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Android 4.3, Jelly Bean
Android 4.3, an even sweeter Jelly Bean, is available now on Nexus phones and tablets.
Restricted profiles limit access to apps and content, at home with your family and at work.
Bluetooth Smart support makes Android ready for a whole new class of mobile apps that
connect to fitness sensors. Games look great thanks to the 3D realistic, high performance
graphics powered by OpenGL ES 3.0.
And there's a lot more new in this release:
Audio
Dial pad
- Autocomplete - just start touching numbers or letters and the dial pad will suggest
phone numbers or names. To turn on this feature, open your phone app settings and
enable “Dial pad autocomplete.”
Graphics
- OpenGL ES 3.0 - Android now supports the latest version of the industry standard
for high performance graphics.
- Wireless Display for Nexus 7 (2013 edition) and Nexus 10 - project from your tablet
to a TV.
Internationalization and localization
- Additional language support - Android is now translated in Africaans, Amharic
(አማርኛ), Hindi (हिंदी), Swahili (Kiswahili), and Zulu (IsiZulu).
- Hebrew, Arabic, and other RTL (right-to-left) - now supported in the home screen,
settings, and Phone, People, and Keep apps.
Keyboard & input
- Easier text input - an improved algorithm for tap-typing recognition makes text
input easier.
- Lower latency input for gamepad buttons and joysticks.
Location
- Location detection through Wi-Fi - use Wi-Fi to detect location without turning on
Wi-Fi all the time.
Networking
- Bluetooth Smart support (a.k.a. Bluetooth Low-Energy) - devices like Nexus 4 and
Nexus 7 (2013 edition) are now Bluetooth Smart
Ready.
- Bluetooth AVRCP 1.3 support - display song names on a car stereo.
Settings
- Disabled apps tab - check which apps are disabled in Settings > Apps.
System
- Restricted profiles - put your tablet into a mode with limited access to apps and
content.
- Setup wizard simplification - getting started on Android is easier thanks to the
ability to correct previous input, and because of streamlined user agreements.
- Faster user switching - switching users from the lock screen is now faster.
- Enhanced photo daydream - navigate through interesting albums.
Create restricted profiles that limit access to apps
Android 4.2, Jelly Bean
Android 4.2, Jelly Bean improves on the speed and simplicity of Android 4.1 and
includes all new features – Photo Sphere and a completely redesigned camera app, new
Gesture Typing keyboard, Google Now with all new cards, and much more.
- Everything in Jelly Bean feels fast, fluid, and smooth. Moving between home screens
and switching between apps is effortless, like turning the pages of a book.
- Jelly Bean improves performance throughout the system, including faster orientation
changes, quicker switching between recent apps, and smoother and more consistent
rendering across the system through vsync and triple buffering.
- Jelly Bean has more reactive and uniform touch responses, and makes your Android
device even more responsive by boosting your device’s CPU instantly when you touch the
screen, and turns it down when you don’t need it to improve battery life.
Accessibility
Android Beam
- With Android Beam, introduced in Android 4.1, you can easily share your photos
and videos via NFC.
- Instantly pair your Android phone or tablet to Bluetooth® devices like headsets
or speakers that support the Simple Secure Pairing standard by just tapping them
together.
Audio Accessories
- Support for USB audio docks.
Browser and WebView
Camera and
Gallery
Clock
-
New The clock has been totally redesigned with an all new
look which includes both a digital and analog clock style.
-
New You can use the new stopwatch to track time, count
laps and splits, and share your times.
-
New You can use the new timer to keep track of
predetermined periods of time, run multiple timers at once, and even label your
timers.
-
New The world clock lets you check the time in different
cities right from the Clock app or your lock screen.
-
New New clock widgets let you choose from an analog or
digital clock widget. You can also resize the digital clock widget to display the
time in other cities around the world.
Data Usage
- You can now dismiss a data usage warning without changing the data warning
threshold.
- To disable background data usage when your device is using a particular mobile
hotspot, you can designate that SSID as being mobile.
- Android now automatically detects when one Jelly Bean device is tethered to
another’s Wi-Fi hotspot, and intelligently enables or disables background data usage
on that SSID.
Face Unlock
- Face Unlock is now even faster and more accurate, with smoother startup and
animation.
- You can improve face matching accuracy by calibrating in different conditions and
with different accessories (e.g. hat, glasses).
- Face Unlock can now optionally require a blink to verify that a live person is
unlocking the device rather than a photo.
Graphics
-
New Platform level support for new wireless display
settings implemented on Nexus 4, including the ability to discover and connect to
Miracast™ compatible devices via Wi-Fi Direct.
-
New Full HDMI mirroring with notifications and
multi-display support.
Internationalization
-
New Android 4.2 brings improved font positioning, glyph
cache performance, and more accurate placement of accents in Indic, Hebrew, Arabic,
Thai and Latin font kerning.
-
New New fonts have been added including Roboto Thin and
Nanum Gothic for improved Korean font quality.
- Jelly Bean adds support for bidirectional text and more input languages to make the
platform accessible to more people around the world.
- There is improved support for Arabic and Hebrew, including a new Arabic font, in
the platform.
- You can now enter text in 18 new input languages including Persian, Hindi and Thai.
Additional Indic languages Kannada, Telugu, and Malayalam are now supported by the
platform.
- Emoji from Unicode 6.0 are now supported.
- If the system language is set to Japanese, Japanese specific versions of glyphs are
now properly rendered.
Keyboard
-
New Android 4.2 introduces an all new Gesture Keyboard
that lets you glide over letters to type a word while it dynamically predicts what
you want to type.
-
New French, English and Russian dictionaries are even more
accurate and relevant, while new dictionaries have been added in Danish, Greek,
Finnish, Lithuanian, Latvian, Polish, Slovenian, Serbian, Swedish and Turkish.
