Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Introducing Android 4.2

It felt just like yesterday that I was here talking about Android 4.1.2 and now I'm back again with another update to Google's mobile operating system, and this one is fairly substantial, so called Android 4.2.

Keeping the "Jelly Been" moniker, Android 4.2 brings to the table a few impressive new features. For one we've not got something called 'Photo Sphere' which is Google's own 360-degree panorama camera option which, as implied, let's you take complete panoramic photos. The software behind the feature does all the work for you of stitching together the multiple pictures you take of the 360-degree turn.

Another feature added is 'Gesture Typing' which basically let's you use the style of typing that tonnes have already been using for a while with the Swype keyboard. Basically you just swipe your finger through all the letters on the screen for each word you want to type which makes it quicker to write your messages- it's basically like handwriting but for your phone.

Google also added the whole accounts thing to your device. This has been a big issue recently what with the massive consumerism of tablets these days. People want to have a lock screen with multiple accounts on it just like they do on their computer. For whatever reason no tablet OS maker has put this feature in until now. It should also be noted that Microsoft just released a very similar feature that comes with their Windows 8 tablet- Surface.

As well there is now support for HDTVs using Miracast and an improved Google Now. Google Now is basically the Android version of Siri, except way better. And the improvements bring on new cards for flight information, restaurant reservations, hotel confirmations, and shipping details.

The Google Search app has also subsequently been updated and met with extreme consumer satisfaction. All in all version 4.2 boils down to yet another great improvement on an already amazing operating system. Good on you Google.

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