It"s not exactly a shock to learn that Google has officially revealed the next major update for its Android mobile operating system at its Google I/O developer conference. During the event"s keynote speech today, Google reps revealed some of the new features for Android 4.1, also known as Jelly Bean. It will be made available as an over-the-air update for Motorola"s Xoom tablet and the Samsung Galaxy Nexus and Nexus S smartphones, in mid-July.
Here are just some of the highlights of the Jelly Bean reveal during the keynote:
- Google revealed what it calls "Project Butter" which is designed to offer Android 4.1 users a better experience in terms of performance. It will tie in a device"s CPU and graphics processor so that they run in parallel. On some devices, Android 4.1 should run at 60 frames per second.
- Android 4.1 has a number of improvements to its camera app. Users can immediately see a photo they have just taken by just swiping to the left on the touch screen. Deleting a picture takes just a swipe up for an individual photo and you can restore it by hitting the undo button.
- Android 4.1 will now show search "cards" when a person uses that feature to display important information. It also will use cards for its improved voice search feature, which will display specific information about a question such as, "What is the definition of a robot."