Jelly Bean, Ice Cream Sandwich or Gingerbread : Which is better?

[HNNNNNGHHH]

Without any doubt the latest jelly bean is better than others.

Not necessarily, as even major OS upgrades bring software bugs that were not present in the previous iteration. I've had better experience with Jelly Bean 4.1.2 than Jelly Bean 4.2.2.

 

[Aquila]

Not necessarily, as even major OS upgrades bring software bugs that were not present in the previous iteration. I've had better experience with Jelly Bean 4.1.2 than Jelly Bean 4.2.2.

You're also on a TouchWiz device, not on stock. They make heavy modifications that change the experience... some in good ways, some in bad ways. 4.2 stock compared to 4.1 stock is better.

 

[Karearea]

I'm new to Android. Wikipedia was my friend in understanding Android versions. I concluded that it's not usual to upgrade Android so the version supplied on your phone when you buy it is pretty much what you've got till you buy a new one. Win95 and Win7 were both pretty good and stable except many easy to use features have been expunged over the intervening period. Running Win7 on a 95 capable computer is asking for unhappiness and vice versa likewise. Here is my limited experience so far:

Samsung galaxy mini 2 GT-6500D 800MHz 3 1/4"
Gingerbread 2.3.6
Uses: phone, texting, GPS navigation, music, WiFi hotspot
Satisfaction: 110%

Samsung Galaxy Note 2 GT-N7105 1.6GHz 5 1/2" s pen
Jellybean 4.1.2
Uses: handwritten notes, read online and kindle reference books and pdf scientific papers, photographs, read MS office files, USB transfer to desktop computers.
Satisfaction 80%
Problems: awkward USB access, insufficient privacy, Firefox performs poorly (Chrome goes great but I would rather not), flakey external SD card
Unexpectedly good: handwriting recognition, reading office docs, very quick smooth touch performance, 3G hotspot speed 13MBps (twice what I get by copper line)

They're different tools. GB is very efficient on a hardworking telephone. JB can do the job of a desktop OS if you have the real estate.

I'll update but, seeing everyone's experiences here, will be upversioning as little as possible - not broke.

 

[HNNNNNGHHH]

You're also on a TouchWiz device, not on stock. They make heavy modifications that change the experience... some in good ways, some in bad ways. 4.2 stock compared to 4.1 stock is better.

Actually, I'm using CyanogenMod 10, which in a way counts as stock due to the ROM being AOSP-based, with a few performance tweaks and such. I've also used complete stock builds without root of android jelly bean 4.1.2 on my SGSII.

While I can agree that 4.2.2 stock is better than 4.1.2 stock, the experience truly varies with each device. Jelly bean 4.1.2 works VERY well on the particular handset compared to 4.2.2, but that's because most ROMs with 4.2.2 are merely monthly builds or nightlies. I have yet to change my decision about it when a stable release becomes available.

 

[apalm8]

Agreed!

They are upgrades incremental to each other. Gingerbread is 2.3.x, Honeycomb hardly exists anymore (3.0.x), ICS was leaps and bounds superior to both and combined Tablet and Phone UI's into one set of code (4.0.x). Jellybean 4.1.x introduced Google Now, Project Butter and a slew of awesome sauce features, while Jelly Bean 4.2.2 has primarily been bug fixes and bringing long asked for features, such as lock screen widgets, better inter-app integration, settings quick keys, etc. In general, the higher the number the better The differences between GB, ICS and JB are immense, in my opinion.

 

[Walkop]

awkward USB access, insufficient privacy, Firefox performs poorly (Chrome goes great but I would rather not), flakey external SD card

USB: Could you explain this a bit more? I'm curious as to what you mean. Make sure MTP is used in the settings when you plug your phone into the computer, and you should be fine.
Privacy: What do you mean by that? I'm fairly sure Gingerbread is the same if not worse in this area.
Browsing: Then use another browser. Dolphin is much faster than Firefox, and Chrome Beta performs much better than Chrome (you can't actually perform a Play Store search for Chrome Beta, search it on Google).
SD Card: Use Solid Explorer. Fantastic file explorer, and will probably solve any navigation issues that you might be having.

 

[XavierMatt]

out of the box its gotta be JB. But I agree with Jon_Doh that JB can be emulated quite well with third party launchers and tweaking.

Just the look of the launcher. Nothing more. And even that is a wash.

Sent from my HTC ONE

 

[richard dalton]

My ICS recently upgraded to 4.2.1,now I have to deal with system lag,I have seen no advantages to the upgrade.Wonder if a reset would help

 

[Karearea]

USB: Could you explain this a bit more? I'm curious as to what you mean. Make sure MTP is used in the settings when you plug your phone into the computer, and you should be fine.
Privacy: What do you mean by that? I'm fairly sure Gingerbread is the same if not worse in this area.
Browsing: Then use another browser. Dolphin is much faster than Firefox, and Chrome Beta performs much better than Chrome (you can't actually perform a Play Store search for Chrome Beta, search it on Google).
SD Card: Use Solid Explorer. Fantastic file explorer, and will probably solve any navigation issues that you might be having.

