Ed Caggiani of Talk Android reports that his Nexus 10 tablet was just upgraded OTA to Android 4.2.1, indicating that Google is now rolling out the latest patch to all Nexus devices. The update is reportedly rather small, a mere 1.1 MB in size, and patches the People app bug that nuked the month of December, preventing Jelly Bean 4.2 users from adding birthdays for contacts born during that festive month.
So far there's no indication as to what the upgrade brings to Android other than the People app fix, but additional reports indicate that the patch may address Bluetooth performance issues that arrived with Android 4.2. Additional stability and battery life improvements are also a possibility with this new patch.
While many Android partners may disagree, Google made a smart move by launching its Nexus program. The company can quickly launch updates on the fly without wireless carriers getting in the way. The People app bug is a perfect example: the fix was released in just weeks whereas a simple patch distributed through wireless networks would require evaluation, testing and possible additional bloatware – if it's even distributed at all.
Despite bringing several problems to the Android platform, the 4.2 update definitely improved performance and stability. It also added Gesture Typing, allowing users to glide their finger across the keyboard to type just like Swype and SwiftKey. The update also brought multiple user accounts, new Google Now cards, a Photo Sphere mode in the Camera app, and more.
"Android 4.2 allows devices to enable wireless display," Google states. "You can share movies, YouTube videos, and anything that’s on your screen on an HDTV. Just connect a wireless display adapter to any HDMI-enabled TV to mirror what’s on your screen quickly and easily."
This latest update, v4.2.1, is reportedly now being rolled out to the Nexus 4 smartphone, and the Nexus 7 and 10 tablets. Stay tuned for an actual change log from Google.