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Android 4.1 Jelly Bean is now available

170 points by sindhiparsani 14y ago

drivebyacct2 14y ago
Interesting RE: App Encryption. I had mentioned that years ago in IRC before Android was even a blip on Apple's radar and I was told that would not happen because the Market didn't want to ever modify the uploaded APK. It will be interesting to see if this curtails pirating, or more likely, just adds an extra step in the piracy process.
saurik 14y ago
Really? I thought the keynote explicitly said the SDK would be available today, but that neither the source code nor the binary updates would be pushed to the public (as opposed to hardware manufacturers, who now have ahead-of-time PDK access) until mid-July. (edit: In addition, the Nexus 7, running Jelly Bean, while available to purchase today, will itself not be shipping until mid-July. I really don't think it is available yet.)
- wmf 14y ago
  The 24-minute news cycle doesn't make allowances for little things like facts.
- yelkeew 14y ago
  I cloned the manifest project and checked the tags; there aren't any 4.1+ tags present yet. I'd imagine there would be a JBQ post (like this, https://groups.google.com/group/android-building/msg/c0e01b4619a1455a https://groups.google.com/group/android-building/msg/c0e01b4...) announcing Android 4.1 availability if the source were already available.
mshafrir 14y ago
This is just the Android 4.1 API Docs for now.
javajosh 14y ago
Until the fragmentation problem is fixed, every new Android release only fills me with dread. Normally when new versions of frameworks or software that I use come out, I like it. Except Android, because every new version of Android has lots of nice features that I won't be able to use and it is guaranteed to further fragment of the marketplace. Android is the (old) Internet Explorer of mobile. I've never seen one application skew across versions so hard, or single-handedly fragment the space as much. (BTW kudos to MS for strongly encouraging their IE users upgrade). What makes this perplexing is that Google has solved this problem with most of their other installed software offerings, Chrome particularly. There's basically only one version of Chrome (v 19 as I write this). Heck, even MS realized their mistake and is making efforts to roll up old IE users into the latest version. And of course Apple has done a fantastic job keeping all of it's users at the same iOS version. I am well-aware of the OEM madness that drives Android fragmentation, and that you might think it's not "Google's fault" because of this. But I disagree. Google has vast resources and can basically do whatever it wants. If it wanted to require OEMs to build Android-upgradable phones, it could force them to do so. In fact, if they started doing this today you would hear loud cheers from around the world (and bitter complaining from the OEMs, but so what? There's a lot of money to be made and they'll get in line).
- drivebyacct2 14y ago
  > There's a lot of money to be made and they'll get in line The fact that that's not true is precisely why timely upgrades aren't done. Verizon and Motorola sold you that Droid RAZR. They get nothing from spending engineer time to update it. Also, what is this implication that Google is just being lazy or has some incentive to not have everyone running the latest OS. You really think Google so powerful that they can snap their fingers and make OEMs do what they want? Isn't the very existence (and initial struggle) of the Nexus line evidence against that?
  - javajosh 14y ago
    Apple gets "nothing" from engineering their upgrades to be backwards compatible. That is, if "nothing" means being incredibly successful. People are actually rather smart about things like this, and they know that the iPhone "just works" and will continue to work, and that is a huge competitive advantage. And long-term competitive advantage is one of the classic components of "maximizing shareholder value". So yes, publicly traded OEMs (which is all of them) are legally required to maximize shareholder value, and they are not doing that. P.S. I think you are a troll, based on this and prior discussions, and this is the last time I'm responding to you. I'd appreciate it if you'd not respond to my posts either. Thank you.
rwmj 14y ago
Still no Japanese input though?
- shangaslammi 14y ago
  It's still in beta, so not bundled with the OS yet. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.inputmethod.japanese&hl=en https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.and...
deleted 14y ago
[deleted]
- astrodust 14y ago
  2.3 and forks of it look like the de-facto version of Android at this point. Google has to fix this problem or these new releases won't be relevant.
anigbrowl 14y ago
Woah, they actually fixed the audio, at long last. Maybe my Android tablet will make music after all.
- hahainternet 14y ago
  In the post keynote workshop, they noted that this is not entirely fixed. They have made improvements but they also acknowledge they have some distance to go to have it perfect. I don't have the technical details of the updates, and I doubt anyone will for a short while.
picklefish 14y ago
For anyone wondering when it's coming to ICS phones. "Google: Android 4.1 Jelly Bean coming to Samsung Galaxy Nexus, Nexus S and Motorola Xoom mid-July" from: http://www.engadget.com/2012/06/27/google-android-4-1-jelly-bean-coming-to-samsung-galaxy-nexus-m/ http://www.engadget.com/2012/06/27/google-android-4-1-jelly-...
- chimeracoder 14y ago
  Does that include the Verizon version of the Galaxy Nexus, since Google agreed to let Verizon handle the updates for that model? If so, I'm glad to hear that Google is addressing the problem of not having their own devices be up-to-date (which was an embarrassment for some Android updates on previous Nexus devices).
- antihero 14y ago
  Or if you've rooted, there are ROMs already available... http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1737849 http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1737849
nilliams 14y ago
