The launch of the Ice Cream Sandwich operating system for android devices, has led to speculations about the newer version of android OS. This newer version of operating system is supposed to be named as Jelly Bean.
The name Jelly Bean follows the long held tradition followed by Google, to name the android operating systems after sweets and that too in alphabetical order. This fact can be verified through the names of earlier versions of android OS, namely, Cupcake 1.5, Donut 1.6, Éclair 2.1, Froyo 2.2, Gingerbread 2.3, Honeycomb 3.0 and the latest one being the ICS operating system.
Sources have been quoted as saying that the ‘game changing stuff’ that was supposed to be inculcated in the ICS android OS, has now being pushed to be released with the Jelly Bean operating system. Depending on the various that may get packed in Jelly Bean OS, it could be dubbed as either Android 4.5 or Android 5.0.
One can definitely check the features that come with Ice Cream Sandwich OS, and can then gauge the features that may be packed into the Jelly Bean OS. Some of the novel features in the ICS android operating system are discussed below:
- The Samsung Galaxy Nexus that comes with the ICS OS, is powered by a 1.2GHz dual-core processor and a near-field communication chip along with other hardware options such as 4.65-inch Super AMOLED display with 1280×720 pixel resolution, a 5-megapixel rear camera and a 1.3-megapixel front facing camera. It can now be understood that Jelly Bean would require a device of similar capabilities or more to function effectively.
- Voice commands: There are some modifications to Voice Actions such an option to activate it just by speaking to the phone and without pressing any buttons.
- Camera: The camera can be accessed from the main screen. ICS offers a new panoramic mode that allows users to stitch together multiple shots, thereby creating a new and larger picture. An additional option of a slider enables the users to align the shots in correct sequence.
- Phone enhancements: ICS allows for improvement of photos with various tools that help rotate or crop, auto-improve, remove red-eye, etc. The setting of levels and the addition of Instagram-style filters has also been made possible
- Browser: ICS comes with beefed browser capabilities that include features such as incognito mode, Google Chrome bookmark sync and saving of full web pages that facilitate offline reading.
- New features and Apps: ICS comes loaded with many new apps such as People app that allows integration with social networking services and status updates as well as addition of larger photos to contacts. The new Gmail app is rapid and provides for offline access of emails that are 30 days old. Sharing of information such as videos, contacts, music, apps, etc has been made possible just by tapping two phones together using the Android Beam app. The data-usage app allows users to check as well as forecast the data usage, which helps a user to plan his/her data usage. Just like Bluetooth, Wi-Fi Direct allows the connection of two devices without any net connection. Maps, Calendar and Music also been updated.
- Other features: ICS comes with enhanced options for multitasking and notifications. It allows for efficient storage of data in the cloud and has the unique facial recognition feature. Additionally, users have the option to send a canned text message informing callers as to why the call was not answered.