I've said this before, I'm a huge Android fan. Have been since 2010 and I will probably never abandon using the OS. After Android 4.0, things were going into a more positive direction with the OS. The design was changing and the UI was becoming smoother and smoother.



Enter Android 4.2 Jelly Bean (The 4.2 update rolled out last Tuesday, 11/13/2012), a "not so major, but still major" update from Android 4.1 Jelly Bean. Android 4.2 adds in a bunch of new features and changes that are sure to innovate against it's competitors, but does it really do that?

Lockscreen Widgets



One of the main new features of the update is the change to the lockscreen. You can have widgets on there now... As long as they're supported. The idea seems cool at first and it was something I was looking forward too, but the change... Isn't that great at all. In fact, this is one of the worst things I have ever seen get added to Android... Ever. It's not that I don't like it, it just doesn't work.



Swiping between the screens is a pain. It either works or it doesn't. The design is awful, by the way. The way you expand widgets, the indicators for the widget pages, etc. it just doesn't look or work right. It's like they rushed it.



That doesn't mean I hate it, it just doesn't work and it's like the Android team rushed the feature out the door just so they could have something big to announce. Give it time and I think lockscreen widgets could be the coolest things ever, but it needs polish.

(Just as a note, I actually prefer the older lockscreen because it was very easy to use)

The New Clock App

Let's face it, the clock app for Android needed a major overhaul. Like, really bad. The UI for it (Even though it uses part of the holo theme in 4.0-4.1) has been much the same since the old days of Android. So, they redesigned it. Is it better? That's a really good question.







The main part of the app looks very nice. Clean and simple. It's only when you dig down deeper into the app, does it look ugly and so un-Android. The alarms section looks good, but is confusing to use. But what is this Google?





All red bolded text for the back button? Seriously, what's up with that? That's super tacky. Come to think of it, the bolded hour on the digital clock just looks ugly. It's a shame that design carried over to the lockscreen too.

Quick Settings



Another of one of the main features of 4.2 is the quick settings in the notification bar. Android has had this for a while now, but it was always in custom builds on Android. It's a really neat and convenient feature that let's you see and control certain settings on your phone. Wifi, bluetooth, brightness, etc. It could use a little more polish and customization, but I'm pretty sure custom ROMs will make it better. Getting to them is simple though, you can either push a button in the notification pan or you can do a two finger swipe on the status bar.

Again, polish is needed.

Multiple Users

I can't say anything about it. I don't have an Android tablet. :<

Daydream



Here's one feature I like. Daydreams... Such an odd name for a screensaver. The object is to give you a screensaver while charging your phone or when it's in a dock. You can make it a clock, have news pop up, colors, or pictures show up. It's a pretty neat addition, but it's not something that they really advertised. I didn't even realize it was there at first.

Camera and Photosphere



The camera got a huge design change and I actually like it. The way you change camera settings has changed as well. You can either push a button and the settings wheel will show up or you can hold down on the screen and the settings wheel will show up. Holding down on the screen feels funky when you do it near the edges of the screen, but the overall change feels nice. It takes some time to get used to, but it works really well.



But there's one thing that Google added that is really awesome: Photospheres. Think of it this way, you can take Street View (360 degrees) photos yourself. They don't look as good, and I wouldn't suggest you stand out in the middle of the road, but it is awesome. It's simple to use, but the output really varies on the lighting of the place you're at.

Gesture Typing



Ever use Swype? It's exactly that, but it actually works and it's really handy. You just glide your finger across the keyboard and it magically types the words for you.

Misc.

-Font Improvements-

Roboto, the font introduced in Android 4.0, has gotten a bit of a change. Text looks a little crisper this time around.

-UI Changes-



The UI changes in 4.2 are one of my least favorite things this update. 4.1 felt like a masterpiece to me. Everything looked so clean, but in 4.2... It's like they took everything I loved about the 4.1 design and modified it. Some things, just don't look right. For instance, the time and date in the notification pane used to have a gradient effect behind it, now (as seen above) it's a solid black bar for it's background.



One change that I like though, are the crisper shadows on menus. It makes it a little more distinguishable from the main UI of apps and it just looks better.

-Group MMS for Text Messaging-



I can finally do group text messages with other smartphone users! It's about time, I got really tired of having different threads for other people when I'm in a group conversation with iPhone users.

One more Nitpick



December doesn't exist in the Android date picker. Yup. How that passed the Android team is beyond me. December exists in the Calendar itself, but it doesn't when you're picking a date (Like setting a birthday for a contact). It'll get fixed in an incremental update, but it's really odd how that got into the final release. Which that brings me to my conclusion...

Conclusion

Android 4.2 feels rushed. It is quite possibly the most disappointing Android update ever. The majority of the update has good intentions, but it needs major polishing. There are some really cool features, but some of the major features Google advertised just don't work well or just look plain ugly. Give it a few updates, and everything will be back to normal... Hopefully. Or maybe I just need to get used to some of these new styles Android 4.2 introduced.