New Features of Android 4.3 Detailed on Video Including Massive Battery Life Boost

[dgstorm]

[video=youtube;IKrHNkqw-dM]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=IKrHNkqw-dM[/video]​

The folks at PocketNow have a video up detailing a ton of new features and improvements on Android 4.3. The video uses a Nexus 4 equipped with the new OS from Google, and amongst the many new features comes a huge battery life improvement. Read on and check out the video to find all the details.

1. Auto-complete in the Dialer - this is a clever function that makes you wonder why they haven't thought of it before. The Android 4.3 stock dialer has been upgraded to include auto-complete within the dialer itself to help you get the right number more quickly. It's important to note that some devices have this function already, but that was thanks to the specific OEM. Stock Android didn't have that feature until now.
2. New Emoji Keyboard - Google included a this new keyboard as an option for all those super-texters out there who like to add the context of "tone of voice/facial expressions" to their messages with more cute emoticons. To get to it from the messaging app you need to long-press on the space bar.
3. Bluetooth 4.0 LE - This is one we heard about previously, but it's still pretty cool regardless. The newest version of Bluetooth promises much better power efficiency, and should drain your battery far less. This new version also includes a greater range of compatible devices. (This wasn't truly confirmed in the video, but the Bluetooth SIG has confirmed it.)
4. Improvements in the Camera App - "The camera in Android 4.3 fine-tunes the way the previous version worked by placing the items in an arc with the selected item clearly called out above your finger. Also, rotating the device from portrait to landscape and back while in camera mode is now almost instantaneous."
5. Better Performance - Apparently, the Nexus 4 is a great deal more responsive when using Android 4.3. It wasn't really sluggish before, but supposedly the difference is noticeable. This is borne out in synthetic benchmarks as well.
6. Significantly Improved Battery Life - Normally with this phone, Android 4.2 offers about 4-6 hours of heavy use before you need to recharge. With Android 4.3, the user was supposedly able to jump that all the way up to 25+ hours!

It's exciting to think that software tweaks could result in such dramatic improvements. We probably should remain a bit skeptical, but that should only temper our excitement a little bit. Luckily, we are likely to hear all about Android 4.3 tomorrow during Sundar Pichai's press event and the probable launch of the next-gen Nexus 7.

Source: Pocketnow

 

[kodiak799]

C'mon, there's no way you go from 4-5 hours of heavy use to 20+, not unless Google figured out how to make our display's draw 80% less power with just a software tweak.

And I wonder if the battery tweaks aren't just things rom developers have already been doing for years. I understand Google might not want to take food out of loyal developer's mouths, but I've never understood why some cpu/battery tweaks and location-based settings aren't stock.

 

[mountainbikermark]

C'mon, there's no way you go from 4-5 hours of heavy use to 20+, not unless Google figured out how to make our display's draw 80% less power with just a software tweak.

And I wonder if the battery tweaks aren't just things rom developers have already been doing for years. I understand Google might not want to take food out of loyal developer's mouths, but I've never understood why some cpu/battery tweaks and location-based settings aren't stock.

I can do it on my Rezound now that isn't rooted. Turn off LTE and my battery life quadruples. LTE on,2 hours of screen time. Turn off LTE,8 hours of screen time.

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A Rezound phone was used for this Tapatalk post

 

[bigdad63]

How can that magnitude of battery life improvement possibly be true?

 

[lloydstrans]

I'm going to move to Missouri, show me.

If it's not HD it might as well be a newspaper.

 

[xtor]

A little skeptical on the battery claim

sent from a note yee (2)

 

[motcher41]

The battery life reporting is such a farce. Heavy usage my butt. Use the phone non stop for 4-6 hours and that is heavy use. I mean listening to Pandora, texting and playing a game at the same time. That is heavy use.

 

[dezymond]

I do suspect a battery life increase, but to quadruple it, that I'm a bit skeptical.

