Android 4.2.2 might be rolled out by mid-February

Android 4.2.2, the latest version of Google's mobile operating system, may not be too far away if rumours are to be believed.  According to a report by International Business Times, Google employees are secretly working on the update and Android 4.2.2 is scheduled to be pushed out by mid-February.

 iDigitalTimes reported last week that the 4.2.2 update was being tested and would bring several bug fixes. The update reportedly contains simple enhancements to the OS, but there has been no information about it from Google's end.

International Business Times cited anonymous sources within the company stating that Google employees with Nexus devices, including the Nexus 4, Nexus 7, and the Nexus 10, have had an opportunity to test out version 4.2.2, but they haven’t found a major change as far as the user experience is concerned.

Say hello to the newest Jelly Bean! (Image Credits: Phone Review)

A report last month claimed that this new update will be released by Google in a handful of countries, including Malaysia and Brazil. Android 4.2.2 was reportedly spotted running on Nexus 4s in these countries and this update was to hit the rest of the world by the end of January, but that plan seems to have been pushed forwards by 15 days or so.

Google first announced Android 4.2 back in November. The new version is still named Jelly Bean and has some new features. The new version made its debut with the latest device from Google's smartphone stable, the Nexus 4. The camera app of Android 4.2 has a feature called Photo Sphere, which enables users to take high resolution, 360-degree photographs on all axes, giving pictures a look much like Google Street View. It allows you to instantly share the photograph on whatever medium you desire, including Google Maps if you want to make the picture public.

The new keyboard on Android 4.2 supports gesture-typing. It allows you to type out words by sliding your finger across the keyboard over letters that are part of the word. This is a lot like the Swype keyboard by Nuance, which is commonly found pre-installed on Samsung devices.

Another big feature in Android 4.2 is the ability to have multiple profiles for tablets. This allows users to share their tablets without the fear of having their privacy compromised due to another person using the same device. Users can have a separate profile with different accounts, settings and apps for different members of the family.

Android 4.2.2 only seems like a slight bump to the existing version of Jelly Bean. Preliminary reports suggest that it will quite likely bring along fixes for several bugs that have been niggling at users for a while now, especially the Bluetooth streaming issue in Nexus 7 devices.

News of this forthcoming version of Jelly Bean comes not long after Google updated the Android version share page. According to the data, Jelly Bean–both versions 4.1 and 4.2–has grown by 3.2 per cent since last month. This new update will probably see more Jelly Bean devices being activated, giving a firm foothold to Jelly Bean before the next version of Android is released.