Android 4.3 First Impressions

Android 4.3 First Impressions

jellybean 4.3

Now that the latest update has been available for a few days, I thought I’d share what I found new or updated in this version. Possibly not a complete list but what I’ve came across since installing the factory images once released.  I did a fresh install and full wipe to unsure a trouble free experience and so far things have been running great. My devices right now are Nexus 4 and Nexus 7 2012 version.

In no preference or order….

Speed and responsiveness

My Nexus7 feels like a brand new tablet again, no slow downs and everything feels snappy flicking through home screens. I still notice the screen flicker on auto brightness when viewing content on white backgrounds, which I wish they could have fixed, possibly a hardware issue then? Setting display to half brightness fixes it for me, so not a massive issue. TRIM support included? See here

On Nexus4 touch responsiveness has really really been improved. There never was any issue of lags or slowdowns on Mako, project butter is evident all throughout the system. (I noticed stock govenor is now Ondemand 1126 min and 1500 max. MP decision is still used.) Fast, responsive and fairly decent battery life over these last few days.

Phone app

A pretty minor new feature but pretty cool. Google have added a setting where you set the dial pad to autocomplete so you can phone your contact quicker by spelling out their name. It’s a welcome enough addition but not game changing, by any means.

Screenshot1

App ops

Probably the most talked about but not really fully implemented yet is App ops/ Permissions Manager. See which applications are accessing your information and disable, if you so wish. A bit of a pain to view, you’ll need to set an activity shortcut to your homescreen but I’m pretty sure someone developed an app to do the trick now, I used Apex launcher. Very interesting and a good sign of what’s in-store soon for us, security wise.

       Screenshot#2 Screenshot#3 Screenshot#4

 Lockscreen

Yeah, they removed the clock from status bar when using the default clock on lockscreen. Any custom clock/widget and it magically re-appears. Grrr

Screenshot#5

No clock on status bar..
Default clock, lockscreen.

Screenshot#6

Status bar clock reappears…

In-call sound quality and data signal

 For me I can notice better sound quality on Android 4.3 and slightly better network reception. I say slightly because I’m not 100 % sure. I’m currently working in an area that could be described as the Bermuda Triangle. I’m getting a tiny bit better signal but my provider should really be sorting it out on their end. In-call sound.. No issues, everything’s nice and clear. No problem.

Hopefully I haven’t missed anything too obvious and I’m glad this update hasn’t brought it’s own faults and bugs. I’m pretty sure we’d know by now. Everyone else enjoying the latest and greatest?

Chief Editor of DroidHorizon. I own a few different devices at the minute and enjoy writing reviews and sharing what I think is cool. You can often find me playing Playstation 4 or sprawled across the couch with headphones on (maybe with a nice beer or gin & tonic in-hand)