Google Android 4.1 Jelly Bean review

ANDROID 4.1 JELLY BEAN is Google's latest release of its Android mobile operating system (OS) and is presently only available in the UK on the Asus built Nexus 7 tablet.

While most users' attention remains focused on the Nexus 7, having tested Google's latest mobile OS we have to say there's just as much to get excited about with Android 4.1 Jelly Bean.

Google Play
One of the biggest changes Google has made for Jelly Bean is an increased emphasis on multimedia content and the Google Play store.

Jelly Bean's user interface comes preloaded with a number of custom recommendation widgets and media shortcuts. The recommendation widgets are located on the device's main home screen and automatically cycle through various book, movie and apps recommendations.

The widgets contain shortcuts to the Google Play store, which has been markedly improved for Jelly Bean, offering a host of books and videos. Running through them we're really impressed with the selection of books. Surfing the free section we found pretty much every classic we would ever want to read and the paid section contained all the latest titles.

The movie store is slightly less impressive, with even Microsoft's Zune media service boasting a significantly better stocked catalogue. Google has pledged to increase the amount of content on the store and it was only when we began searching for esoteric, cult titles that we noticed a real shortage.

One key area the store is lacking in is its music library. Google has yet to launch its Google Music service in the UK, meaning that you can't buy albums using its pre-built music app yet.

This article was originally published on V3.