8.11.13

Major changes in Galaxy Grand stock 4.2.2 as compared to 4.1.2

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As most of you know that Samsung Galaxy Grand received official Jelly Beans 4.2.2 upgrade, which is rolled out by Samsung in almost all regions including India. This upgrade can be applied via Over the Air update which is there in the phone itself and also via Kies. The ROM is also available at SamMobile if you want to flash the ROM via ODIN. Well I prefer to update via over the air or Kies specially if you are not a tech geek.

Many of my friends are confused whether to update the mobile to 4.2.2 or not because there are many reports that the stock 4.2.2 has many stability issues. Samsung has rolled out stability updates to fix the major issues so as far as my opinion it is safe to upgrade.

If you are curious for what are the differences between stock 4.1.2 and stock 4.2.2 before updating the phone, I am listing some of the major changes which are present. I am only touching changes on the user point of view and not covering the technical changes in the core of the ROM and frankly core is out of scope of this blog. :)

How to update?

Update can be done by Over the Air update available in the Settings --> About Phone --> Software Update. The first major download is 488 MB and after that there are 3 more updates of 8 MB, 1 MB and 60 MB. There may be more or less number of update download depending on your location.
Update can also be done by KIES. For this download latest Kies from Samsung Website and connect the phone and check for firmware.

So the changes


A.      Home screen and launcher
  1. Lock Screen effects: there are some changes in the lock screen swipe effects, 4.2.2 has two effects, Ripple and Lights as compared to only Ripple in 4.1.2. The ripple effect also a little faster.
  2. Lock screens: 4.2.2 support multiple lock screens with widgets on lock screen.
  3. Notification area: The notification area shortcuts are customizable where you can change the arrangement of shortcuts like WiFi, BT, Sound, etc. There is a new button to open up all the shortcuts.

B.      APPS:

1.       Some UI modification in apps like calculator, calendar and clock app.
2.       Major makeover of Settings app. Settings are arranged in tabs.
3.       Settings for Nearby Devices and Kies over Wifi are added on first tab.
4.       Smart Screen: It has a option for smart screen which keeps the screen backlight on as long as one keeps looking at the mobile screen. (this won't work in poor light conditions)
5.       Motions and Gestures: Many new settings added in motions and gestures, for eg. Now the user can swipe the palm on the screen to take screen shot.
6.       Security: Remote control linked with Samsung account has been improved.
7.       Talk app is replaced with Hangout app as default.
8.       Some minor changes in radio app.
9.       Gallery app is improved. It now shows bigger thumbnail of the most recent pic of the folder.
10.   Maps is replaced with new Maps without latitude.

C.       Functionality:

1.       Apps on SD: JB 4.2.2 supports apps on SD card, of course the app should also support this feature. This option was not available on 4.1.2
2.       Safety Assistant: A new option of safety assistance. This alert the emergency contact by taking pic from front and back camera by clicking on fixed set of keys.
3.       Handling of dual sim is bit different as compared to 4.1.2
4.       There are some changes in T( predictive text settings, like auto replace is added which automatically replaces the spelling mistakes. The user language learning capabilities is improved, means the T9 records and understands the most frequent words and patterns used by the user and predicts the text accordingly.
5.       Keyboard or to say T9 has the option of connecting with the social profiles and it can learn the user writing patterns from social networks like Facebook and Twitter. This is a new functionality as compared to 4.1.2

Other than above there are some minor changes in UI and setting options. As far as battery backup is concerned I am having no issues and the performance is almost same as that with 4.1.2.

I might have missed some things though. If you find out something which I have missed please mention it in comments.


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