Hasta La Gadget!

There are two major paths you might go down when you’re attempting to see what’s different in the change-over from Android 4.2 or 4.2.x over to 4.3 Jelly Bean: one is behind the scenes, the other – right up front. What we’re going to be doing is taking a mostly up-front approach, sourced straight from Google’s guides, tuned here for the common user while we keep the developer back end in mind: those bits and pieces are put in place for your machine to work well – here’s what you’ll be well off knowing.

Graphics

Google has added a collection enhancements in the performance features already built-in to Jelly Bean, this including vsync timing, triple buffering, reduced touch latency, CPU input boost, and hardware-accelerated 2D rendering. You’ll find that this hardware-accelerated 2D rendering is now optimized for the stream of drawing commands.

While this doesn’t end up changing a lot for those of you that just want to open their phone and kick up some dust with a high-powered graphics-intensive game, your device’s GPU will thank you for the more efficiently rearrangement and merging of draw operations. This renderer can also now use multithreading across multiple CPU cores to perform “certain” tasks.

You know what that means?

If you’re all about making the most of your multi-core processor (like most hero phones these days employ), you can now make them dance for your 2D rendering! Of course, again, that may not mean a lot for the lay person, but check down in the GPU profiling area in the Developer Bits section later in this run-down – see how you can see it with pretty live graphs and rings!

Google’s Android 4.3 adds on improved rendering across the board, but centers again on the rendering of shapes and text. Efficiency in these areas allow circles and rounded rectangles to be rendered with higher quality, while text optimizations come into play when multiple fonts are used near one another, when text is scaled at high speed (think about zooming in) and when you’ve got oddities like drop shadows and CJK (complex glyph sets) lurking around.

This all ties in with OpenGL ES 3.0 and Google’s adoption of said system for Android 4.3 Jelly Bean. We’ll be attacking this bit of system integration, that is Khronos OpenGL ES 3.0, in a separate article – for now you’ll just want to know that this expands developer abilities to bring high-quality graphics and rendering to apps with new tools included in the official Android Native Developer Kit (NDK).

You’ll also find that custom rotation animation types have been added with Android 4.3, meaning you’ll be seeing apps choosing to use “jump-cut” and “cross-fade” when you turn your device on its side rather than just “standard” as you’re seeing now. Along with this, believe it or not, the ability to lock the screen to its current orientation has only just been introduced with Android 4.3 – helpful for camera apps, especially.

UI Automation

Android 4.3 Jelly Bean builds on an accessibility framework allowing simulations to be run on devices – this means your device will believe it’s being tapped, touched, etcetera, while you’re running these commands from a separate machine. Google notes that the user can: “perform basic operations, set rotation of the screen, generate input events, take screenshots,” and a whole lot more.

We’ll be waiting for this set of abilities to be expanded beyond the developer realm and into the remote control Android smartphone universe. This sort of usability has already begun with display mirroring – now it’s time to get weird with it.

Developer Bits

Developers will now be able to make user of On-screen GPU profiling. This data comes up in real time and shows what your device’s graphics processing unit(s) are doing and can be accessed in your Developer Options under settings. If you do not see these settings right out of the box, it’s just because you’ve not un-hidden them yet (this is default in all Android iterations above 4.2).

To un-hide Developer Options, go to Settings – About phone – Build number, and tap the Build number of your device 7 times quickly. From there you’ll be in business. Android 4.3 offers a collection of developer abilities behind the scenes, also including a set of enhancements to Systrace loggin.

With the Systrace tool, developers are able to visualize app-specific events inside the software they create, analyze the data that’s then output, and use Systrace tags with custom app selections to understand the behaviors and performance of apps in ways that are both easy to understand and in-depth enough to expand well beyond analysis tools of the past.

Security Systems

One of the most important additions to Android in this update for the business owner or employee that needs a bit more security than the average user is the addition of Wi-Fi credential configurations for individual apps to connect with WPA2 enterprise access points. Google adds API compatibility with Extensible Authentication Protocol (EAP) and Encapsulated EAP (Phase 2) credentials, just like they’ve always wanted.

Android 4.3 adds KeyChain enhancements which allow apps to confirm that commands entered into them – passwords, for example – will not ever be exported off the device itself. This is what Google calls a “hardware root of trust” for the device, and they suggest that it cannot be broken, “even in the event of a root or kernel compromise.” That’s hardcore.

This security is expanded with an Android Keystore Provider which can be used by one app that will then store a password that cannot be seen or used by any other app. This key is added to the keystore without any user interaction and locks the the data down the same way the KeyChain API locks down keys to hardware.

You’ll also want to have a peek at our exploration of Restricted Profiles and Google’s expanded vision for multiple users on one device. Built-in kid-proofing!

Where and When

Google will be pushing Android 4.3 over the air to Nexus devices starting today – for models like the Nexus 4, Nexus 7, and Nexus 10, and SOON for the HTC One Google Play edition and Samsung Galaxy S 4 Google Play edition. As for the rest of the Android universe – we’ll just have to wait and see! There’s always the hacker forums, and stick around our Android portal for the news when it pops up!

