Android 4.2 Photo Sphere panorama feature now available to Galaxy Nexus owners

You can’t wait for Android 4.2 Jelly Bean to be released, can you? That probably goes double for Nexus devices owners – we’re thinking that November 13, or thereabouts, is when we’ll see the latest Android version hit some of the Nexus devices out there, including the Nexus 7, Galaxy Nexus and Nexus S.
But while you wait, you may be interested to hear that there are various Android 4.2 features that can be already taken advantage of on existing smartphones and tablets. We have recently showed you that you can get the new Gesture Typing keyboard app in Android 4.2 and now we’re going to tell you that the new camera app, Photo Sphere panorama picture mode included, is also available.
Unfortunately the feature is only available to Galaxy Nexus device owners, at least for now, courtesy of xda-developers. Senior member garner has found a way to install the new camera APK on rooted Galaxy Nexus handsets, so if you’re comfortable with such procedures you can already give it a try.

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Android 4.2 official keyboard with swiping gestures, 4.2 clock now available for 4.0 ICS and 4.1 Jelly Bean

Google has learned much from the developer community, and is actually incorporating popular tweaks and functionalities whenever it releases major updates. For instance, Android smartphone and tablet users benefit from alternative keyboards like Swype, which enables gesture-based typing. With Android 4.2 Jelly Bean, this is supported by the operating system out-of-the-box.
But if your phone is not yet running the latest iteration of Android, you can already install the official Android 4.2 keyboard and clock, thanks to a system dump from a Nexus 4. Google has previously asked technology sites to take down links to the unfinished version of the keyboard app. However, since the latest hack involves the official version, Google doesn’t seem to mind.

XDA-Developer member “Gnufabio” has taken the liberty of porting the keyboard and clock apps from 4.2 to earlier versions of Android, so that users who do not have access to a 4.2 device yet can still use the new features.
You can check out the source links for download and installation instructions. As with most hacks and tweaks, your mileage may vary, depending on what device you are using. A few highlights

• Installing the 4.2 keyboard might cause force closes on either the new keyboard or the stock Android keyboard. You can freeze the stock keyboard with TitaniumBackup if you keep getting crashes.
• Keyboard works for Android 4.0 ICS and up.
• The new clock app might have random crashes while in the backgroudn. Some issues persist, including incorrect display of the stopwatch notification.
• Clock works for Android 4.1 Jelly Bean.

I suppose everyone is excited to get 4.2 on their Android devices. But knowing how carriers and manufacturers tend to delay these major updates, you can at least have a taste of 4.2 Jelly Bean on your current Android release through these tweaks.

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Matias Duarte explains Tablet UI in Jelly Bean and why Nexus devices have no SD card

At some point, we all wonder how Google makes the decisions they do. Especially regarding Android. While most of their efforts are widely liked by nearly everyone, there are some things we wish they’d explain in greater detail. Things like how they came up with the Tablet UI. Okay, what we really want to know is why no SD card love in the Nexus devices. Matias Duarte sat down to help explain things.
His explanation about Tablet UI is truly fascinating. Duarte explains that the Tablet UI in Jelly Bean was the result of market research done to see how people use devices. It was concluded that pretty much everyone uses their phone in portrait mode most of the time.
With tablets, though, it was found that people hold tablets in all sorts of ways. Upside down, right side up, and any other orientation. So the tablet UI design in Jelly Bean was done to help accommodate people who hold their tablets any which way.
Duarte goes on to explain that with the tablet UI, the three navigation buttons we’ve all come to know are always where you need them. It doesn’t matter which way you hold it. That helps bring uniformity to the platform and users don’t need to learn how to use their tablet a new way just because they’re holding it differently.

Cool stuff, so why no MicroSD cards in Nexus devices?

Not a lot of people are going to be happy with that answer. As Duarte explains, “We take a different approach. Your Nexus has a fixed amount of space and your apps just seamlessly use it for you without you ever having to worry about files or volumes or any of that techy nonsense left over from the paleolithic era of computing.”
Thus, Nexus devices don’t have MicroSD card slots. They are simply too old of a technology and apparently they confuse people. Many people probably wouldn’t mind this if there were better storage options.
While the Galaxy Nexus had 32GB of storage, the LG Nexus 4 has been reported as only having 8GB and 16GB offerings. It’s disappointing that Google believes everyone would be happy with only 8GB or 16GB of space with no room for expansion. Many people use much more than 16GB of space.
If you’d like to read a transcript of the answers Matias Duarte gave, you can find them over at Droid-Life. Is anyone satisfied with Matias Duarte’s answers? Or are they rather disappointing? Let us know your thoughts.

