Google has been going full throttle with updating Android since its introduction in 2009. From the first 1.5 Cupcake version, to the most recent 4.2 Jelly Bean, there have been at least two updates every year till now. We are now a few hours away from the expected Android 4.3 announcement, and here are a set of features I pray Google adds to their insanely-expanding smartphone platform.
A way to Backup and Restore EVERYTHING from one device to another
Migrating from one Android device to another involves more than just the swapping of SIM cards and logging into your Google account. Granted your contacts, calendars, photos, browser data etc. sync over the air. But what about text messages? What about apps? What about widgets and folders on homescreens that some people take great pains to organise?
Google recently announced 15GB of free storage across their products. Using this space, let’s have a painless way of making your new Android phone software look like an exact replica of your old phone without having to use an array of 3rd party apps.
Built-in theft protection
Sometimes people ask me if there was any way to find their lost Android phone or at least remotely wipe its data. I ask them if they’ve installed an app like Prey, and generally it’s too late for that. If an anti-theft protection service was enabled right from the start, lots of folks unaware of these nifty third party apps wouldn’t need to bang their heads against a wall, in case of such a misfortunate event.
Get those awesomely-designed apps for iOS on your own freakin’ platform
Google has been on a roll in designing delicious-looking apps to their popular services like Maps and Google+ — on Apple’s iOS platform. Google did promise bringing those design philosophies to Android in the future, and I think Android 4.3 would be a good place to launch those.
Multi-user mode on smartphones
Google enabled this handy feature on Android 4.2 Jelly Bean, but only for tablets. And while I agree that a tablet has the tendency of being shared with multiple users, that can also be the case with smartphones. In the likely event that somebody requests to use my phone, I’d be comfortable to just switch to another user account and not let all my notifications constantly pop up or my photos be so easily accessible.
An integrated chat platform
There’s Google Talk, then there’s Google+ Messenger. WHY? Why does one single company have two different messaging services that are designed to do the same thing? This will in all likelihood be fixed with the much-rumoured Google Babel chat platform. Let’s hope they axe the prior two platforms and append all their users to Babel, instead of just letting them rot in misery.
Update: So there was no Android 4.3 announcement in the Google I/O keynote. But still, let’s hope the above features show up, whenever Google plans to launch it.
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