SlashGear 101: Android 4.3 Jelly Bean, what’s new? is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2013, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Google unveiled the latest in its flagship tablet lineup, the new Nexus 7, at a low-key media event Wednesday morning.

With the reintroduction of the Nexus 7, complete with the same name as it had in its first iteration, Google revealed that Android 4.3 would also be called Jelly Bean. This system’s detailing began with a boost to Multi-User abilities with Restricted Profiles – this is for parents, for the most part, allowing and dis-allowing bits and pieces of the operating system depending on the user. From there, Google launched directly into Bluetooth Smart – also known as Bluetooth Low Energy, this coming alongside Bluetooth 4.0.

Google’s Android 4.3 will be coming in with OpenGL ES 3.0 for developers – this will open a lot of doors for next-generation games in an environment that brings a lot of support for higher-definition graphics and 3D gaming. Demoing 3D abilities with a showing by the folks at Silicon Studio, then moving on to a futuristic motorcycle game powered by the Unity gaming engine, Google made the case for Android being a prime spot for the next generation in groundbreaking mobile gaming graphics.

Android 4.3 Jelly Bean will be coming with a new set of DRM which will benefit hardware-based encryption for video. Google flashed one of the biggest names in video streaming – Netflix – on stage along with a note on how they’ll be taking advantage. This new DRM will allow Netflix to play 1080p video with any device working with Android 4.3 – and of course, the Nexus 7 (the new Nexus 7) will be able to take full advantage of it.

This update to Android will be appearing today – starting with Google’s Nexus devices like the Nexus 7, Nexus 10, and Nexus 4, then rolling out to Google Play edition smartphones “very soon”. Stay tuned as we have a more in-depth look at this system update today, right here on SlashGear’s Android Hub!

Android 4.3 Jelly Bean official as Google takes a half-step is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2013, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Oh, Android 4.3, why must you tease us so? The new version of Jelly Bean‘s been making cameos all over the place for a couple months now, so it was only a matter of time until we’d see a build available for download. A working TWRP backup of Android 4.3 just popped up on XDA Developers thanks to Google+ user Jeff Williams, who recently purchased a Nexus 4 running the new version of Jelly Bean. Some industrious folks were then able to extract a system dump from Jeff’s phone (minus radio and bootloader, according to Android Police) and confirm that the build (JWR66N) is legitimate. Our friend Paul O’Brien over at MoDaCo is currently testing the TWRP backup. We’ll keep you updated as we find out more, but one thing’s abundantly clear: it won’t be long before Android 4.3 becomes official.

Filed under: Cellphones, Tablets, Software, Mobile, Google, LG

Comments

Via: MoDaCo, Android Police

Source: XDA developers, Jeff Williams (Google+)

Those of you waiting for a reboot of the Nexus 7, aka the most successful Nexus tablet yet delivered by Google, will be glad to see more than one source reporting an imminent release this afternoon. This new device has been tipped to be coming to both physical stores and to Google’s own online outlet Google Play before the month of July is over. Based based solely on the stated date (July 24th) of the Google event invite delivered earlier today, we wouldn’t be surprised if the documents being shared this afternoon are entirely accurate. UPDATE: There appears to be a bit of a hardware leak, as well.

There are two distinct – or what appear to be distinct – leaks appearing today, both of which show in-store availability of the Nexus 7 2. Of course that’s just a name that allows the prospective device to be searched for easily whilst users are seeking information on it here before the launch – the real name remains unknown. According to Android Central, the device will go by the name “Nexus 2″ or “Nexus 2 7″.

In this case based on the massive amount of confusion that would ensue if Google did indeed release a machine called “Nexus 2″ where its predecessor was called “Nexus 7″, we’ll put our money on the device retaining its current branding.

Meanwhile Engadget has a document which suggests OfficeMax will be getting the tablet in kind. This document goes on to note that the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 will continue to be sold, as will the Google Nexus 10, but inside multi-device (or accessory) bundles. This could very well mean that the company will be preparing for a reboot of the Nexus 10 as well – one follows the other, right?

This OfficeMax one-sheet suggests that the company will be getting the Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 7.0 soon as well. This device is part of a three tablet release which also includes the (recently reviewed by SlashGear) Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 8.0 and Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 10.1 – have a peek!

Retail pricing on the reboot of the Nexus 7 is set at $269.99 or $269.00 USD for the 32GB model according to both sources. Meanwhile there’s a 16GB model in the mix for $229.00, while sizes outside these two appear to be missing at the moment. We’ll just go ahead an assume a 64GB iteration would launch later in the year, similar to the schedule that appeared with the launch of the original Nexus 7.

The device is rumored to be coming with an upgraded processor as well as a display with a bit denser set of pixels. It’s suggested that this ASUS-made machine (and ASUS appears to be confirmed in the OfficeMax tip here) will ring true to the device ASUS Pad K009. Keep your ear to the ground and read up in our exploration of this next-generation machine in Nexus 7 2 and the details you want for a reboot.

Nexus 7 2 release imminent: tips file in is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2013, SlashGear. All right reserved.