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Android 4.1 Jelly Bean is now available

developer.android.com

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Re: Android 4.1 Jelly Bean is now available

#131

Post by antihero »

creamyhorror wrote: post #122
veeti wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I upgraded to a Samsung Galaxy Note from an iPhone 3GS not long ago, and my father upgraded to an Asus Padfone (ICS) at the same time. I was utterly dismayed at how wonderfully responsive the Padfone was compared to my touch-laggy Note. The Note became significantly smoother after upgrading it to ICS, but it was still slightly laggier than the Padfone, which is really smooth to use. Also the Padfone has a really nice…

Galaxy Nexus is pretty much awesome, though. I've heard that the unofficial port to the GSII was actually smoother than the official one, too!

Re: Android 4.1 Jelly Bean is now available

#132

Post by antihero »

picklefish wrote: post #26

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-...

Or if you've rooted, there are ROMs already available... http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1737849

Re: Android 4.1 Jelly Bean is now available

#133

Post by antihero »

taligent wrote: post #46
cookiecaper wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

FWIW you can get ICS on that phone, just not officially. If you aren't going to buy a Nexus, you have to accept the fate of sparse official/OTA updates if you're lucky enough to get any at all. This is the fault of carriers and the ignorant masses that prop them up. An alternative exists if you're interested; buy Nexus line.

I've never understood this ridiculous "it's the carriers" argument. Apple doesn't have a problem with releasing timely updates. So how come the Android OEMs can't ?

Because they have literally hundreds of handsets to support, as opposed to about 4

Re: Android 4.1 Jelly Bean is now available

#134

Post by mgkimsal »

taligent wrote: post #46
cookiecaper wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

FWIW you can get ICS on that phone, just not officially. If you aren't going to buy a Nexus, you have to accept the fate of sparse official/OTA updates if you're lucky enough to get any at all. This is the fault of carriers and the ignorant masses that prop them up. An alternative exists if you're interested; buy Nexus line.

I've never understood this ridiculous "it's the carriers" argument. Apple doesn't have a problem with releasing timely updates. So how come the Android OEMs can't ?

I'm assuming some of it has to do with licensing agreements. My guess is carriers want to keep control of the code on the device because many preload their images with extra stuff ('crap' or 'value added service', ymmv).

Sun/Oracle can put out timely JRE/JDK updates for Windows/Linux - why doesn't Apple? Similar situation, and one which I thought was incredibly stupid for Sun to get itself in to years ago. If Java is really that core to your business (changing stock symbol to JAVA even!), don't let a third party control the availability and release schedule of that software for some of your users. Sun did it with Apple/Java, and Google's going it with multiple manufacturers and Android.

Re: Android 4.1 Jelly Bean is now available

#135

Post by glogla »

lmm wrote: post #129
glogla wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Desktop didn't really peak out at 2006. The clock speeds are not really raising anymore, true, but both architectural and fab improvements make a difference. If you take a look at benchmarks on anandtech for example, you'll find that current CPUs are about five or six times faster in well parallelizable tasks like video encoding or about three times faster in tasks that don't parallelize well. While this might not se…

Won't play FullHD video? Maybe if you're talking about crazy everything-x264-can-do encodings, but a decent 2006 computer will have a geforce 7xxx or similar and play "normal" FullHD video like you buy from itunes just fine.

But without the GPU (and I'm not sure how geforce 7xxx driver support looks now) even 720p videos might get problematic, some becoming pretty much a slideshow, some being just slightly uncomfortable when going around 20 fps. I know they do on my 2007 macbook.

Re: Android 4.1 Jelly Bean is now available

#136

Post by hahainternet »

anigbrowl wrote: post #16

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

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.

Re: Android 4.1 Jelly Bean is now available

#137

Post by veeti »

antihero wrote: post #130
creamyhorror wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I upgraded to a Samsung Galaxy Note from an iPhone 3GS not long ago, and my father upgraded to an Asus Padfone (ICS) at the same time. I was utterly dismayed at how wonderfully responsive the Padfone was compared to my touch-laggy Note. The Note became significantly smoother after upgrading it to ICS, but it was still slightly laggier than the Padfone, which is really smooth to use. Also the Padfone has a really nice…

Galaxy Nexus is pretty much awesome, though. I've heard that the unofficial port to the GSII was actually smoother than the official one, too!

That's because the software is by Google. Samsung has great hardware but they need to fire their software teams.

Re: Android 4.1 Jelly Bean is now available

#138

Post by rprasad »

lostsock wrote: post #121
rprasad wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 OEM…

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. Why didn't you just buy a phone which already had the latest OS on it at the time if having the latest OS is important to you? Are there no custom ROMS for the phone you have?

1) Available to OEMs does not mean that any OEMs had yet released phones with it on my carrier. I have unlimited data, which effectively shackles me to the carrier unless I want to give that up for a pitiful 2-4 GB/month.

2) I connect to a corporate server. I cannot use a custom ROM for security reasons.

Re: Android 4.1 Jelly Bean is now available

#139

Post by javajosh »

natrius wrote: post #82
javajosh wrote: post #67

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,…

Google announced their solution to this problem at the last Google I/O: the Android Update Alliance. It was basically a commitment by manufacturers to update phones for 18 months following their release. This is how it has panned out so far: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2397729,00.asp tl;dr: As of December 2011, only Sony had lived up to its pledge. HTC came close.

Thank you natrius for that link. I'd never heard of the Android Update Alliance before. It is indeed very similar to what I'm proposing, and it's sad to see that it didn't take the first time around.

I think it's worth trying again, perhaps under a new moniker, and with some changes. One big change is option #2 - no device or carrier modifications. That means that the onus really isn't on the manufacturer to support an upgrade, other than getting the initial certification. After that step is taken, they have Google's assurance that future updates will run on the device.

Another potential change would be for Google to spend some marketing dollars on the initiative.

Finally, Google could make certification a required part of the Android licensing process. It becomes a non-voluntary program. The drawback to this, of course, is that it raises the bar on all Android phones, probably reducing the cheapest options to close to zero. (Although, who knows? I'm not a marketer or analyzer of markets. I truly have no idea what this change would do to the Android landscape, and I'm sure there are people with comfy 6-figure salaries at Google and the OEMs that can answer this question with more confidence, if not more certainty.)

Re: Android 4.1 Jelly Bean is now available

#140

Post by technomancy »

jshen wrote: post #97
technomancy wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's what you get for trusting your carrier. Luckily you can get Android devices that you have control over yourself.

This is true, but that is my point. Most people don't want control, they want a phone that does the latest and greatest. This makes the iphone a much better choice for most, including myself.

Isn't that just another way of saying most people don't think through the long-term consequences of their choices?
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