Thanks Walkop, I'll do my best to explain. It is a really good phone and OS so these are minor annoyances.

USB access: I'd like to be able to just plug the phone in and work on the files there using the MS Explorer, Mac Finder or Ubuntu file manager. It's a hassle to have to use a proprietary app from Samsung (Kies) to communicate.

Privacy: This seems to be a feature of all Android but becomes more of a concern as you put more data on your device. Every app wants permission to see your contacts, who you phone, write to your memory, use your GPS location and I can't see why, its not necessary on MacOS or Win or Linux. But if you want the app you have to sign your privacy away. There are also many apps which offer little more than the JB operating system and many that include adverts which is all insecure. Basically, google could see up your a******* if they ever felt like it.

Browsing: I'd like to be able to use my same browser as I do on other devices. There's no reason why Firefox couldn't be allowed to give good efficiency, unless Chrome has access or compatibility to other features of Android.

SD card is probably a hardware problem I suspect. I've had it with the same brand on another ph using GB too. Unless others have had similar message "SD card is damaged. Want to reformat ?"

Anyway these are relatively minor problems.

 

[Aquila]

Thanks Walkop, I'll do my best to explain. It is a really good phone and OS so these are minor annoyances.

USB access: I'd like to be able to just plug the phone in and work on the files there using the MS Explorer, Mac Finder or Ubuntu file manager. It's a hassle to have to use a proprietary app from Samsung (Kies) to communicate.

Privacy: This seems to be a feature of all Android but becomes more of a concern as you put more data on your device. Every app wants permission to see your contacts, who you phone, write to your memory, use your GPS location and I can't see why, its not necessary on MacOS or Win or Linux. But if you want the app you have to sign your privacy away. There are also many apps which offer little more than the JB operating system and many that include adverts which is all insecure. Basically, google could see up your a******* if they ever felt like it.

Browsing: I'd like to be able to use my same browser as I do on other devices. There's no reason why Firefox couldn't be allowed to give good efficiency, unless Chrome has access or compatibility to other features of Android.

SD card is probably a hardware problem I suspect. I've had it with the same brand on another ph using GB too. Unless others have had similar message "SD card is damaged. Want to reformat ?"

Anyway these are relatively minor problems.

Only two things about some of these issues...

You can set your phone to mount as a disk drive and use drag and drop. As far as I can tell, Kies is only useful if you are wanting to do an update via that update on a TouchWiz device.
SD cards are no longer supported by Android. Devices that do include them are creating special code to do so, and it's creating tons of problems on Samsung devices where it is destroying the cards. There are many threads about that topic on these and other forums.

I'm not completely sure why, but it seems to feel like it's a bit disingenuous to say Jelly Bean is bad based solely on a TouchWiz device that does a few things significantly differently than Android is meant to do them. Even in that case though, the features and improvements in efficiency are clear between every iteration of Android... I guess I'm not clear on how the 2010 version can be said to be a richer user experience than the 2012/2013 version. That seems more like attachment. It's obvious that Ice Cream Sandwich was worlds ahead of Gingerbread and Jelly Bean was a vast improvement upon ICS. As a Nexus user, maybe I'm just not experiencing issues that other Android Based devices have trying to update... but that just seems like more of a reason to buy Nexus devices than to try to cling to old version of TouchWiz or other Android based software with less features and performance optimization.

 

[Walkop]

I'm not completely sure why, but it seems to feel like it's a bit disingenuous to say Jelly Bean is bad based solely on a TouchWiz device that does a few things significantly differently than Android is meant to do them. Even in that case though, the features and improvements in efficiency are clear between every iteration of Android... I guess I'm not clear on how the 2010 version can be said to be a richer user experience than the 2012/2013 version. That seems more like attachment. It's obvious that Ice Cream Sandwich was worlds ahead of Gingerbread and Jelly Bean was a vast improvement upon ICS. As a Nexus user, maybe I'm just not experiencing issues that other Android Based devices have trying to update... but that just seems like more of a reason to buy Nexus devices than to try to cling to old version of TouchWiz or other Android based software with less features and performance optimization.

I too am a Nexus user, that's why I haven't really experienced the issues that Karearea has mentioned. With Nexus devices, USB access is basically instantaneous and simple as anything. Just drag-drop with almost no initial setup. As for browsing - I can use Dolphin, Firefox, Chrome, Chrome Beta, and they all perform solidly. I prefer Firefox Beta's smoothness to Dolphin, actually; the page load times are better on Dolphin and the UI is simpler, but Firefox just seems like a more polished browser overall.

