream you can use the device to display an album or some delightful information when the device is idle or is docked. And by the way, the information could well be "latest news from Google Currents".
The 20% project at Google, name Google Now has already been a hit since its launch. It has now got more smarter and displays information before you need it. So rather than you asking the app of what info you need, the app smartly decides on the piece of info that you may need at a particular time. For example, it will display today's weather before you start your day, or let you know when the next train will come while you are waiting at the platform. Start you day in a smarter way now !!
A photo sphere in the Android 4.2 camera lets you click a picture that covers more than the normal camera on all directions. Android team defines the feature as: "Up, down and all around you, it’s like no camera you’ve ever seen. With Android 4.2, snap pictures in every direction that come together into incredible, immersive photo spheres that put you right inside the scene. View your photo spheres right on your phone, share them on Google+ with your friends and family, or even add them to Google Maps for the world to see."
Okay so from now on there won't be any need to download a keyboard app that lets you swipe instead of tap the buttons. Android 4.2 camera now lets you gesture with your swipe to give away on what you want to type. "just glide your finger over the letters you want to type, and lift after each word. You don’t have to worry about spaces because they’re added automatically for you".
Android dictionary also gets more powerful and predictive and with improvements in the speech-to-text feature creating messages gets a lot easier.
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