Google means business with Android these days. That’s not to say it didn’t before, but since the company’s Google I/O conference recently it has become clear that the people at Google are beginning to understand what it takes to make a premium smartphone. It’s not apps, and it’s not handsets. It’s the feel of the operating system.

Some smartphones just outright refuse to die. The HTC HD2, released in late 2009, is the most recent example of this. It was the first smartphone with a 4.3” display*, powered by a 1GHz Snapdragon processor, 512MB of RAM, a 5-megapixel camera. The HD2 was the last smartphone that was based on Windows Mobile 6.5, but later, thanks to vibrant community support, the device was able to run Windows Phone 7, and Android all the way from 2.2 to the recently released 4.1 Jelly Bean.

Android 4.1 Jelly Bean was announced late last month at the Google I/O 2012 keynote to much fanfare. It introduced some long-wanted features like a significantly faster and smoother user interface and a Siri-like* voice assistant, and natural evolutionary features like more powerful notifications, offline voice typing, improved keyboard. Jelly Bean also made plenty of smaller changes to pre-existing features. One such tweak was made in the how the lock screen looks.

Unofficial ROMs for Android 4.1 Jelly Bean are now available for latest high-end smartphones like the HTC One X, Samsung Galaxy S III and now the Galaxy S II, folks. We’ve already talked about the previous two and this post covers the first Jelly Bean ROM for the Galaxy S II. Check it out after the jump!

Adobe has confirmed today via their official blog that ongoing support for mobile Flash will discontinue almost immediately, meaning no official support will be given to the recently announced Android 4.1 Jelly Bean OS.

It really isn’t a big secret that the smartphone and tablet industry is an extremely competitive marketplace to be in. The iOS and Android operating systems are undoubtedly the two major players in this space, with Apple having sold more than 250 million iPhones in the last five years following the original launch and Google currently activating 1 million Android devices every day. The competition between the two platforms has always been a fierce one, but with Apple announcing their own mapping system in iOS 6 to rival the tried and tested Google Maps, the competition has ramped up another notch.

It is always a nice and welcome change whenever one of the big players in the mobile smartphone world takes to the stage to announce the release of something new. Familiarity often breeds contempt, and considering the mobile sector is an ever-changing landscape, the release of new hardware or software really helps to keep things fresh and keep end-users and developers alike engaged.

If the revelation by Google is anything to go by, then the official Jelly Bean update would be hitting our Galaxy Nexus and Nexus S devices in July. But luckily, and at this very moment, you can download a image of the Android 4.1 update for your Galaxy Nexus, and guess what? You can flash it right now!

While Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich is still on less than 10% of all Android smartphones and tablets, Google has announced the next version of Android: Android 4.1 Jelly Bean. As you can tell by the .1 increase in version number, it’s more of an incremental update than the revolutionary update that Ice Cream Sandwich was. We’ve got the details right after the jump!

Whenever you talk about or think of Google Android, sugary and delicious snacks are the first things which come to our minds. The multinational corporation has spread its wings wide with the products and services that they offer around the globe, but will almost always be thought of predominantly as the world’s largest search engine. However, if you happen to be from out of town and walked past Google’s Mountain View Campus, you might be forgiven for having your dentist on standby as you stare at the range of irresistible treats that are on display.

Those hoping that Google’s next release of Android, Jelly Bean, would be a major release with plenty of new features may be out of luck if a new discovery proves to be accurate.