What's New in Android 4.2? A Lot Actually
While all of the new devices got most of the attention yesterday when Google skipped their New York City press event in favor of a simple press release, there was more than just those tablets and phones. The Nexus 10 tablet and LG Nexus 4, to name just two, got most of the attention, but there was also a new version of Android unveiled as well. Given that version 4.2 still uses the "Jelly Bean" moniker, it would give the impression that there really isn't anything different about it, but, in fact, it is actually a brand new operating system, despite that it isn't the "Key Lime Pie" many people expected.
Photo Sphere: This is very much like the popular Photo Synth app from Microsoft. It provides a 360 degree camera app that allows the user to snap photos in all directions and then bring them together into immersive photo spheres. Viewing these processed images will give you the feeling you are actually there. You can also share the images on Google+ or Google Maps, the latter of which makes the picture visible to the general public.  Ghacks has already published an in-depth look at this feature.
Multiple User Support: This is perhaps the coolest and most-wanted feature in Android 4.2. Users can finally have multiple accounts on one device, which will be handy for a "family" tablet. Each person can log into their Google account and access their own homescreen, background, widgets, apps and games.  This feature is currently for tablets only.
Gesture Typing: It seems that Google has taken the popular Swype keyboard to heart and made it a part of the new mobile OS.  You can simply glide your finger around the keyboard to type. You won’t have to worry about spaces because they they will be added automatically to your message. The keyboard can also anticipate and predict your next word, so you can finish entire sentences by simply selecting suggested words.
Miracast: An app that enables wireless display with any HDMI-enabled TV. You can share movies, YouTube videos, or anything else that’s on your screen on an HDTV.
Google Now Update: This one is actually for devices running version 4.1 as well.  The new update to Google Search adds more functionality to the popular Now feature that was introduced earlier this year with Jelly Bean.
- Flights – get real-time flight status and traffic information to the airport
- Hotels – easily navigate to your hotel when you arrive in a new city
- Restaurant reservations – leave for the restaurant based on live traffic
- Packages – see when your online orders ship
Let's hope the roll out of Android 4.2 will begin quickly for existing devices, but unfortunately that is frequently up to the carriers in the vast majority of the cases.
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Thanks for the tip Martin.
It is for these kinds of posts that I follow GHacks.
What’s up with the generic comment, are you a bot?
2G?
Where on the planet is that still in use? I was forced to give up using my RAZRV3 years ago because 2G was phased out by AT&T.
Everywhere 3G has been turned off and you don’t have LTE coverage, and believe me there are many developed countries where this is the case and if it weren’t for 2G you wouldn’t even be able to make a phone call.
Maybe I missed it, but I don’t believe tha term “2G” is in the article. Perhaps you are referring to “AGM G2”??
@Martin
Your website has gone insane.
When I the post button I then saw my comment posted on a different article page. When I opened this article again, it is here.
@Tachy @Martin Brinkmann
” Your website has gone insane. ”
Same here. Has happened several times.
@Tachy,
@Martin P.,
For over two weeks now,
I’ve been seeing “Comments” posted by subscribers appearing in different, unrelated articles.
https://www.ghacks.net/windows-11-update-stuck-fixed-for-good/#comment-4572991
https://www.ghacks.net/windows-11-update-stuck-fixed-for-good/#comment-4572951
For the time being,
it would be better to specify the “article name and URL” at the beginning of the post.
@tachy a lot of non-phone devices with a sim in them rely on 2G, at least here in europe.
Usually things reporting usage or errors/alarms on something remote that does not get day to day inspection in person. They are out there in vast numbers doing important work. Reliable, good range. The low datarate is no problem at all in those cases.
3G is gone or on its last legs everywhere, but this stuff still has too much use to cancel.
Anyhow, interesting that they would put that in. I can see the point if you suspect a hostile 2G environment (amateur eavesdroppers with laptop, ranging up to professional grade MITM fake towers while “strangely” not getting the stronger crypto voip 4G because it is being jammed, and back down to something as old ‘stingray’ devices fallen into the wrong hands).
But does this also mean that they have handled and rolled out a fix for that nasty 4G ‘pwn by broadcast’ problem you reported earlier this year? I had 4G disabled due to that, on the off chance that some of the local criminals would buy some cheap chinese gear, download a working exploit and probe every phone in range all over town in the hope of getting into phones of the police.
>”While most may never be attacked in stingrays, it is still recommended to disable 2G cellular connections, especially since it does not have any downsides.”
The downside would be losing connectivity. I spend a lot of time way out in the countryside where there’s often no service or almost none. My network allows 2G, and I need it sometimes. I have an option on the phone to disable 2G, I may do that when I’m in the city and I have good 5G connectivity, but not out in the country.
I would imagine that the stingray exploits, like most of the bad things in this world, are probably things you will run into in the crowded big cities.
I stopped using it in a mobile (Wi-Fi line) environment, so I’m almost ignorant of the actual situation,
But the recent reality in Japan makes me realize that “the infrastructure of the web is nothing more than a papier-mâché fiction”.
https://www.ghacks.net/2023/08/17/google-chrome-to-enable-https-first-by-default-for-all-users/#comment-4572402
It is already beyond the scope of what an individual can do.
What we should be aware of is the reality that “governments and those in power want to control the world through the Web”, and efforts to counter (resist and prevent) such ambitions are necessary.
Why do you want people to disable the privacy features? Hmmmmm?
Now You: do you plan to keep the Ads privacy features enabled?
I’d like to tell you, but apparently if you make a post critical of Google, you get censored. * [Editor: removed, just try to bring your opinion across without attacking anyone]
@Martin
You website is still psychotic. Comments attach to random stories.
@Martin please do fix the comments, it’s completely insane commenting here! :[
@Martin
The comments are seriously messed up on gHacks now. These comments are mixed with the article at the below URL.
https://www.ghacks.net/2023/08/18/android-how-to-disable-2g-cellular-connections-to-improve-security/
And comments on other articles are from as far back as 2010.
What does this article has anything to do with all the comments on this article? LOL I think this Websuite is ran by ChatGPT. every article is messed up. Some older comments from 2015 shown up in recant articles, LOL
The picture captioned “Clearing the Android Auto’s cache might resolve the issue” is from Apple Carplay ;)
How about other things that matter:
Drop survival?
Screen toughness?
Degree of water and dust protection?