As for permissions...when you install an app on Windows, there IS User Account Control. However, that doesn't mean that an application does not have access to the file structure, your location, etc. Regardless, you need more hook-ins on a mobile device so that apps can be inter-compatible. Sharing between applications is a big part of Android, as you don't have such direct access to the file system and you can't manipulate files as well as you can on the computer (of course). I don't understand, myself, why so many apps need so many permissions - but alas, that's the way it is. Complain to developers, thats the only thing you can do, really. The latest versions of Android and updates to the Play Store have actually made these permissions MORE apparent to users, so be glad for these updates!

My advice: Go Nexus. The 4 is an incredible device - fastest Android phone I've ever seen, and super-slick. You don't get great storage, sadly...but the price-to-performance and build quality is absolutely unbeatable. I would say only the One rivals it's build. Instant OS updates, a slick OS, and good app compatibility. You can't really go wrong, too much anyway.

 

[AndroidShark22]

So far the latest version has 4.2 Jellybean has been the best for me. Each version has vastly improved from the last.

4.0 was lightyears ahead of 2.3 and to be honest its the first version of stock Android i found plesent enough to use.

From then on 4.1 offered a much smoother user experince, and Google Now intergration.

4.2 again improived on this and offered the 3d panoramic camera (on Nexus devices anyway).

All in all the latest and greatest is the best at the moment i personally think!

 

[Karearea]

Only two things about some of these issues...

You can set your phone to mount as a disk drive and use drag and drop. As far as I can tell, Kies is only useful if you are wanting to do an update via that update on a TouchWiz device.
SD cards are no longer supported by Android. Devices that do include them are creating special code to do so, and it's creating tons of problems on Samsung devices where it is destroying the cards. There are many threads about that topic on these and other forums.

I'm not completely sure why, but it seems to feel like it's a bit disingenuous to say Jelly Bean is bad based solely on a TouchWiz device that does a few things significantly differently than Android is meant to do them. Even in that case though, the features and improvements in efficiency are clear between every iteration of Android... I guess I'm not clear on how the 2010 version can be said to be a richer user experience than the 2012/2013 version. That seems more like attachment. It's obvious that Ice Cream Sandwich was worlds ahead of Gingerbread and Jelly Bean was a vast improvement upon ICS. As a Nexus user, maybe I'm just not experiencing issues that other Android Based devices have trying to update... but that just seems like more of a reason to buy Nexus devices than to try to cling to old version of TouchWiz or other Android based software with less features and performance optimization.

Thanks Nothing Is. and Walkop

Interestingly, back at work I've found that Win XP does read/write the Note 2 almost like a USB flash drive. Drag and drop - 100% good ! The only thing is I can't "eject" it like I'm supposed to. I'm guessing there is more security on Win7, MacOS and Ubuntu.

Thanks also for the heads up on the problems a lot of people have had with the S3 and intermittent then permant loss of their SD cards. Your one liner summarises umpteen pages of unhappy postings:
http://androidforums.com/samsung-galaxy-s3/654417-samsung-galaxy-s3-kills-sd-cards-8.html
http://forums.androidcentral.com/samsung-galaxy-s3/190074-sd-card-fried-new-galaxy-s3-5.html

I didn't find a lot about the Note 2:
http://forums.androidcentral.com/verizon-galaxy-note-2/231884-note-2-micro-sd-card-problems-3.html

Evidently, dozens of people more knowledgeable than me have wrestled with this but for a start I'm going to make a point of: back up, no critical data on the SD card, feed it nice recharging electricity, avoid hard boots, close USB access properly. Fingers crosssed. Anyway, this is not a JB problem; it is just a cause of less than 100% satisfaction with my system as a whole.

I had heard of Touchwiz but didn't realise it was compulsorily enabled on both my Gal mini 2 and Gal Note 2 (confirmed courtesy of wikipedia). Perhaps Touchwiz contributes to the awkward connectivity to desktop OS's ? I would prefer to use the standard Android but am not going to try and change round my system which works pretty well as it is.

So, after another month of using the Note 2 and JB 4.1.2 / douchwiz my satisfaction rating is 90%.
The 110% for GB / touchwiz on the mini 2 still stands but of course the scope of what I use it for is a fraction.

 

[Ivy Vine]

I have a T-Mobile GS2 (T989) with GB 2.3.6. I have been considering upgrading to JB 4.1.2 through Kies. I really want to, but I really like how reliable GB currently is. Never had a problem with it. I get conflicting reviews of JB on this device. I know I would definitely to a factory reset after installing which would most likely clear up many of the issues people have been getting after the update. But I would love to hear from people that are really into this stuff, should I stick with GB or will JB vastly improve my device? I love all the new features and I cannot compare to ICS since I never updated to that. It seems Kies will only show me the upgrade to JB and not ICS, I cannot install it another way due to having a mac and not being able to run Odin. I would also not be able to downgrade due to this, so the decision on whether to upgrade or not is much different than if I could easily downgrade if I found I did not like it.