>> Faster, Smoother, More Responsive Does all this finally mean it has actually caught up with iOS in terms of touch-lag? And is this finally admittance that there was a problem all along? I know some may jump to the defence of Android here, I've seen this argued ad nauseam before, and yes I've tried some Android phones that didn't have noticable lag, but the 'top of the range' Samsung Galaxy II tablet is indisputably laggy when compared to an iPad 2. If this is finally the fix we've (or maybe just I've) been waiting for then congrats to Android, I'm really glad to see it.
- veeti 14y ago
  Honeycomb and ICS aren't as smooth as iOS, but most of the lag that you're experiencing on your tablet is coming from Samsung's terrible software and not Android itself. The Galaxy Tabs are an embarrassment.
  - nilliams 14y ago
    Oh wow thanks, I hadn't realised that was the case, never actually heard anyone state that so bluntly. Is it safe to say the ASUS tabs are smoother?
    - veeti 14y ago
      Definitely. I've played around with a friend's Transformer Prime for a bit and it was mostly pretty fluid. ASUS also makes far less modifications to the OS, too. Their devices are very close to stock Android with just some small additions, some new apps and wallpapers and whatever.
      - nilliams 14y ago
        Great, thanks that's good to know, my company is considering developing on Android and the Samsung tabs are very off-putting :)
    - sigkill 14y ago
      Yep. I've got the Old Transformer 101, and the Galaxy S2. Both are totally smooth which is why I was confused as to what you were referring to.
hu_me 14y ago
Did google just replace Cue (Greplin) with Google Now feature?
javajosh 14y ago
Let me offer a solution: It's time for Google to offer a Google+ Certification for Android. These certified devices would have two important characteristics: 1. They are guaranteed to run the latest version of Android for 5 years. 2. They are guaranteed to have a clean version of Android, without any carrier or device maker modifications. No doubt the marketing people can come up with other things to add to the list, but that's the gist of it. If such a certification existed, personally I would only shop among those options. Such a certification would require that Google have some sort of compatibility criteria, and that their future development efforts run well within those criteria. So it constrains Google just as much as the OEMs. The certification should be cheap, but not free. And I picked the name for Sergey's buy-in. The nice thing about this (voluntary) certification program is that OEMs don't have to participate. And in fact could have certified and uncertified devices. The program captures the essential qualities that made the iPhone successful, in my opinion. The App Store is a big part of their success, and developing for the iPhone is far more pleasant because of the stability of the platform. EDIT: Okay, if it was 3 years I'd still be happy.
- timdorr 14y ago
  This is great. The only thing I have a gripe with is: > They are guaranteed to run the latest version of Android for 5 years. 5 years is too long. The HTC Dream, the first Android phone, was released less than 4 years ago. It only has a 528Mhz processor and 192MB of RAM. I don't want to know what the ICS or JB experience would be on that device... Keep in mind the iPhone only turned 5 this year (the App Store turns 4 in a couple weeks). And the last version that supported it (with limited features) was released 3 years afterwards. I think 3 years is more reasonable. Most people are eligible for a discounted phone upgrade every 2 years. I think that would fit in for most folks.
  - javajosh 14y ago
    Yes, you're probably right. 3 years is more reasonable. For some reason I thought Apple was supporting 5 year-old devices, but they are not. And they are the ones setting the standard, here.
rprasad 14y ago
My phone, purchased brand-new last summer (the model itself is almost, but not quite a year old), still runs Android 2.3. It will run Android 2.3 forever, even though Google owns the company that made it. Jelly Bean, released last year, is still on less than 10% of all Android phones, and may never even exceed 15%. If Google can't get its act together on the update situation, a lot of people, myself included, will not be buying Android phones the next time our contracts are up.
- yuhong 14y ago
  They just finished that acquisition.
- zmmmmm 14y ago
  What I find disingenuous about this line of argument is that you (and everybody who argues it) know full well that you will not be keeping your current phone "forever", and in fact, it's almost 100% certain you will replace it within 2 years if not 12 months simply because of the 2 year upgrade cycle that exists in many carriers or if not, because of the lure of next generation hardware will convince you to buy a new phone. So what you are actually asking for is for tremendous engineering resources to be spent to port the bleeding edge OS to your soon to be obsolete phone so that you can use it for a few months and then toss it in the bin. Now I'm not necessarily arguing that there isn't an issue with upgrade on Android phones etc. But I find this particular tone of "I will be stuck forever with an outdated OS thanks to Google" that appears regularly in these comments to be somewhat disingenuous. PS: Jelly Bean was not released last year, it was announced literally just hours ago.
  - rprasad 14y ago
    Whoops you are right. I meant Ice Cream Sandwich, not Jelly Bean. But my point stands. Most people buy new phones on a 2 year cycle when their contract expires. I buy phones on a 2-year cycle. I am not expecting tremendous engineering resources to be spent on porting on bleeding edge OS to an obsolete phone. I am expecting some resources to be spent on porting my phone to an OS that was announced and available to OEMs when my phone was released. I am expecting an OS to be released on a phone which has the hardware to support it. I am stuck with an outdated OS thanks to Google, becaues they won't do a damn thing to pressure carriers or manufacturers to remedy the update situation. And you know what? The money I use to buy my phone is my money. When the time comes to vote with my wallet, if Google has not fixed the update situation it created, I will vote for something other than Android.
nickpresta 14y ago
Audio chaining MediaPlayer supports chaining audio streams together to play audio files without pauses. This is useful for apps that require seamless transitions between audio files such as music players to play albums with continuous tracks or games. Best feature by far!

