Android 4.1 and Nexus rumors getting close to critical mass?

[Bateluer]

http://www.droid-life.com/2012/10/0...w-project-roadrunner-new-play-store-and-more/

Customization Center
The next version of Android may include some sort of customization center. The basic idea here, is to give average Android users a centralized place to go to change ringtones, wallpapers, and other settings that in the past, haven’t always been that easy to find. There may also be new “templates” that a user can choose from to quickly change the color scheme or appearance of the UI, including icons.

In bigger news, this may be the location that Google allows OEMs to offer up their custom skin in favor of stock Android. There is a chance in either this version of Android or the next iteration, that users will have a choice between stock and a skin like TouchWiz or Sense. But wait, what about updates? According to this rumor, the device will receive stock Android updates quickly, just like Nexus devices do now. Manufacturers will still be able to update their skin on their own time, but the skinned version of Android may not be accessible until it has been updated. Either that, or the user can wait to update Android until the OEM has their skin ready.

There is a lot going on there, but it could mean big things for those of us that hate skins and like timely updates.

New Google Play
We have always wondered why Google Play hasn’t been forced to the forefront of Android. With Android 4.2, that may change to include notifications for promotional campaigns (optional of course), personalized searches, more billing options, and easier in-app purchases. While I’ve never been a huge fan of advertisements in my notification area, I wouldn’t mind knowing from time to time if there is a sale on products in Google Play.

Google Now
Google Now may receive an update that allows users to ask it for guidance on changing settings on their phone. For example, one could ask Google Now to help adjust volume or brightness or turn Bluetooth on. Rather than solely being a Google Search tool, it could take care of simple device functions as well.

Project Roadrunner
You all remember Project Butter and its focus on improving UI speed, right? According to today’s rumor, there may be another special project named Project Roadrunner which has a focus on improving battery life. Details are scarce, but one of the number one complaints around these parts when it comes to Android has always been poor battery life. Rather than worrying about creating massive batteries in slim shells, Google may be trying to solve the problem on a software front.

Talk about a wealth of info to digest. It’s tough to tell if any of it will come to fruition in Android 4.2, a later version, or at all. Most of it sounds like functionality that will make the experience seamless overall, something I think we can all appreciate.

Anything in particular standing out to you?

Strong rumors say the LG Optimus G will be one of the first Nexii to launch, at the end of October. And these rumors are coming daily now.

Oddly enough, there's next to nothing from HTC and Motorola built Nexii and I believe I've only seen brief references to a 'Galaxy Nexus 2' from Samsung.

 

[dguy6789]

The battery life focus rumor has me quite interested. Galaxy Nexus battery life is atrocious, I'd love for it to improve

 

[Bateluer]

The battery life focus rumor has me quite interested. Galaxy Nexus battery life is atrocious, I'd love for it to improve

I'm not sure how much could really be ecked out from the Verizon GNex. Its first gen LTE hardware after all. But, perhaps for the Nexus 7 and upcoming Nexii?

 

[dguy6789]

GSM or CDMA with LTE disabled battery life is still worse than my previous Android phones by a good bit

 

[sygyzy]

I agree with the battery life complaints. I have a Verizon Galaxy Nexus and I can barely eek 10-12 hours. At least two or three times it has left me in potentially scary situations (ie stranded in new-to-me city (Philly), with no way of getting back to the suburb where I was staying). Similar situations have happened when at home (ie out for a night drinking and a dead phone means hard to call a cab, call friends for a ride, etc).

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

It's not just LTE. It's the fact that Android in general sucks a lot more data with constant syncing and pulling data.

My Windows Phone 7 has a first gen LTE chip and it does just fine on battery.

The 1650 mAh on the GNex is certainly insufficient. Furthermore, I think there's something about the stock software that's not good enough. Phone makers like Motorola and Samsung tweak their phones to sip battery as possible. You wonder how Motorola gets supreme talk time battery life with the same hardware...

Anyway, Google, Butter and Roadrunner are welcome projects. They should've been implemented 2 years ago though.

 

[Mopetar]

The bit about users being able to choose between vanilla Android and the handset manufacturer's custom skin is interesting. It's a good way for Google to slowly move more users towards the stock Google experience.

 

[cl-scott]

I agree with the battery life complaints. I have a Verizon Galaxy Nexus and I can barely eek 10-12 hours. At least two or three times it has left me in potentially scary situations (ie stranded in new-to-me city (Philly), with no way of getting back to the suburb where I was staying). Similar situations have happened when at home (ie out for a night drinking and a dead phone means hard to call a cab, call friends for a ride, etc).

Don't want to take this too far off topic, but those are fun times aren't they? Even better is if you're doing the whole tourist thing, get somewhere, and have the "I thought you had the map!" conversation.

Anyway... Anything that would help improve battery life on the Gnex would be welcome. There are always probably places where you can make some minor improvements. I wouldn't expect miracles, but maybe an extra 1-2 hours doesn't seem too unreasonable. Fine tuning the radio files to really lock onto signals, and reducing the number of API calls needed to do common tasks could well add up.

 

[ponyo]

It's not just LTE. It's the fact that Android in general sucks a lot more data with constant syncing and pulling data.

My Windows Phone 7 has a first gen LTE chip and it does just fine on battery.

The 1650 mAh on the GNex is certainly insufficient. Furthermore, I think there's something about the stock software that's not good enough. Phone makers like Motorola and Samsung tweak their phones to sip battery as possible. You wonder how Motorola gets supreme talk time battery life with the same hardware...

Anyway, Google, Butter and Roadrunner are welcome projects. They should've been implemented 2 years ago though.

Umm, CDMA GNex has 1850 mAh stock battery. The official extended which adds like no bulk is 2100 mAh.

GSM GNex has 1750 mAh stock battery. The official extended is 2000 mAh. I can tell you from personal experience GSM GNex with the extended has excellent battery life.

 

[sygyzy]

I have the 2100mah battery and my battery life is terrible. At one time, I had excellent battery life with the stock battery, close to 20 hours. Then I switched to the extended and started using custom roms and it went to hell. I have a theory that the stock Android OS takes a week or two to adapt to your usage patterns before rewarding you with great life. I am not sure if using a non-stock ROM or the frequency of how often I update things, affects this "optimization"