As ever Google is hard at work making Android the best that it can be and the next step in that evolution is Android 4.2. Despite being a new version it's keeping the "Jelly Bean" moniker - perhaps to emphasize the fact that it's more a small update than a massive overhaul. There are still things to get excited about, though.
Photo Sphere
First up is "Photo Sphere." It's an addition to the camera app that's clearly been heavily inspired by the company's own "Street View" service. Essentially, it lets you move around while taking photos - look up and down and pan and it will capture everything in a series of connected images, right up to creating a full 360-degree panorama. Much like how you can look around in street view - just on a smaller scale.
"Photo Sphere" images are saved as JPEGS and you're not limited to viewing them on your Android device. You can view them on computers, email them or post them to Google+ (and presumably other social networks, too) and all the image data remains intact. You can also add the images to Google Maps and let the whole world see them.
Google Now
Google Now is getting a bit of a much-needed overhaul. This is happening in the form of a variety of new cards, adding new functionality to the service. With cards for flight information, hotel and restaurant reservations, shipping details, nearby attractions, movie times at local cinemas, concert information for artists that you like and interesting nearby photo spots, it should be more useful as a virtual assistant.
Android 4.2 also allows for multiple user profiles on a single device. Much like user accounts on a PC, with Android 4.2 you can switch between users from the lock screen, allowing each user to have unique homescreens, apps, bookmarks and email accounts set up. In other words multiple users can customize the device to their liking and maintain their privacy.
Gesture Typing
Another feature of Android 4.2 is "Gesture Typing." This lets you slide your finger across letters to create words, rather than tapping on them, promising faster, simpler text entry. It sounds a lot like "Swype," but in any case with Google's support it could do wonders for speeding up text entry on touch screens. Android 4.2 promises better word prediction and more accurate dictionaries, too.
Other additions
Android 4.2 also supports wireless display, which means that if you've got a "Miracast" compatible HDTV you'll be able to wirelessly stream videos and games to it.
"Daydream" is another Android 4.2 feature and it sounds to us like a customizable screensaver. For example, it displays photo albums or the latest news whenever your device is idle or docked.
Google is also rolling out movie purchases from Google Play to the U.K., Canada, France, Spain and Australia and on November 13 their popular Music service will be available in Europe. This allows you to upload up to 20,000 songs to the cloud for free and access them on any Android device or web browser.
Plus, any song that you purchase from Google Play will automatically be added to your online library without even needing to upload it.
Release date
Android 4.2 will launch on the Nexus 10, Nexus 4 and 32GB version of the Nexus 7, all of which will be available on November 13. Current Nexus 7 users can expect an update to Android 4.2 at around the same time. Other devices might have to wait a while longer, but as soon as we find out the rollout dates we'll be sure to let you know.
Below are the rumours and news that we reported on prior to the Android 4.2 announcement.
The new version of Google's OS will launch soon under the guise of Android 4.2 â€" but it will still be called Jelly Bean.
This means the change will be more of a refining evolution of the platform, rather than bringing multiple new features â€" we'll have to wait for Android 5.0 (Key Lime Pie) before we get anything ground breaking.
But until that fateful day, we'll at least get a few more Android features to play with as Google brings another iteration to its OS â€" read on to find out more over what we can expect from the launch:
Android 4.2 name
Well, we'll be honest: we already covered this in the strapline here. It's going to be called Jelly Bean, so those that were waiting for information on Android Key Lime Pie will be sorely disappointed.
However, that does mean that some new cool features are on the way in the new update, and let's be honest, if you're disappointed that a name hasn't changed for a version of Android you should probably take a step back, look at life's priorities and go work for a charity for a bit.
Android 4.2 features
From what we can discern from the font of vague knowledge (the internet rumour spewer) Android 4.2 is going to have a new button in the notification bar to allow access to quick settings.
This was previously a second drop down from the notification area, but it seems this has evolved to just be a single button that leads to a zone where you can perform quick functions like turning on and off Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and Flight mode.
If we're honest, it's not overly exciting as all the Android skins around have this feature already embedded, with the likes of Samsung's TouchWiz giving you access right from the notification bar itself.
As we said this feature is evolving all over the place, so don't be surprised if it changes again before the Monday launch â€" or gets dropped altogether.
The other relatively large change looks set to be to the Gallery app, which will see the UI become a bit more open and surrounded by white frames, in a bid to make Android look that little bit more professional once more. It could be that fewer photos are displayed on the screen at once though, in a manner similar to Google+, which may not please those that love more information on the screen at once.
And a more recent placeholder from UK retailer The Carphone Warehouse outed another new feature: a 360 degree camera app, which will presumably lead to loads of blocky and confusing pictures from friends on Facebook, with the odd one with astonishing clarity thrown in by a professional.
According to Android Police, which got a chance to tear down an early build of Android 4.2, there were also big changes to the Gallery and Camera icons, replaced by something that looks a lot more like Instagram, but these were proved to be placeholders.
However, this does strongly hint that Android 4.2 is also going to come with revamped icons for these apps, which will excite approximately 32.6% of Android users, we predict.
Another change in Android 4.2 will be more minor and will let you dismiss your data counter when you get warned you're heading close to the limit you pre-set… usually this remains and you're forced to change the limit to remove it, but now you can accept the warning like an adult (ie forget about it until it's too late, and blame someone else).
Android 4.2: multiple user accounts
Something that appeared on the Sony Xperia Tablet S that got tongues wagging was the ability to set multiple user accounts in the same way as Windows allows now.
This means users can set the apps they want for their own accounts, handy in the case of a family tablet. Android Police again was the detective here, noting that some apps required permissions for different users on the same device, so this will be a key area in the tablet area especially.
And on that subject, parental controls will be built right into the system as well, meaning you can change the level of interaction each person has on the tablet - for instance, stopping downloads from the Play Store or working out which apps should be restricted for each person.
Android 4.2 release date
Here's the main problem with Android in our eyes: users can't generally get their hands on it for bloody ages after announcement. Just look at the amount of phones still rocking Gingerbread (Android 2.3), which was released years ago, and you can see we're not optimistic that the newest version of Android will be available any time soon.
However, that said at least there will be flagship devices available sporting the new software sooner rather than later, with 31 October already being mooted as the shipping date of the new version of the Nexus 7 which you'd think would have Android 4.2 on board.
At the very least the new Google Nexus 4 and Nexus 10 will both be rocking the new software and have been strongly tipped to launch in early November to catch the Christmas rush. And with Android 4.1's launch Google promised that it was working with manufacturers to get the software to them ahead of time for easier deployment... could we see such a thing happen already?
Android 4.2 launch
The Android 4.2 launch has been set for 29 October, with Google promising a fancy event to live stream the launch of the three new devices set to support the new OS in multiple locations across the globe.
We're pretty sure there will be devices rocking the fancy new version of the software at these events, so we'll be able to bring you our early thoughts on whether it's something you should bug your network for as soon as our toned, lithe fingers can bash out the letters.
Android 4.2 review
And then, of course, we've got the main event: our Android 4.2 review. We'll be working as fast as possible to bring you our preview, as we mentioned above, and then as soon as we get a full review unit we'll update you with our multi-page full review, taking the new OS apart and seeing what treats is has on offer.
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