170 points by sindhiparsani 14y ago

Interesting RE: App Encryption. I had mentioned that years ago in IRC before Android was even a blip on Apple's radar and I was told that would not happen because the Market didn't want to ever modify the uploaded APK. It will be interesting to see if this curtails pirating, or more likely, just adds an extra step in the piracy process.

saurik 14y ago

Really? I thought the keynote explicitly said the SDK would be available today, but that neither the source code nor the binary updates would be pushed to the public (as opposed to hardware manufacturers, who now have ahead-of-time PDK access) until mid-July. (edit: In addition, the Nexus 7, running Jelly Bean, while available to purchase today, will itself not be shipping until mid-July. I really don't think it is available yet.)

wmf 14y ago
The 24-minute news cycle doesn't make allowances for little things like facts.
yelkeew 14y ago
I cloned the manifest project and checked the tags; there aren't any 4.1+ tags present yet. I'd imagine there would be a JBQ post (like this, https://groups.google.com/group/android-building/msg/c0e01b4619a1455a https://groups.google.com/group/android-building/msg/c0e01b4...) announcing Android 4.1 availability if the source were already available.

mshafrir 14y ago

This is just the Android 4.1 API Docs for now.

javajosh 14y ago

Until the fragmentation problem is fixed, every new Android release only fills me with dread. Normally when new versions of frameworks or software that I use come out, I like it. Except Android, because every new version of Android has lots of nice features that I won't be able to use and it is guaranteed to further fragment of the marketplace. Android is the (old) Internet Explorer of mobile. I've never seen one application skew across versions so hard, or single-handedly fragment the space as much. (BTW kudos to MS for strongly encouraging their IE users upgrade). What makes this perplexing is that Google has solved this problem with most of their other installed software offerings, Chrome particularly. There's basically only one version of Chrome (v 19 as I write this). Heck, even MS realized their mistake and is making efforts to roll up old IE users into the latest version. And of course Apple has done a fantastic job keeping all of it's users at the same iOS version. I am well-aware of the OEM madness that drives Android fragmentation, and that you might think it's not "Google's fault" because of this. But I disagree. Google has vast resources and can basically do whatever it wants. If it wanted to require OEMs to build Android-upgradable phones, it could force them to do so. In fact, if they started doing this today you would hear loud cheers from around the world (and bitter complaining from the OEMs, but so what? There's a lot of money to be made and they'll get in line).

