Jelly Bean
Thursday 12th July, 2012 15:11 Comments: 2
I want it. Now.
It's hard being patient. I've already downloaded the over-the-air (OTA) update that will let me update my phone from ICS to Jelly Bean, which I could apply as I've already unlocked and rooted it, but instead of doing that I've chosen to wait for the update to be rolled out normally. I suspect I'll give this a week or two, then give up and install it myself.
The update should make my phone run smoother, and fix a number of known issues, but on the down side (or plus side?) it'll drop Flash support. Thankfully there aren't many sites I access using my phone that use Flash, but that's not really the point. Perhaps it'll increase support for HTML 5 when fewer phones support Flash, but in reality I think it'll make life painful for those people running the latest version of Android (while those people running old and vulnerable versions can happily watch videos on almost any website).
It's hard being patient. I've already downloaded the over-the-air (OTA) update that will let me update my phone from ICS to Jelly Bean, which I could apply as I've already unlocked and rooted it, but instead of doing that I've chosen to wait for the update to be rolled out normally. I suspect I'll give this a week or two, then give up and install it myself.
The update should make my phone run smoother, and fix a number of known issues, but on the down side (or plus side?) it'll drop Flash support. Thankfully there aren't many sites I access using my phone that use Flash, but that's not really the point. Perhaps it'll increase support for HTML 5 when fewer phones support Flash, but in reality I think it'll make life painful for those people running the latest version of Android (while those people running old and vulnerable versions can happily watch videos on almost any website).
Robert - Friday 13th July, 2012 11:29 I was offered the update yesterday evening, so I chose to install it and then watched the little green android fall onto his back with a red exclamation mark. Oops.
It was my own fault though. After unlocking and rooting my phone, I ended up with some permissions problems, which caused the Google Gallery application to show the wrong thumbnails. I tried to fix it, but ended up breaking it further. I installed QuickPic as other people recommended it and it's great. But the apps (e.g. Facebook) kept wanting to use the broken Gallery application to choose photos to upload. So I deleted it. This was great, because then I was asked to choose a default application, so I could select QuickPic.
Unfortunately, the OTA update checks for the presence of the stock applications it'll upgrade and will refuse (unless you hack the update file) to install the update. Thankfully it's possible (although quite longwinded, involving a large download) to grab the original files (GalleryGoogle.apk and GalleryGoogle.odex), as I had deleted them without creating a backup.
After putting the Gallery back where it should be, I checked for system updates, but Google said there weren't any. But long before I'd been offered the update, I'd already grabbed the official update and stored it at /sdcard. Because I was now impatient after being teased by Jelly Bean, I decided to use ROM Manager to flash ClockworkMod Recovery. After rebooting into Recovery I was able to install the zip from the sdcard. Everything went smoothly, I watched as the progress bar got to the end, my phone then "optimised" 61 applications, and then I finally had Jelly Bean.
I'd previously installed Voodoo OTA RootKeeper, so was able to quickly recover root access.
It's nice to have (although I miss Flash, BBC News and BBC iPlayer tell me to install it to watch their videos), but I can see why Jelly Bean is a minor version (4.1 instead of 4.0).
It was my own fault though. After unlocking and rooting my phone, I ended up with some permissions problems, which caused the Google Gallery application to show the wrong thumbnails. I tried to fix it, but ended up breaking it further. I installed QuickPic as other people recommended it and it's great. But the apps (e.g. Facebook) kept wanting to use the broken Gallery application to choose photos to upload. So I deleted it. This was great, because then I was asked to choose a default application, so I could select QuickPic.
Unfortunately, the OTA update checks for the presence of the stock applications it'll upgrade and will refuse (unless you hack the update file) to install the update. Thankfully it's possible (although quite longwinded, involving a large download) to grab the original files (GalleryGoogle.apk and GalleryGoogle.odex), as I had deleted them without creating a backup.
After putting the Gallery back where it should be, I checked for system updates, but Google said there weren't any. But long before I'd been offered the update, I'd already grabbed the official update and stored it at /sdcard. Because I was now impatient after being teased by Jelly Bean, I decided to use ROM Manager to flash ClockworkMod Recovery. After rebooting into Recovery I was able to install the zip from the sdcard. Everything went smoothly, I watched as the progress bar got to the end, my phone then "optimised" 61 applications, and then I finally had Jelly Bean.
I'd previously installed Voodoo OTA RootKeeper, so was able to quickly recover root access.
It's nice to have (although I miss Flash, BBC News and BBC iPlayer tell me to install it to watch their videos), but I can see why Jelly Bean is a minor version (4.1 instead of 4.0).
Good news about BBC iPlayer on Jelly Bean: https://twitter.com/BBCiPlayer/status/218712600161157120
Apparently Sky Go will finally support ICS on select devices, including the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, at the end of July. Except most Nexus users have bought their device in order to run the latest version of Android, so they'll probably be installing Jelly Bean before Sky Go is available. It's not very impressive that Sky are effectively always a version behind. Support for Sky Go on Jelly Bean isn't expected until next year. I wonder if there will be a hacked version though.
Apparently Sky Go will finally support ICS on select devices, including the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, at the end of July. Except most Nexus users have bought their device in order to run the latest version of Android, so they'll probably be installing Jelly Bean before Sky Go is available. It's not very impressive that Sky are effectively always a version behind. Support for Sky Go on Jelly Bean isn't expected until next year. I wonder if there will be a hacked version though.