So, have you tried the latest OS by Android? Android 4.1 aka Jellybean OS is the latest in queue after their successful Ice Cream Sandwich OS which brought major changes from the Gingerbread OS. Continuing the stream of changes, jellybean provides excellent user experience with buttery smooth interface (thanks to butter scotch project) and easier than before navigation.

Following are the “Major” changes made in the OS by Google:

• Google Now
• Google Voice Assistant
• Better and improved notifications
• Project Butter
• HD caller ID
• New Widget properties
• Changed lock screen behavior
• Offline Google maps
• Improved camera
• Offline voice typing

Google Now

Let’s start off with Google Now, it is your personal mobile secretary; displays your important information or the information you need judging by your previous actions and demands from your phone. On the lock screen there are three navigation points, if you scroll up then you enter Google now screen. For instance if you have been checking weather lately; in the morning you get up and open up Google now then you will be greeted with latest weather. It learns your commute; calculates traffic and suggests alternative route to your work. It will also suggest you place to eat, interesting places nearby, subway timings and so on, forget logging into accounts asking for scores; Google now already has that information when you ask it. So on hand it is all you need from one application.

Google Voice Assistant

Remember Siri? Yes, the personnel voice assistant that Apple brought to us last year; well Google has decided that it needs to go. Google voice feature will also be made available to iOS users by Google soon as well. It will offer replacement to Siri for those who cannot use it i.e. iPhone 4 and previous users. It offers almost the same features as Siri, ask Google voice to set an alarm and she does, ask her to set a timer, she does – ask her to call someone, she does and so on. It has mathematical abilities as well and can do conversions too.

Better and improved Notifications

Next up the notification bar, previously on ICS; you would only get the “Notification” not however they are more detailed. You get more actions and now they are more readable due to size enhancement. Messages can get a quick reply and missed calls can now be directly called through the notifications. So overall, the notification center has received an overhaul and to a better user experience i say.

Project butter

Remember the old Android interface, yes; the one which used to lag at every transition. Well Google took an action over it and started a project codenamed “project butter” where they increased the performance and the FPS their OS operates at. How much FPS? Well 60fpd throughout and more than that wherever hardware is available to take part in enhancement. Google released a video to show the fines and capabilities of project butter, head over to YouTube to see what they have done.

HD caller ID

With the release of ICS people let out a sigh of relief, they now had large caller id display; but the relief didn’t last long as the pictures were pixelated and looked rather ugly, in jellybean however, Google has managed to change that by increasing the picture pixel count from 28px to 720 x 720 resolution. That is great and now you have HD caller ID.

Widget Property

Widgets have been the distinguishing factor between android and other operating systems. On previous installations of android, the OS did not give enough freedom to modify the widgets, now however you can resize and change widget properties with new options in the 4.1 OS. So if you have jellybean installed, long press a widget and see the changes for yourself.

Changed Lockscreen Behavior

From ICS Google introduced a ring lack screen, you had to pull it to the direction of your quick applications, i.e. camera or unlock. Now they have changed that along with an animation, when you touch the ring, a swirly pattern appears; a good addition to the old lock screen. Apart from the animation, the two point lockscreen has changed to three point lock screen, camera, unlock and Google now can be accessed via lockscreen.

Offline Google Maps

That’s right, you don’t have to be online anymore to use Google maps, once anyways; if you browse through any particular area on the Google maps – it will create a cache and you won’t require turning on data or finding Wi-Fi to access the maps, this feature was indeed in previous versions, however it is more refined now.

Improved Camera

Along with all the modifications, jellybean has also improved the camera performance on the test device i.e. Galaxy Nexus, along with that quick gallery access makes it easier to browse through recent snaps. You can pinch to zoom out and swipe to delete the pics, just as you would delete a task from multi task bar.

Offline voice typing

Google introduced the voice typing ages ago, but it always required you to connect to data, however things have changed and you will no longer be required to connect to data. We tested it and yes, it worked and was rather accurate.

Along with these features Google have made many other noticeable changes, like the android beam – it lets you transfer files quickly, improved predictive text keyboard, significant improvement in the performance of the device (perhaps better memory management) and many others. The list goes on and on, we believe it is going to fare well in competition to iOS 6. Only when iOS 6 is publically released that we could test who has an upper hand.