drivebyacct2 14y ago
> There's a lot of money to be made and they'll get in line The fact that that's not true is precisely why timely upgrades aren't done. Verizon and Motorola sold you that Droid RAZR. They get nothing from spending engineer time to update it. Also, what is this implication that Google is just being lazy or has some incentive to not have everyone running the latest OS. You really think Google so powerful that they can snap their fingers and make OEMs do what they want? Isn't the very existence (and initial struggle) of the Nexus line evidence against that?
- javajosh 14y ago
  Apple gets "nothing" from engineering their upgrades to be backwards compatible. That is, if "nothing" means being incredibly successful. People are actually rather smart about things like this, and they know that the iPhone "just works" and will continue to work, and that is a huge competitive advantage. And long-term competitive advantage is one of the classic components of "maximizing shareholder value". So yes, publicly traded OEMs (which is all of them) are legally required to maximize shareholder value, and they are not doing that. P.S. I think you are a troll, based on this and prior discussions, and this is the last time I'm responding to you. I'd appreciate it if you'd not respond to my posts either. Thank you.

rwmj 14y ago

Still no Japanese input though?

shangaslammi 14y ago
It's still in beta, so not bundled with the OS yet. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.inputmethod.japanese&hl=en https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.and...

deleted 14y ago

[deleted]

astrodust 14y ago
2.3 and forks of it look like the de-facto version of Android at this point. Google has to fix this problem or these new releases won't be relevant.

anigbrowl 14y ago

Woah, they actually fixed the audio, at long last. Maybe my Android tablet will make music after all.

hahainternet 14y ago
In the post keynote workshop, they noted that this is not entirely fixed. They have made improvements but they also acknowledge they have some distance to go to have it perfect. I don't have the technical details of the updates, and I doubt anyone will for a short while.

picklefish 14y ago

For anyone wondering when it's coming to ICS phones. "Google: Android 4.1 Jelly Bean coming to Samsung Galaxy Nexus, Nexus S and Motorola Xoom mid-July" from: http://www.engadget.com/2012/06/27/google-android-4-1-jelly-bean-coming-to-samsung-galaxy-nexus-m/ http://www.engadget.com/2012/06/27/google-android-4-1-jelly-...

chimeracoder 14y ago
Does that include the Verizon version of the Galaxy Nexus, since Google agreed to let Verizon handle the updates for that model? If so, I'm glad to hear that Google is addressing the problem of not having their own devices be up-to-date (which was an embarrassment for some Android updates on previous Nexus devices).
antihero 14y ago
Or if you've rooted, there are ROMs already available... http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1737849 http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1737849

nilliams 14y ago

>> Faster, Smoother, More Responsive Does all this finally mean it has actually caught up with iOS in terms of touch-lag? And is this finally admittance that there was a problem all along? I know some may jump to the defence of Android here, I've seen this argued ad nauseam before, and yes I've tried some Android phones that didn't have noticable lag, but the 'top of the range' Samsung Galaxy II tablet is indisputably laggy when compared to an iPad 2. If this is finally the fix we've (or maybe just I've) been waiting for then congrats to Android, I'm really glad to see it.

veeti 14y ago
Honeycomb and ICS aren't as smooth as iOS, but most of the lag that you're experiencing on your tablet is coming from Samsung's terrible software and not Android itself. The Galaxy Tabs are an embarrassment.
- nilliams 14y ago
  Oh wow thanks, I hadn't realised that was the case, never actually heard anyone state that so bluntly. Is it safe to say the ASUS tabs are smoother?
  - veeti 14y ago
    Definitely. I've played around with a friend's Transformer Prime for a bit and it was mostly pretty fluid. ASUS also makes far less modifications to the OS, too. Their devices are very close to stock Android with just some small additions, some new apps and wallpapers and whatever.
    - nilliams 14y ago
      Great, thanks that's good to know, my company is considering developing on Android and the Samsung tabs are very off-putting :)
  - sigkill 14y ago
    Yep. I've got the Old Transformer 101, and the Galaxy S2. Both are totally smooth which is why I was confused as to what you were referring to.