- The language model in Jelly Bean adapts over time and the keyboard features
bigram prediction and correction.
- You can now switch languages quickly with the dedicated language selector key on
keyboard.
- You can use custom keyboard input styles for more than 20 languages, with keymaps
for QWERTY, QWERTZ, AZERTY, Dvorak, Colemak, and PC styles.
- You can choose the input styles that you want to use for each keyboard, and use a
hotkey to switch between them while typing.
Lock Screen
-
New Android 4.2 lets you place widgets on your device's
lock screen to give you faster access to your calendar, Gmail, SMS messages, and
even third party app widgets.
-
New Quickly launch Google Now by swiping up from the
bottom edge of your secure lock screen.
-
New Easily access camera straight from your phone’s lock
screen.
Messaging and
Talk
Notifications
- You can now take action on notifications directly from the notifications shade.
- Notifications from the same application are grouped together, and the first item is
automatically expanded. You can also pinch notifications to expand or collapse them.
- You now get an image preview in notifications after taking a screenshot. You can
quickly share the screenshot directly from the notification.
- On 7” tablets you can lock automatic display rotation from the notifications shade.
- For Wi-Fi only devices, quickly see the SSID of the access point you're connected
to from the notifications shade.
- You can now touch-hold a notification to identify the application that created it
and turn off notifications from that application if needed, or uninstall the
application.
Networking
-
New Wi-Fi Direct support has been improved, so your device
can now remember other devices.
-
New Faster captive portal detection on Wi-Fi, cellular
connections, and pay-as-you-go SIMs.
- Wi-Fi protected setup is now supported with WPS push button & PIN support.
- A new setting lets you stay on mobile data and avoid nearby Wi-Fi networks with
poor connections.
News and
Weather
System
Text-to-speech
- Jelly Bean introduces a new conversational text-to-speech voice in US English,
available as both a network engine and an embedded engine via the TTS API.
Voice Typing
- A new embedded speech recognizer lets you use Voice Typing even when you don't
have an Internet connection.
Widgets
The new Google experience on Android
Google Search
-
New Voice Search lets you launch apps, add meetings to your
calendar or even find out when your next appointment is.
- With Jelly Bean, a redesigned experience uses the power of the Knowledge Graph to
show you search results in a richer way. It's easier to quickly get precise answers to
search queries and explore and browse search results.
- Get to Google Search faster: Google Search can be opened directly from the lock
screen by swiping up. For devices with software navigation keys, you can now swipe up
from the system bar to quickly access Google Search with Google Now. For devices with a
hardware search key, you can tap it to launch Google Search.
- If you're using a wired headset, long press the headset's button to activate Voice
Search. You can quickly perform a search query by voice and have the result read back
to you.
- You can say "Google" to activate Voice Search from within Google Search.
- For many search queries performed through Voice Search, you can now hear a spoken
answer.
- Voice Search recognition is now significantly faster so you can search quickly on
the fly.
- Voice Search can now recognize queries even when you have a poor network
connection.
Google Now
Google Now brings you just the right information at just the right time, helping you
manage your day, stay connected and be a local anywhere. And the best part? All of this
happens automatically. Cards appear throughout the day at the moment you need them.
Learn more.
-
New Hotel card: Get one-touch navigation to
your hotel when you arrive in a new city.
-
New Restaurant reservation card: Be
reminded to leave for the restaurant based on live traffic information.
-
New Event card: Get reminders about events
you purchased a ticket for.
-
New Package card: See when your online
orders ship.
-
New Next appointment card: When you have an
appointment, Google Now checks traffic so you can know how long it'll take to get
there. You even get a notification for when you should leave.
-
New Movies card: See showtimes and ratings
for what's playing when you're near a theater. Also be notified when a movie you're
interested in arrives at theaters.
-
New Concerts card: See when your favorite
artists have concerts at nearby venues.
-
New Stocks card: Get real-time information
about stocks you track.
-
New Public alerts card: Receive emergency
messages such as storm warnings and earthquake alerts.
-
New Developing story & breaking news
card: See breaking news and other developing stories that match your
interests.
-
New Nearby attractions card: See what
nearby attractions are popular to visit.
-
New Nearby photo spots card: Learn of
popular photo spots nearby.
-
New Time at home card: When you're in a
different time zone, Google Now shows you the time at home so you never feel too far
away.
-
Flight card: Get real-time flight status and traffic information to
the airport.
-
Weather card: When you start your day, Google Now shows weather for
your current location and work.
-
Traffic card: Get traffic conditions and alternate routes before you
leave home or work.
-
Sports card: You can see live scores and upcoming games and also buy
game tickets on the fly.
-
Transit card: When you’re near a bus stop or a subway station, this
card shows you what buses or trains are next.
-
Places card: When you’re on the go, Google Now will suggest nearby
bars, restaurants, and places of interest.
-
Currency card: When you're traveling, quickly check the local
conversion rate.
-
Translation card: When you're in a foreign country, you can quickly
translate words into the local language.
Google Apps
Calendar
Gmail
Maps
Google+
YouTube
Currents
Chrome
Google Play
- A new set of recommendations widgets use a variety of signals — content that people
with similar tastes have purchased, stuff that's popular around where you live, content
people in your Google+ circles have +1'ed, and more — to recommend new content like
apps, games, music, and movies.
- A new My Library widget, which displays all of your recent movies, books, music,
and magazines and dynamically changes based on what you've been engaging with recently.
- Smart App Updates ensure that only the parts of an application that have changed
will be downloaded when you next update it, saving time, bandwidth, and battery.
- App encryption for paid apps.
Google
Play Books
Google Play Movies and TV Shows
Google
Play Music