Google couple of days ago announced Android 4.3, a sweeter version of Jelly Bean that includes great new features for users and developers. Android 4.3 powers the new Nexus 7 tablet that’s coming soon to Google Play and retail outlets, and it’s rolling out now as an update to Nexus 4, Nexus 7, Nexus 10, and Galaxy Nexus HSPA+ devices across the world.
The event showcased a few of the major features of Android 4.3 Jelly Bean, which we will add to as more official confirmation comes our way. The main aspects mentioned in the Google presentation were:
- Bluetooth Smart (aka Bluetooth Low Energy) which allows pairing of your tablet with low-energy Bluetooth devices, like wearables.
- Multi-user profiles return, now with new restricted profile possibilities. Apps with restricted profiles will not feature in-app purchase opportunities or unpurchased content. These profiles co-exist in the same session but keep intact the preferences and permitted accessibility to the app depending on the settings.
- Android 4.3 will feature Open GL ES3.0 accelerated 3D graphics. Android 4.3 will be the first OS to includeOpen GL ES3.0 as standard which supports the rendering of images in real time and an increase in the nuances of light, reflections and shadows.This is especially great news for games.
What else is there?
You can project web and offline content from your Android 4.3 updated portable device to a Miracast-enabled television, wirelessly. This was in evidence in Android 4.2 however. There’s the ”Daydream” screensaver to ”display useful and delightful information when idle or docked,” and more improvements to the Notifications shade, giving you increased options from within the pull-down window.
CPU boosters have been included to provide better performance when the screen is active and to conserve battery life when the CPU is not needed. There’s also changes to the dialler, which now features auto-complete, and some of the Wi-Fi issues from 4.2 have been resolved. Wi-Fi will also now scan for networks even when turned off, to provide better location data without draining the battery.
What exactly is a factory image?
I suppose a few people are going to be clicking inside this link and wondering: “HEY! I want to install Android 4.3! What is this factory image?”. Basically put, it restores your Nexus device back to the original settings with an official ROM.
For example, if you have CyanogenMod 10 installed on your Nexus 4m, installing the factory image will restore your device back to pure Android (…and as such, you lose all your data) and will be, in this case, Android 4.3 In these cases, always back up your data! Always, always, always.
How do I install a factory image?
Well, the first thing you need to do is download the factory image that is suitable foryour device. You can find a list of all of them over on the Google developers page, but here’s a quick run down of them. The process is similar to flashing custom ROMs to your device.
