What Should We Expect From Android 4.2 – Key Lime Pie?
Google is about to announce its latest release of Android, aka version 4.2. The event scheduled to take place over the next few weeks would reveal the 4th generation Nexus device made by LG (it is being dubbed the Nexus 4) and a 10” Nexus tablet that is rumored to be made by Samsung or Asus.
Ever since the tablet race started in 2010, Google has been struggling to keep up with Apple. At a recent keynote, Apple CEO, Tim Cook announced that iPads have sold 100 million units since launch in early 2010. Google meantime has been keeping up the fight in the mobile space, but struggled when it comes to tablets. One clear area for Google to improve its hold would be tablets.
The Nexus 7 tablet is widely appreciated for its price, utility and performance. What Google would hope for now is some quality apps to back it up. The 10” Nexus would be another step in that direction and hopefully Android 4.2 – Key Lime Pie would bring UI upgrades to the current Android system, thus making it more conducive for tablets.
There are a few more things that Google would want to fix or add with Android 4.2, here is a list:
Messages / SMS + Gtalk?
Apple has done a fantastic job of brining iMessage, SMS and Gtalk together. On my iPhone, iMessages are integrated with SMS and on my Mac, Messages brings in Gtalk + iMessages together. Google, which owns a much larger ecosystem of Instant Messaging with its Gmail, can do a much better job. Imagine your SMS and Gtalk conversations integrating on the web as well as on you favorite smartphone.
Google is struggling to get traction for Google Plus and this can help them immensely.
A killer voice assistant!
Google demoed its voice assistant with Jelly Bean, but it is yet to make an impact. Apple’s Siri is going slow and fails to add Indian accent support. Google’s has the ability to add Hindi and also support for Indian accent English. This would be necessary for mass adoption of such an assistant.
Battery Life!
An area where Google and its partners have struggled. The battery life on Android phones is lower than Windows Phone and the iPhone. Google needs to optimize its code and ensure that 3rd party apps do not drain battery. While battery optimization is a continuous task and we expect every upcoming version to work on that, it would be great to see a major overhaul on privacy, multitasking and battery consumption with Android 4.2
While these are given, we hope Google’s spends less time doing fancy things like controlling your home’s lighting with Android and focuses on features that its users would love to have on the phone.