Jelly Bean also has better notifications, so that users won't have to open separate applications to act on those notifications. If an email notification pops up, for instance, the user can view the email from within the notification instead of opening the Gmail app. They can also return calls from within a missed call notification.

Other improvements include increasing the display rate to 60 frames per second, so opening applications and refreshing the screen appear smoother. And the touch interface has been made faster and more responsive, according to Google.

The new OS also adds new input languages -- Urdu, Hindi and Thai. And it can connect to external braille devices via Bluetooth.

To help developers improve application performance, Google created a new "systrace" tool that collects performance data from within the the Linux kernel. It will help developers iron out glitches in their apps, by allowing them to correlate dropped frames with a database interruption, for instance.

Jelly Bean will be pushed out to the Motorola Xoom and other devices starting in July, Google said. It's also making a software developer kit available now to developers, from , and it created a new Platform Developer Kit for hardware makers who implement the OS.