So I've been doing some research on what type of new and improved features are coming with the release of Jelly Bean 4.2. So far, I've come up with a few things that are headlining the updates and frankly, they don't really impress me all that much:
1) The new version apparently now allows for screensavers on your phone or tablet. This seems like an awful waste of battery if you ask me. For all those android users who are constantly trying to adjust their phones and tweak/configure it to save as much battery as possible, the last thing I'd need is to have a fancy, bright screen saver that is constantly draining screen battery while I'm not even using my phone. Good aesthetic idea? But not too functional, imo.
2) It will have the ability on the lock screen to "quick" swipe to widgets such as your calendar, weather, or clock, etc. However, based on some video descriptions I've seen, you can only fit one widget per page per swipe. So if you had your lock screen -> calendar -> clock -> camera, then you'd essentially have to swipe 3 times just to get to your camera? Seems a bit inefficient to me as of yet. Perhaps they will polish it up a bit more in the near future.
3) 4.2 features quick settings, which is basically what I already have with widgets such as Power Toggles or Pie. I can easily customize and toggle my apps/phone-settings with either app which is free to download from the play store. So having this new quick settings feature on 4.2 stock is not really giving me anything that I don't already have access to easily.
4) 4.2 will support multiple accounts on single phone. I suppose I could be logged into multiple emails at the same time or have multiple accounts logged onto multiple games at the same time. It's somewhat cool if you think about it... but then there's only one screen and so I can only play one game at a time. I don't really see a pragmatic use-case for this but overall, I guess it's a neat feature to have. I just don't know how I'm going to use it to my advantage. Could be useful for Facebook stalking though.
5) New stock android swype keyboard is also included. But swype has been included in several android phones already and is not really a "new" and "fresh" feature on recent phones. I'm not sure how Google has "perfected" the swype feature even moreso than its predecessors but again, feels like an old, re-hashed formula to me.
The only thing that I'm really excited to see in 4.2 is the new camera mode. Being able to quick swipe across the camera screen to adjust settings is a very useful feature. Photosphere looks really sweet if you want to be able to share with someone a 360 view of a photo or location. But I'm really hoping that there are other features that I've missed out on which can convince me to make that upgrade. So far, I've been somewhat disappointed in the new features that are pending for the 4.2 release as it feels all a bit "been there done that" for me. Anyone else feel the same?
1) The new version apparently now allows for screensavers on your phone or tablet. This seems like an awful waste of battery if you ask me. For all those android users who are constantly trying to adjust their phones and tweak/configure it to save as much battery as possible, the last thing I'd need is to have a fancy, bright screen saver that is constantly draining screen battery while I'm not even using my phone. Good aesthetic idea? But not too functional, imo.
2) It will have the ability on the lock screen to "quick" swipe to widgets such as your calendar, weather, or clock, etc. However, based on some video descriptions I've seen, you can only fit one widget per page per swipe. So if you had your lock screen -> calendar -> clock -> camera, then you'd essentially have to swipe 3 times just to get to your camera? Seems a bit inefficient to me as of yet. Perhaps they will polish it up a bit more in the near future.
3) 4.2 features quick settings, which is basically what I already have with widgets such as Power Toggles or Pie. I can easily customize and toggle my apps/phone-settings with either app which is free to download from the play store. So having this new quick settings feature on 4.2 stock is not really giving me anything that I don't already have access to easily.
4) 4.2 will support multiple accounts on single phone. I suppose I could be logged into multiple emails at the same time or have multiple accounts logged onto multiple games at the same time. It's somewhat cool if you think about it... but then there's only one screen and so I can only play one game at a time. I don't really see a pragmatic use-case for this but overall, I guess it's a neat feature to have. I just don't know how I'm going to use it to my advantage. Could be useful for Facebook stalking though.
5) New stock android swype keyboard is also included. But swype has been included in several android phones already and is not really a "new" and "fresh" feature on recent phones. I'm not sure how Google has "perfected" the swype feature even moreso than its predecessors but again, feels like an old, re-hashed formula to me.
The only thing that I'm really excited to see in 4.2 is the new camera mode. Being able to quick swipe across the camera screen to adjust settings is a very useful feature. Photosphere looks really sweet if you want to be able to share with someone a 360 view of a photo or location. But I'm really hoping that there are other features that I've missed out on which can convince me to make that upgrade. So far, I've been somewhat disappointed in the new features that are pending for the 4.2 release as it feels all a bit "been there done that" for me. Anyone else feel the same?
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