By Android 4.2 is said to be on its way with the arrival of the LG Nexus, and with it should bring some mildly exciting changes. It won’t be as big as the “K” (Key Lime Pie, maybe) update that will come at some point down the line, but things are already shaping up quite nicely.
So what’s new today? Well, the latest peek into this tiny, tiny keyhole shows us some very interesting new functionality with the notification pane. The pane has been activated with a double-swipe mechanism that will bring a second pane down, and in this pane was a placeholder with a big graphic saying “Future Site of Quick Settings.”
Quick settings tend to be buttons to individual toggles like WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS et al. which give you the ability to turn them on and off without having to hop all the way into the settings menu. It’s something many of us have enjoyed on custom ROMs or the likes of TouchWiz and HTC Sense for quite some time and it’s exciting that it finally appears to be in by default.
The interesting thing is that most tend to just stick the toggles at the top of the notifications pane, but Google looks like they’ll opt to give these quick settings a space of their own. One of two things (or both) could be the case here:
- Google doesn’t want to take up valuable real estate within the notification pane. With the expanded notifications introduced in Jelly Bean they’ll want to make sure users have ample room to see everything their notifications have to offer.
- Google wants to use some nice big buttons for presentation’s sake. Yay!
Speculation only gets us so far, though, so we’ll need to wait until Google finishes development on the feature to see what, exactly, we’re getting.
Should rumors turn out to be true we should be learning more on the 29th of this month when Google and LG are rumored to unveil the next Nexus phone, but we can’t say for certain that will actually happen on that date so don’t hold us to it if we go beyond that date without any answers. [via Android Police]
Love this idea…and is that a Nexus 4 I see…
Looks good. Easy, simple, and won’t clutter my screen is a plus.
that is pretty cool. nice tech Android. And here i thought you could only swipe one time from the same spot and nothing else. And it looks unobtrusive as well, as far as swiping that part accidentally.
One of the reasons I root my phone.
I get that and battery %, then I may not even root phone anymore.
Totally agree! I can’t believe Google still hasn’t added the freaking percentage for the battery icon. Seriously Google? All that ingenuity and innovation and we can’t get that basic of a thing?
I have been using a battery percentage app for about 2 years now…
Simplicity matters above all. Besides, you could always download Batteryminder which adds a (customisable) percentage icon on the notification bar. I’ve had it on my last 3 phones dating back to the release of the HTC Hero, so it’s been around for some time!
You’re missing my point. I don’t want to add that stupid extra icon in my status bar by using the app you’re talking about. I’ve used it before, and I hated it lol.
thats on Ice Cream Sandwich. I have the Samsung Galaxy S2 and I can put the percentage on my battery icon if I want to.
Thats a part of Touchwiz, not stock Android.
Samsungs Touchwiz
Android=Google BTW, and if all these Android companies make Android based smart phones it all goes back to God Almighty aka Google.
I’m not retarded. Im willing to bet I am much more educated on the subject than you. Samsung’s Touchwiz, yes. I dont know why you felt like confirming that. Also, Android is a Google product. Not a Samsung product. Android is an open OS that allows big companies like Samsung, Sony, HTC, etc to use and tweak as they see fit. Google does NOT (at this time) have an option in completely STOCK Android to show a battery percentage in the status bar. That was a Tweak implemented by Samsung in their Touchwiz ROM for the S2. Its also in the S3. This post isnt about any custom UI’s. Its all about stock Android. Please educate yourself and once again, stay your ignorance.
Google has to make some leeway for all of their partners. I like that Google allows, maybe Google can’t come up with all the ideas for a perfect Android phone. And leaves it up to their partners to come up with their own ideas. With your line of thinking maybe Google shouldn’t partner up with those other companies and make their own Nexus phone the only Android on the market, STOCK as you say.
You’re an idiot. I fully support the idea of multiple Nexus phones. BUT IT CANT BE A NEXUS IF IT ISNT STOCK ANDROID.
You should just buy a Samsung.
Im sending all of this from my Galaxy S3. Actually. Just switched from my Galaxy Nexus last month.
That’s awesome. On a side note I am about to venture into Motorola later this month.
But we are getting off topic, battery percentage IS on ANDROID already, and on ICE CREAM SANDWICH ANDROID 4.0 no less. Don’t cry about it not being on Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, and if thats the case, root your own Android like the original commenter says if that feature is all that important to you.
I think you guys are all loons. I’m waiting for the new Surface tablet, which I bet will be running “Key Lime Pie” as the author suggested. It’s going to be huge, but I don’t think it will get the Nexus moniker, for whatever reason. Much better than my iPad 3.
Now you can’t make fun of touchwiz ever again!
Nerds… download power toggle widget and put the battery percentage up in the corner… discussion over.
I completely agree.
Notification pane quick settings and battery percentage are really the only things I can think of that I care to root for at this point.
Also wireless tether, but I barely use that anyways…
The stock wireless tether in both ICS and JB work fine on my Nexus. I see no reason to use outside apps.
Try this, http://goo.gl/SxD8g It’s pretty awesome.
The LG Nexus looks no different. This design is frustrating.
Nexus brand recognition doesn’t sound like a bad thing. It’s the only Android phone worth buying IMO.
Genius!
It’s been said for a while now that Google Now search will bring control over things like WiFi and GPS down the road. This could be paving the way for that very functionality.
It already recognizes the commands. If you tell it to turn Wi-Fi on or off, it says device commands not yet supported.
I’m not sure what you’re saying, other than making my point. This settings control panel might very well be what opens the door for that functionality to actually work.
It sounded to me like he was agreeing with you and simply stating evidence that some of the work has already been laid out.
You said “it’s been said that it will bring control over things.” I was saying that if you go into Now and try those commands, it recognizes them already and you can try it yourself. You made it sound like you’ve never tried it, but heard it was there.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooooooooo.
I believe I have that on the HTC Rezound. A tab at the bottom of the notification tray gives me the option to see the quick settings and easily turn on wi-fi, mobile network, airplane mode, bluetooth, and mobile hotspot. About time.
And that is what is awesome about all of our Android based smart phones. :-)
Yeah I have that on my 3vo too, though that’s part of Sense.
STOCK Android. Not Touchwiz, not Sense. Stay your ignorance people.
All Android-based. You don’t have to get so mean about it.
So you swipe twice to get to the quick panel? Hmm… I don’t know if I prefer that or prefer it already being there. Hmm…
I prefer swiping twice.. Doesn’t clutter the notification bar. and you won’t accidentally press airplane mode while in the notification panel (my woes of Gingerbread…lol)
Yea. That’s what I was kinda thinking too. There are times when I’m checking my notifications and the quick panel bar isn’t really necessary. I think I can get used to that. In relation to swiping twice.
wait 4.2 is coming, really?? I wonder what Android 4.2 is going to have and does it have a name (like candy, or something sweet).
should be getting it anytime now
Look similar to miui?
Looks cool but i won’t use it. I alrdy use extended controls and put it one swipe to the right of main screen. Much faster and you can put the controls you use most
Patent it before Apple steals that too.
Google better have a patent on this before Apple steals it and patents it for themselves…
But will it have a Swagger toggle? ;-)
This is brilliant! Quick Settings is great and so convienent on custom roms, but those are for us phandroid nerds. In terms of simplicity, keep those away from grandma and in a secondary swipe so that there is no accidental turning on airplane mode, and then the phone is officially “broken forever”.
Its there for those of us that are compitent enough to use it, and hidden from everyone else, which in my opinion is a plus.
gimmie 4.2 on my very much capable g-nex!!!!