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A shot of the unreleased Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc running Android 2.4 threw us for a bit of a loop last week — Android 2.3 had just been released and Android 3.0 Honeycomb was just officially shown off at CES (also checking out the Arc at CES, it wasn’t running a build of 2.4, and now SE is claiming the OS version number is actually the result of a configuration mistake and not a different OS version at all). Our immediate thought was that Google is in fact not slowing up on Android updates as they have said would be the case. The latest source-fed information seems to confirm this, claiming Ice Cream will be ready for release this summer. That no doubt equates to a Google I/O 2011 unveiling.
Saving the release for I/O suggests it may carry some of the larger changes we were expecting in Gingerbread, but we doubt it will be anything like the huge overhaul that is Honeycomb. Hopefully some of those awesome features make it into the build, anyway. The bigger issue is fragmentation, which over the past two months seems to be becoming a bigger problem than ever. Perhaps a larger looming issue is the problem Google has created for itself as 2.x phone builds near the 3.0 build for tablets. Who knows what will happen when those numbers converge…
[via AndroidCommunity]
Dear god, let the speculation begin…
It will probably also be Gingerbread just like Android 2.0 and 2.1 were Eclair.
I want to get “wasted”on some ice cream!!!
One would think if Ice Cream is as big a build update that it’s rumored to be, then it would be get a 3.x build number.
Also keep in mind build numbers can go well into double and triple digits behind the decimal (ex: 2.10, 2.37, 3.73, etc)
WTF. So android is now split into phones and tablets? I thought they would just make it so honeycomb would run on phones too.
Maybe they are separate for now, until they have sorted out any comparability issues then both tablets and phone builds will converge to version 4! or something like that.
AndroidPhone and AndroidTablet OS…. I should work in marketing! I do wish they’d slow down though. When I first got to Android, it was 1.
5 or nothing. As someone who is now considering upgrade options it’d be nice not having to compromise between hardware and software configuration and further upgrade reputation. Hero or iPhone was soooo much easier!
Looks like someone didn’t see the Sony Ericsson product blog today. It’s a false alarm guys.
“I’ve seen articles around higher numbers than 2.3 being seen in the display of Xperia arc phones – As I have been informed that is due to a misconfiguration in some samples and nothing to get too excited about really, sorry.”
http://blogs.sonyericsson.com/products/2011/01/10/xperia%E2%84%A2-arc-design-and-home-screen/
So wait, 3.0 is Honeycomb which comes after 2.3 – Gingerbread but before 2.4 – Icecream even though I comes after H but 2.4 comes before 3.0…and its not?
Whatever.Its more Android. Cant go wrong.
2.4 Is still Gingerbread
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=905191
2.4 is still Gingerbread, just like 2.0 & 2.1 were both Eclair.
Let’s hope they find some way to address fragmentation. This weekend I was at a party and the topic of phones came up; 6 of the 10 people had an Android device, but each were completely different. Apps that worked fine on one phone, didn’t work on another. Everyone was running different versions of Android, two of the people still had Cupcake running on their phones! It really takes away from the community that the iPhone or Blackberry users have; at least for non-technical people.
Google is so confusing with the numbering now. Google needs to come out and be much more specific about whats what in there numerical version!
Google UI Designer Duarte Sweet said that he didn’t get a chance to change the UI to gingerbread because he was hired when gingerbread was just about done. So I don’t predict anything 3.x but rather some visual tweaks to stock android and other little things that will make a transition eventually to honeycomb.
Ehhh I have a EVO so it doesn’t matter what version of Android there is I always have the latest and greatest!
Uhhh…2.3, 3.0, 2.4. And rumors of a mobile Chrome OS, too. Google really needs to clamp down on the fragmentation before they wind up supporting dozens of OS versions. Shouldn’t be terribly difficult: anyone still running cupcake or earlier; sorry, but your SOL. 2.0 and 2.1 should merge. Carriers and handsets currently running 2.1 devices (where hardware is compatible) should be moved to 2.2. releasing 2.4 should be delayed until the end of the year (or preferably to 2012). This way, they can focus on supporting just three phone OS versions through the rest of the year. Otherwise, they’re going to screw themselves right out of a very lucrative market as consumers just get further confused.
It’s not Googles fault, the code is out there for all to use. The blame rests squarely with the manufacturers for abandoning their product.
This article is full of fail. The author should follow the android scene better or at least read engadget. 2.4 is still gingerbread. Ice Cream will probably be beyond 3.0, 3.2 for example.
Guys relax. Icecream will be the version that works on both phones and tablets. Until then Honeycomb will run only on tablets, and Gingerbread on smartphones. I think they might even hold off from showing some big features on Honeycomb, and they’ll show them on Icecream, because although Honeycomb is a big release, it will be mostly about new UI. Icecream will contain most of the big features they’ve been working on since Froyo and it will also be a unified version for phones and tablets.
