Forget Android 4.1 Jelly Bean. Android has now officially moved on... to Android 4.2 Jelly Bean.
Announced alongside a trio of new Nexus devices, the latest incarnation of Google's mobile OS has now been fully unveiled, and the key new features revealed.
In the run-up to today's announcement there was some speculation that the new build of Android would in fact be Key Lime Pie, the next full-blown iteration in Google's alphabetical box of tasty tricks.
On Thursday, meanwhile, the Carphone Warehouse leak of the Nexus 4 made passing mention of Android 4.1.2 (despite elsewhere referring to Android 4.2).
In the end, though, the reality of Android 4.2 is less than you'd expect from the former, and more than you'd expect from the latter, which is just how it should be really.
Clearly the big new feature in the latest Jelly Bean is Photo Sphere, a panoramic photo tool that lets you take 360-degree photos in a similar fashion to Google StreetView – in other words, you can put together multi-dimensional panoramas.
Also new with Android 4.2 is support for multiple user accounts on tablets – a feature surprising in its omission so far. You can switch accounts from the lockscreen, while each user can have their own homescreen, background, widgets, apps and games.
Next up is Gesture Typing, which is pretty much like Swype functionality coming to the default Android keyboard, letting you glide your fingers over the keyboard and turn typing a word into drawing an elaborate gesture.
The contextual search/info system Google Now has also been updated, with some additional cards incoming covering the likes of flight information, table reservations, room bookings and shipping details.
And as of Android 4.2 Jelly Bean, Google's OS is now an official backer of Miracast, the Wi-Fi Direct-based wireless display standard already supported by the Google Nexus 4 and the Samsung Galaxy S III and which is set to become a big deal among component makers and HD TV manufacturers over the next year or two.
Speaking of the Nexus 4, that and the new Nexus 10 tablet represents your earliest chance to get your hands on Android 4.2 Jelly Bean come their release on November 13.
As for other Android devices, more will be revealed in a no-doubt endless string of stories covering each manufacturer's announcements, contradictions, about-turns and prevarications over the coming months.