 

[Resendetra]

I just got an update for Android 4.1.2 this morning on my Samsung Galaxy Rush, which was horrible when running on ICS, because it would lag and freeze daily (hourly even), so bad that sometimes when I would try to turn on the screen, it wouldn't do it. But I have noticed that ever since it was updated to Jelly Bean, the phone is running more smoothly and a lot faster, I have not encountered lag or even one freeze as of yet, which is kind of a miracle to me. But it always depends on the phone, one version could be great on a device, but put it on another device, it might hardly run.

 

[Paul627g]

I loved Gingerbread on my old Nexus S 4G. Of course lets be honest and say that was the device (Nexus S series) that shaped and evolved around Gingerbread. I still run pure AOSP Gingerbread 2.3.7 on my NS4G to this day even after running ICS and JB on it.

Skip forward to my Sprint Galaxy Nexus and I like Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean on it. It runs smooth and brings much to the table with the expanded notifications and other goodies.

It comes down to personal preference and ultimately what your current device is developed to run on from the start. Sure it may handle the newer upgrades and OS releases but I still believe what it was designed around and released with in most cases suits it best.

 

[Resendetra]

I have a T-Mobile GS2 (T989) with GB 2.3.6. I have been considering upgrading to JB 4.1.2 through Kies. I really want to, but I really like how reliable GB currently is. Never had a problem with it. I get conflicting reviews of JB on this device. I know I would definitely to a factory reset after installing which would most likely clear up many of the issues people have been getting after the update. But I would love to hear from people that are really into this stuff, should I stick with GB or will JB vastly improve my device? I love all the new features and I cannot compare to ICS since I never updated to that. It seems Kies will only show me the upgrade to JB and not ICS, I cannot install it another way due to having a mac and not being able to run Odin. I would also not be able to downgrade due to this, so the decision on whether to upgrade or not is much different than if I could easily downgrade if I found I did not like it.

So let me get this straight, you're using a custom ROM, so therefore, you have to manually update to JB. I have heard mixed reviews also, a lot of people have said that it freezes their phones or they experience really bad lag. If you like GB, keep it, but if you really want to try JB, go for it. It's your choice, maybe you'll be one of the lucky ones that doesn't get the lag issue.

 

[Ivy Vine]

So let me get this straight, you're using a custom ROM, so therefore, you have to manually update to JB. I have heard mixed reviews also, a lot of people have said that it freezes their phones or they experience really bad lag. If you like GB, keep it, but if you really want to try JB, go for it. It's your choice, maybe you'll be one of the lucky ones that doesn't get the lag issue.

No, I am currently using the version that came installed on my phone (and then updated with minor versions OTA by T-Mobile). I would be updating to JB with the official release by T-Mobile as well, but they have not been pushing new versions (ICS, JB) of android OS OTA, you have to connect your device to Kies and let it see there is an update and have Kies download and install it for you. It would be so much easier if they did update OTA and you could ask them to push an update (well downgrade) to an older firmware version if you wanted to go back. Custom ROMS would have to be installed using something like Odin, which apparently doesn't have a Mac version and can only be used with Windows (or possibly other non-Mac OS). I would only be dealing with the official updates/upgrades from T-Mobile.

 

[Jasefase]

I have an iPhone and iPad - the iPhone plays sky sports tv app for ?4.99 per month as I don't have sky tv. However this app is not available on iPad. Frankly the picture is a little small as its on the iPhone
I've been looking at a Samsung Galaxy S2 7 inch but I believe that the android version of sky sports tv doesn't work with jelly bean
Does anyone have this app on a 7inch or larger galaxy etc and does it work with ice cream

 

[HNNNNNGHHH]

No, I am currently using the version that came installed on my phone (and then updated with minor versions OTA by T-Mobile). I would be updating to JB with the official release by T-Mobile as well, but they have not been pushing new versions (ICS, JB) of android OS OTA, you have to connect your device to Kies and let it see there is an update and have Kies download and install it for you. It would be so much easier if they did update OTA and you could ask them to push an update (well downgrade) to an older firmware version if you wanted to go back. Custom ROMS would have to be installed using something like Odin, which apparently doesn't have a Mac version and can only be used with Windows (or possibly other non-Mac OS). I would only be dealing with the official updates/upgrades from T-Mobile.

If you can run virtual machine software on your Mac powered computer, you can try to "install" Windows to use ODIN from there and flash a custom recovery such as CWM or TWRP so you won't really need a PC to flash ROMs. Plus, most custom firmware are packaged into .zips nowadays, not really .IMG or tar.gz files anymore.

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