After weeks of rumors and expectations, Google has officially introduced Android 4.3 Jelly Bean. Details in the update include multi-user profiles with restricted profile settings, Bluetooth Smart support, OpenGL ES 3.0 support, and DRM APIs.
The new Nexus 7 is the first device to ship with Android 4.3; updates rolled out to current devices such as the first-gen Nexus 7, Nexus 10, Nexus 4, and Galaxy Nexus.
- OpenGL ES 3.0 — Game developers can now take advantage of OpenGL ES 3.0 and EGL extensions as standard features of Android, with access from either framework or native APIs.
- Bluetooth Smart — Apps can communicate with the many types of low-power Bluetooth Smart devices and sensors available today, to provide new features for fitness, medical, location, proximity, and more.
- Restricted profiles — Tablet owners can create restricted profiles to limit access to apps, for family, friends, kiosks, and more.
- New media capabilities — A modular DRM framework enables media application developers to more easily integrate DRM into their own streaming protocols such as MPEG DASH. Apps can also access a built-in VP8 encoder from framework or native APIs for high-quality video capture.
- Notification access — Apps can now access and interact with the stream of status bar notifications as they are posted, including routing them to nearby Bluetooth devices.
- Improved profiling tools — New tags in the Systrace tool and on-screen GPU profiling give developers new ways to build great performance into their apps.
For a full breakdown of all things Android 4.3, head to the official page for developers.