hu_me 14y ago

Did google just replace Cue (Greplin) with Google Now feature?

javajosh 14y ago

Let me offer a solution: It's time for Google to offer a Google+ Certification for Android. These certified devices would have two important characteristics: 1. They are guaranteed to run the latest version of Android for 5 years. 2. They are guaranteed to have a clean version of Android, without any carrier or device maker modifications. No doubt the marketing people can come up with other things to add to the list, but that's the gist of it. If such a certification existed, personally I would only shop among those options. Such a certification would require that Google have some sort of compatibility criteria, and that their future development efforts run well within those criteria. So it constrains Google just as much as the OEMs. The certification should be cheap, but not free. And I picked the name for Sergey's buy-in. The nice thing about this (voluntary) certification program is that OEMs don't have to participate. And in fact could have certified and uncertified devices. The program captures the essential qualities that made the iPhone successful, in my opinion. The App Store is a big part of their success, and developing for the iPhone is far more pleasant because of the stability of the platform. EDIT: Okay, if it was 3 years I'd still be happy.

timdorr 14y ago
This is great. The only thing I have a gripe with is: > They are guaranteed to run the latest version of Android for 5 years. 5 years is too long. The HTC Dream, the first Android phone, was released less than 4 years ago. It only has a 528Mhz processor and 192MB of RAM. I don't want to know what the ICS or JB experience would be on that device... Keep in mind the iPhone only turned 5 this year (the App Store turns 4 in a couple weeks). And the last version that supported it (with limited features) was released 3 years afterwards. I think 3 years is more reasonable. Most people are eligible for a discounted phone upgrade every 2 years. I think that would fit in for most folks.
- javajosh 14y ago
  Yes, you're probably right. 3 years is more reasonable. For some reason I thought Apple was supporting 5 year-old devices, but they are not. And they are the ones setting the standard, here.

rprasad 14y ago

My phone, purchased brand-new last summer (the model itself is almost, but not quite a year old), still runs Android 2.3. It will run Android 2.3 forever, even though Google owns the company that made it. Jelly Bean, released last year, is still on less than 10% of all Android phones, and may never even exceed 15%. If Google can't get its act together on the update situation, a lot of people, myself included, will not be buying Android phones the next time our contracts are up.

yuhong 14y ago
They just finished that acquisition.
zmmmmm 14y ago
What I find disingenuous about this line of argument is that you (and everybody who argues it) know full well that you will not be keeping your current phone "forever", and in fact, it's almost 100% certain you will replace it within 2 years if not 12 months simply because of the 2 year upgrade cycle that exists in many carriers or if not, because of the lure of next generation hardware will convince you to buy a new phone. So what you are actually asking for is for tremendous engineering resources to be spent to port the bleeding edge OS to your soon to be obsolete phone so that you can use it for a few months and then toss it in the bin. Now I'm not necessarily arguing that there isn't an issue with upgrade on Android phones etc. But I find this particular tone of "I will be stuck forever with an outdated OS thanks to Google" that appears regularly in these comments to be somewhat disingenuous. PS: Jelly Bean was not released last year, it was announced literally just hours ago.
- rprasad 14y ago
  Whoops you are right. I meant Ice Cream Sandwich, not Jelly Bean. But my point stands. Most people buy new phones on a 2 year cycle when their contract expires. I buy phones on a 2-year cycle. I am not expecting tremendous engineering resources to be spent on porting on bleeding edge OS to an obsolete phone. I am expecting some resources to be spent on porting my phone to an OS that was announced and available to OEMs when my phone was released. I am expecting an OS to be released on a phone which has the hardware to support it. I am stuck with an outdated OS thanks to Google, becaues they won't do a damn thing to pressure carriers or manufacturers to remedy the update situation. And you know what? The money I use to buy my phone is my money. When the time comes to vote with my wallet, if Google has not fixed the update situation it created, I will vote for something other than Android.

nickpresta 14y ago

Audio chaining MediaPlayer supports chaining audio streams together to play audio files without pauses. This is useful for apps that require seamless transitions between audio files such as music players to play albums with continuous tracks or games. Best feature by far!