 

[kodiak799]

I can do it on my Rezound now that isn't rooted. Turn off LTE and my battery life quadruples. LTE on,2 hours of screen time. Turn off LTE,8 hours of screen time.

I guess it WOULD be something if Google somehow managed to make LTE & Wifi work on-demand in a snappy and efficient manner - sip power on 3G until it starts receiving data, then switch on LTE or Wifi.

Still, for me when I'm using my phone the display chews up about 80% of the battery.

 

[Hugh Jass]

Who's version of "normal use" includes 14hrs of inactivity? >.>

 

[dezymond]

Who's version of "normal use" includes 14hrs of inactivity? >.>

when they're asleep

 

[Hugh Jass]

That's coma length to me.

 

[pc747]

[video=youtube;IKrHNkqw-dM]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=IKrHNkqw-dM[/video]​

The folks at PocketNow have a video up detailing a ton of new features and improvements on Android 4.3. The video uses a Nexus 4 equipped with the new OS from Google, and amongst the many new features comes a huge battery life improvement. Read on and check out the video to find all the details.

1. Auto-complete in the Dialer - this is a clever function that makes you wonder why they haven't thought of it before. The Android 4.3 stock dialer has been upgraded to include auto-complete within the dialer itself to help you get the right number more quickly. It's important to note that some devices have this function already, but that was thanks to the specific OEM. Stock Android didn't have that feature until now.
2. New Emoji Keyboard - Google included a this new keyboard as an option for all those super-texters out there who like to add the context of "tone of voice/facial expressions" to their messages with more cute emoticons. To get to it from the messaging app you need to long-press on the space bar.
3. Bluetooth 4.0 LE - This is one we heard about previously, but it's still pretty cool regardless. The newest version of Bluetooth promises much better power efficiency, and should drain your battery far less. This new version also includes a greater range of compatible devices. (This wasn't truly confirmed in the video, but the Bluetooth SIG has confirmed it.)
4. Improvements in the Camera App - "The camera in Android 4.3 fine-tunes the way the previous version worked by placing the items in an arc with the selected item clearly called out above your finger. Also, rotating the device from portrait to landscape and back while in camera mode is now almost instantaneous."
5. Better Performance - Apparently, the Nexus 4 is a great deal more responsive when using Android 4.3. It wasn't really sluggish before, but supposedly the difference is noticeable. This is borne out in synthetic benchmarks as well.
6. Significantly Improved Battery Life - Normally with this phone, Android 4.2 offers about 4-6 hours of heavy use before you need to recharge. With Android 4.3, the user was supposedly able to jump that all the way up to 25+ hours!

It's exciting to think that software tweaks could result in such dramatic improvements. We probably should remain a bit skeptical, but that should only temper our excitement a little bit. Luckily, we are likely to hear all about Android 4.3 tomorrow during Sundar Pichai's press event and the probable launch of the next-gen Nexus 7.

Source: Pocketnow

Forgive me for being a skeptic. I can see going from 6 hours to 10 but from 6 to 24 is quadrupling the battery life. If that was the case wouldnt the Droid Maxx be like a 4 day device vs 48 hours. Man my note 2 with the 24 hour battery would go 4 days on one charge. Though that I would love that to be the case I am not going to hold my breath.

 

[Hugh Jass]

There's no way pc747, if software alone could increase battery life like that then they wouldn't have bothered with engineering the upcoming Maxx, which would get a month of low use battery life, lol. This guy is bonkers.

 

[pc747]

There's no way pc747, if software alone could increase battery life like that then they wouldn't have bothered with engineering the upcoming Maxx, which would get a month of low use battery life, lol. This guy is bonkers.

That and I watched the video. It seems to me like the screen on time and wifi use helped him make it 24 hours. I do not have 4.3 so I can not confirm. But if 4.3 could quadruple or even double battery life you do not think the motorola x or even the the Droid Ultra Maxx would have been touting that feature. "4 day battery life on a single charge"... people would be losing their minds that alone would trump the fact that it is only a dual core device with 720 display.