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Android 2.3 Gingerbread vs Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich.

Android 2.3 Gingerbread vs Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich

http://www.sipuserscommunity.blogspot.com/Here I haveoverviewed the differences between the Gingerbread and ICS operating systems.
Hope this is liked by you. Please subscribe to have such more videos

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Nexus 10, Nexus 4, 3G Nexus 7 (32GB), Android 4.2 Jelly Bean – all to be announced by Google on October 29

Even though it’s still the weekend in most regions of the world, it doesn’t mean we’re short on Nexus- and Android 4.2-related rumors and reports. Just yesterday we saw potential new Android 4.2 features uncovered and now it’s time to look at some exciting Nexus news.
A person familiar with the matter seems to have spilled all the beans on Google’s agenda for its October 29 event. Apparently Google “has been distributing a video recorded at one of its weekly all-hands “TGIF” meetings on its internal network” to present the new products coming in just over a week: the Samsung Nexus 4, LG Nexus 4, and the new Asus Nexus 7 (32GB Wi-Fi version and 32GB 3G + Wi-Fi model), all running Android 4.2 Jelly Bean (that’s right, no Key Lime Pie yet.)

Nexus 10

We already know the rumors: Google is building a 10-inch tablet with Samsung that’s probably going to be sold as the Nexus 10, although the name has not been confirmed yet. Most interestingly, it looks like the device is going to be unveiled during the media event on October 29.
The Next Web also reveals that the Nexus 10 is indeed the Android 4.2-running Manta product that we’ve seen in Google Analytics data and user agent profiles a few weeks ago, and that the device will feature a 10-inch display with 2560 x 1600 resolution, 16:10 aspect ratio and 300 pixel per inch (PPI) density. While back when the Manta first popped up in traffic logs we assumed it’s going to be a Motorola device, Google made it pretty clear during its recent earnings call that it’ll be a while until such devices will hit stores.
More details about the Nexus 10 aren’t available at this time, and we have no idea what the product will cost or when it will hit stores. Let’s just hope that Samsung does a better job when it comes to build quality than it did with its previous flagship tablet, the Galaxy Note 10.1.

Nexus 7

When it comes to the Nexus 7 though, we have no real news to report. We’ve seen it all before. The publication says that Google will unveil the 32GB Nexus 7 during the event, and that the tablet will come in two versions, one offering just Wi-Fi connectivity and the other featuring HSPA+ (3G) support. Pricing details for these models have not been mentioned though.

Source Could this be the new face of Nexus tablet franchise?

LG Nexus 4

Don’t expect any new information on the LG Nexus 4 because we have apparently covered it all. According to TNW, “earlier leaks have been 100 percent correct,” so there’s nothing new to see there:

This means that Google will launch the LG Nexus 4, featuring a quad-core 1.5 GHz Qualcomm APQ8064 Snapdragon processor, 4.7-inch 1280 x 768 display, 2GB RAM, 16GB storage, an 8-megapixel rear-facing camera (and 1.3-megapixel front-facing snapper) and a 2100mAh battery.
The LG Nexus 4 will also be powered by Google’s new Android 4.2 software.

Android 4.2

As you can see, these new devices will come with Android 4.2 on board, an Android version that will be still branded as Jelly Bean – probably Google doesn’t want to fuel more criticism regarding Android fragmentation by releasing Key Lime Pie at a time when Jelly Bean updates are hardly available for flagship devices.
That said, Android 4.2 will come with a new focus on content:

Speaking of the OS itself, we have some details on that too. It has been confirmed that as part of Android 4.2, Google will introduce ‘Content in the center,’ which will allow users to access Play Store content from a widget and ‘Tablet Sharing’ which will suit families and enterprise users, providing them with a simple and easy to switch between several users on a tablet, each with their own email and apps.
Think Windows user switching, but now on Android.
Our source says that Android 4.2 will compete with Apple’s iOS 6, in that the panoramic camera settings will be updated to support both horizontal and vertical movement by default.

That last part about multi-user support seems to confirm something we have just covered this weekend.
What’s your take on all of this? Are you planning your next Nexus purchases yet?

 

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