Google announced Android 4.1 Jelly Bean at Google I/O, with a July release. The update was significantly larger than a typical point release.
Expanded Notifications
Notifications in the pull-down menu became fully expandable, displaying more information and enabling direct action. Miss a call: call back or message directly from the shade. See the body of an email, reply to a calendar invite, or like and reply to social posts, all without opening the app.
Google Now
Google Now delivers information before you ask for it. A calendar event with a location triggers automatic calculation of travel time by your usual method, including public transit stops, with a reminder to leave on time. It surfaces places of interest on your route, sports scores, flight info, currency rates, and more, passively and without configuration.
Project Butter
Google addressed persistent Android lag with Project Butter. Where ICS focused on UI improvements, Jelly Bean worked at the OS level: touching the screen automatically ramps the CPU for better responsiveness, and animations target a consistent 60FPS.
Offline Voice Actions
Google Voice Actions gained offline capability, removing the dependency on a data connection for voice input and recognition.
Knowledge Graph
Recognized search terms now produce a results card with relevant information. Weather shows current conditions and forecast; contact searches show a contact card. Users can swipe the card away to see standard search results.
Camera Gestures
New gestures in the camera app include pinch-to-zoom, left swipe for camera roll, and pinch in to expand the gallery.
Auto-Resizing Widgets
Widgets now auto-resize and icons rearrange around them when placed on the home screen, eliminating the “no more room” problem without requiring manual repositioning.
