Android 4.3 Jelly Bean: 5 Hidden Features Revealed By The Leaked ROM For Samsung Galaxy S4

The recently leaked Android 4.3 Jelly Bean ROM for the “Google Play edition” of the Samsung (KRX:005935) Galaxy S4 got tested on the European LTE version of the handset (GT-I9505), revealing that the new firmware update incorporates certain hidden features.

Following the leak of the Android 4.3 Jelly Bean firmware last week, the Snapdragon-powered European Galaxy S4 (GT-I9505) also got a taste of the new build as it was successfully ported in the form of a custom ROM.

Although the new firmware looks similar to the current Android version, matching speculation by earlier reports that claimed that changes in the Android 4.3 will not be user-facing, a recent report by Androidcentral said that the Android 4.3 Jelly Bean ROM brings a few “behind-the-scenes changes” to the platform.

Battery-Friendly Wi-Fi Feature: The Advanced Wi-Fi settings section in the new firmware includes a new checkbox, which allows users to use Google’s location service to look for Wi-Fi networks even if the Wi-Fi option is turned off. The new feature is likely to be part of Google’s new battery-friendly location services, which the company showcased during its Google I/O 2013 conference in May.

Power-saving Bluetooth: The Android System Info app has "android.hardware.bluetooth_le" listed as a feature, which indicates that Android 4.3 brings Bluetooth Low Energy support, a feature that was missing in the Google edition of Galaxy S4, running Android 4.2.2. In addition, the new firmware has Bluetooth tethering, which also was left out of the Google edition of Galaxy S4 on Android 4.2.2.

Enhanced Camera App: In the camera app, the settings bar is now shaped like a semicircle and the volume buttons can be used as a shutter button.

The Phone App Gets Handy: Users can now add two-second pauses, or even longer waits, in their dialing string using commas and semicolons, respectively. Moreover, the Settings also allow users to enable dial-pad autocomplete and change DTMF (dual-tone, multi-frequency) tone lengths.

Oomph For Developers: There are multiple options under Developer options > Profile GPU Rendering that allow developers to view a graphical representation of the time taken to generate a particular frame. Developers can see whether they are achieving the target of 60 frames a second, a new trait that would help them develop more soft-running apps. In addition, there are some debugging options as well in the new Android 4.3 firmware.

You can download the new Android 4.3 Jelly Bean firmware for your Samsung Galaxy S4 (GT-I9505) here. For more information on a manual installation or flashing procedure, click here.

Check out the hands-on video, provided by Androidcentral, with the leaked Android 4.3 ROM here: