New Features in Jelly Bean 4.2

The Camera controls in Android 4.2 Jelly Bean are minimal, allowing users to focus on the photo they want to take with fewer distractions. Photo: Alex Washburn/Wired

Android 4.1, known as Jelly Bean, debuted only five months ago. But Google’s already back with 4.2, which will be called … Jelly Bean. But while the name remains the same and the overall user experience sees only minor tweaks, there are still plenty of changes you should know about. Android 4.2 is making its debut on Google’s new Nexus 4 smartphone and the Nexus 10 tablet, both of which begin shipping in November. But older Nexus devices — such as the Nexus 7 tablet, and the Galaxy Nexus and Nexus S phones — will get the update shortly thereafter.

So what can Nexus phone and tablet owners expect in Android 4.2? Here’s a rundown of our favorite new features.

Google Now Updates

Google Now, which presents information before you even look for it, feels like the future of Google. In previous incarnations, a simple swipe up from the bottom of the display on any Nexus device running Jelly Bean delivered tips for nearby restaurants and directions and time estimates for our morning commutes. Calendar appointments would pop up, too. Now, if you give Google Now permission to do so, the app will pull package tracking, hotel and flight details, restaurant reservations and other tidbits of timely information straight from your Gmail. If you’re the sort of person who’s bothered by how much information Google has on its users, Google Now has never been for you. But if you’re OK with all this, then the updates to Google Now make the experience even more useful. There is nothing else on any other device that works like Google Now. It’s one of the biggest differentiators found on Android and it keeps getting better.

Gesture Typing in Android 4.2 works smoothly and does a great job of predicting words you’re typing…er swiping out.Photo: Alex Washburn/Wired

Gesture Typing

If you’ve ever used the Swype keyboard app, or if you’ve seen video of the upcoming SwiftKey Flow, then you know what to expect from Android 4.2’s gesture typing. Just glide your fingers across the keyboard, hitting each letter in the word you’d like to spell, and Android will present guesses as to the word you want, just above your finger, as you type. If you see the word you’re typing, just lift to choose it. The feature shows up anywhere you can use a keyboard. In our testing, it worked very well, oftentimes suggesting the words we wanted much earlier than anticipated.

Miracast

Android finally has an answer to Apple’s AirPlay. Sort of. Android 4.2 brings Miracast compatibility to Google’s mobile OS, allowing phones and tablets to wirelessly connect to Mircast-equipped TVs, Blu-ray players and other set-top boxes to mirror what’s on your mobile device on the big screen. The technology was developed by the Wi-Fi alliance and is an open standard that any hardware maker can use, but so far there are only a handful of Miracast products available. If the technology takes off, this could be a real plus for Android users. But right now that’s just an if.

With a two-finger swipe down, or a tap of a button on Android 4.2′s notification shade, quick settings appear. Photo: Alex Washburn/Wired

Quick Settings

Here’s another feature that gives Android an edge over its rivals. When you slide down the notification shade, there is a new button in the top right corner that will take you to quick settings — Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, display brightness, battery life, airplane mode, and a button to take you into the full settings menu. If you want to get to quick settings even faster, swipe down from the top of your display with two fingers. It’s a simple, unobtrusive idea that makes a ton of sense.

HDR Mode

For the first time, Android’s camera app has a built-in HDR (High Dynamic Range) mode. This involves having the camera take two or more photos of the same scene, at different exposures, and stitch them together to create a single image that has ideal exposure levels for all the bright and dark areas. The point here is to deliver a photo that looks good when there are variances in light quality — say a really bright sunlit background and a darker in-the-shade foreground. As is that case on any camera, HDR mode can be bit hit or miss. But when it works, it works well.

Photo Sphere

Like Google Now, Photo Sphere is a feature you’ll find built into Android and nowhere else. Google’s Maps team worked with the Android team to build Photo Sphere, which is essentially a simplified version of the Street View software Google uses to build the 360-degree panoramas we see on Google Maps. When you launch Photo Sphere, you see a gray grid. As you move your phone around, a blue dot appears telling you where to hold your phone. As you align your phone with the blue dots, the app snaps a photo. After you’ve captured enough shots to cover the scene around you, Photo Sphere stitches them together to deliver a 360-degree panorama you can view on your phone. The results are remarkably free of visible seams, though if you move the camera too quickly, or if people in your panorama are moving around a lot while you’re snapping photos, there will be a bit of blurriness. Regardless, the whole process is a lot of fun and works well. If you’re happy with the panorama you’ve created, you can easily share it on Google+ and even submit it to Google Maps.

Android 4.2 Jelly Bean adds Instagram-like photo filters right into the camera app. Photo: Alex Washburn/Wired

Photo Filters

Google is introducing Instagram-like photo filters built into its camera app. The filters look great, allowing you to tweak the tone, add some graininess, or create a vintage look. And it’s all non-destructive editing, since the app saves a new image every time you add a filter, meaning your original photo is always preserved.

New Camera Controls

Android 4.2’s camera app gets a whole new gesture-based control scheme (see the photo at the top of this article) that is largely hidden until you need it. There’s a large blue button at the bottom for snapping a photo and a thin white circle that hovers over whatever you’re focusing on at the moment. Tap that circle to bring up photo options appear — flash controls, a toggle to switch between front and rear cameras, a white balance button, an HDR mode button, and a button to launch into deeper settings too. The scheme works really well, allowing you to focus on the photo you’re trying to take with as little distraction as possible. When you want more options, they’re there with a simple tap and swipe.

Lockscreen Widgets

This feature is supposed to come with an update scheduled for Nov. 13, when the new Nexus devices start shipping, so we haven’t had a chance to try it out yet. But we expect it to be a new favorite. Lockscreen widgets work just like they sound. You can place them on the lockscreen of a handset an view them by swiping either from the left or right  when a phone is locked. This allows quick access to a lineup of calendar events, for example, or your most recent e-mails or maybe weather information, all without having to unlock your phone. Of course, to get into the app the widget leads to, you’ll have to unlock your handset, so you’ll still need a passcode or gesture.

Multiple User Profiles on Tablets

This is another feature scheduled for the Nov. 13 update for the Nexus 10, and shortly thereafter the Nexus 7. From the demos we’ve seen, Android 4.2 tablets will allow for multiple user profiles so a family, a group of roommates, or a workplace team can share a single device without getting into each other’s settings, apps and data. Profile switching takes place on the lockscreen. It’s a great idea that, hopefully, will spread to competing tablets as well.