Next gen Android OS comes with improved voice recognition, keyboard prediction and Google Now 'context' services.
The 'J' iteration of Google's phone and tablet platform was unveiled yesterday at Google IO and it wasn't short of major improvements.
But arguably the most impactful will be those around search. Hardly surprising given Google's DNA.
Here are the main features:
Google Now
This new addition is all about making Android contextual to the user's likes and location. It all revolves around giving apps broader access to native features in the phone so, for example, a calendar could know not just the user's appointments but also hook into weather, traffic feeds, user location etc to give more relevant information. Tell you to leave early because of a pile-up on the M25. That sort of thing.
Cards
This is a modification to the new search interface that should make it easier to read certain types of information. Basically, it returns certain search queries in a kind of 'tile' like card.
Predictive keyboard
The OS will predict the next place you swipe and touch on the screen to make actions quicker
Voice recognition and typing
Jelly Bean moves Android closer to Siri in terms of its sophistication. But part of the voice feature now work without a data connection so you can do all manner of voice activity offline.
Google+: now an app
Google's social-network site is revamped as an Android app, and will even be an iOS app in the future.
Widgets
Jelly Bean makes manipulating and customising widgets easier. They can be resized to fit a home screen, and can displace icons to make them easier to position.
Elsewhere during the Jelly Bean preview, Google mentioned that over 400 million Android-based devices (phones and tablets) have been sold, and that one million Android devices are activated every day, up from 400,000 a year ago.
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