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What's new in Android 4.3

developer.android.com

21–30 of 125 posts

Re: What's new in Android 4.3

#21

The nice thing about restricted profiles is that it should allow us to create a really simple 'Kid mode'.

Yes, especially limiting in-app-purchases seems like a very useful feature for letting kids use your tablet without worrying too much.

Re: What's new in Android 4.3

#22

There seems to be a significant push for more video/entertainment/proprietary content related stuff. Anyone familiar with this? "Modular DRM framework To meet the needs of the next generation of media services, Android 4.3 introduces a modular DRM framework that enables media application developers to more easily integrate DRM into their own streaming protocols, such as MPEG DASH (Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP…

If Amazon supports it, I don't see why not.

Re: What's new in Android 4.3

#23
post #14
post #3

> The /system partition is now mounted nosuid for zygote-spawned processes, preventing Android applications from executing setuid programs. This reduces root attack surface and likelihood of potential security vulnerabilities. Well, that sounds great. It's almost like they're trying even harder to prevent people from having control over their device.

Bad news for all the apps on Google Play that require rooting to use (there are some with millions of downloads), but good news for custom ROMs, I guess. A lot of people just root their phone and start using the apps they rooted for like tethering, controlling GPS and other secure settings on triggered actions, etc.. Now rooting will still be trivial for complete ROMs, but tougher to root existing ones.

Do you know if Nexus 4 will be harder to root (without custom ROM) after this update? Thanks.

Re: What's new in Android 4.3

#26
post #24

Is Google lacking imagination? This is the third version with the same name. I'm missing the times when every release was a new sweet thing.

I suspect it's part of their strategy for deflecting from the "fragmentation" issue - "what version of Android does your phone run? Jelly Bean? Snap!"

I also reckon that they will start releasing bits of the OS via the Play Store, bypassing the manufacturers and carriers (as they are already doing with the standard keyboard).

Re: What's new in Android 4.3

#27
post #26
post #24

Is Google lacking imagination? This is the third version with the same name. I'm missing the times when every release was a new sweet thing.

I suspect it's part of their strategy for deflecting from the "fragmentation" issue - "what version of Android does your phone run? Jelly Bean? Snap!" I also reckon that they will start releasing bits of the OS via the Play Store, bypassing the manufacturers and carriers (as they are already doing with the standard keyboard).

They do that with Google Play Serivces (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.and...) already. The things 4.3 has w.r.t. bluetooth, opengl es support, etc. are probably really difficult to ship independently.

Re: What's new in Android 4.3

#28
post #24

Is Google lacking imagination? This is the third version with the same name. I'm missing the times when every release was a new sweet thing.

None of the most recent releases have really seemed significant enough to warrant a new release name.

Re: What's new in Android 4.3

#29

There seems to be a significant push for more video/entertainment/proprietary content related stuff. Anyone familiar with this? "Modular DRM framework To meet the needs of the next generation of media services, Android 4.3 introduces a modular DRM framework that enables media application developers to more easily integrate DRM into their own streaming protocols, such as MPEG DASH (Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP…

Thing is, Amazon Instant is already on Google TV. So I don't think there is any technical reason for them to not implement it.
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