Stop saying Honeycomb is only for tablets, that is not true
Again with the F-words?
CyanogenMod is the answer to fragmentation.
All of my different android devices of different generations run concurrently the same OS, through the greatness of TeamDouche!
All hail opensource.
if you go by that number i have android 13.3.7
at least if you believe what my mobile phone says
Is there any concrete info on whether honeycomb will work on phones??!
Really Kevin, this is some seriously shit*y reporting. Your story makes no sense at all. You report Android stories you don’t make Android, Matias said that Honeycomb is coming to phones. They follow alphabetical and numerical order with their releases. Maybe what you are thinking is that Ice Cream 3.x will be released at I/O and it will bring the phone and tablet versions of Android together, was that really hard to say. Now this makes perfect sense since after I/O he said that Google split the Android team on work on Gingerbread for phones and one team to work on Honeycomb with him, him and Andy Rubin said the Honeycomb will work on phones. You guys have a lot of respect in the Android community but you just lost a lot of it with the story. Here is the interview with Matias Duarte (maker of Honeycomb)I suggest you watch it.
http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/07/exclusive-interview-googles-matias-duarte-talks-honeycomb-tab/
@Trey for us nerds yes but for the other 99% of Android owners that is not even an option. That is why the iPhone has a high approval rating from their customers because it is good without jailbreaking it, jailbreaking is not necessary to make it good. Now if we all ran stock like I do on my Nexus S then the general public wouldn’t really have anything to complain about, it is the skinned versions of Android that give it a bad name. Most are to dumb to even use one click root, my friend said he was tired was waiting on his Vibrant so he decided to root but he stopped because he didn’t even know how to make a folder on his computer, LOL. People think that using Facebook means they are computer savvy.
I am ready for some floating ice scream.
I still believe that Android 2.4 will be an update to Android 2.3 under the same Gingerbread name. I also believe that handsets will get a version of Honeycomb (Android 3.0) so both platforms are unified again.
Ice Cream will have a version number larger than Honeycomb. I cannot begin to believe that Google would make Ice Cream a version number that is smaller than the alphabetical name before it (Honeycomb), such as Android 2.4.
All of our devices run the same version of iOS this is why our products are better….
Oh wait, that’s not true.
@jdog25 HAHAHAHA!!! even my mum can do that and she asks me what to do when she deletes a tab on her browser. HAHA
@Trey I completely agree and if people can’t be arsed to learn to root and flash ROMs then that’s their problem, they should, I did and now I’ve gone all geeky… hehe :)
What’s up with that guy that said he has an evo? Does your evo have 2.3? I highly doubt it. That’s why I love my nexus s.
@B2L does my HTC Legend have 2.3? yes it does, that’s why I love Cyanogen so I wouldn’t care about different software’s, only hardware
Honeycomb is technically tablet only. Obviously Google is gonna have to make changes to it to put it onto phones, and that’s what I think Ice Cream will be. The Honeycomb design scheme WILL make it on to phones, it just won’t be called Honeycomb.
apparently Google will make Honeycomb for phones as well
HEY EVERYONE! Watch the Engadget interview with Matias Duarte. He specifically says that Honeycomb will be on phones as well. In the presentation made a while back by Eric Shmidt in which we first saw the Moto tablet (before we knew it was called Xoom), he too said Honeycomb would run on phones. In fact, he said that part of the SDK for Honeycomb would include the ability for developers to code the same app to work on both phone and tablet and to take advantage of the features of each. There is no tablet-only Android.
OMG Hellooooooooo If Android 2.2 is FroYo, and 2.3 is Gingerbread and 3.0 is Honeycomb…….how come Ice Cream is 2.4…helloooo Ice Cream is not 2.4.. IceCream will be 3.? that other missing number Google will let you know soon… maybe at I/O
Ohhhh and by the way…Andy Rubin says at the DDrive Into Mobile that Android 3.0 Honeycomb will be for tablets and mobile phones…….you guys need to pay more attention……
SO THEY COMING OUT WITH 2.4 WHEN THE HELL AM I GETTING 2.3 THIS SHIT SUCKS WHY DOESNT ALL THE DEVICES GET OTA UPDATES AT THE SAME TIME
I scream, you scream, we all scream for ICE CREAM!
Bring it on.
i <3 Google.
I’m waiting for ‘J’elly and ‘K’ey Lime…
Then ‘L’ollipop…
I dont much care what the version number is, at the end of the day its just a number, doesnt really mean a whole lot, other than that we can assume the higher the number the ‘better’ it is.
However, the version names are important as they relate to a new iteration of Android. So it will be interesting to speculate on what ‘Ice Cream’ will offer.
But for now, we know the next version is Honeycomb, and I really really think Google need to offer a little clarity on this as it is causing everyone confusion. Will it run on phones? Will it look same? (because I really cant iamgine it on a smaller screen) Will the release of Honeycomb be tablet and phone ready? Or will it be stable for one set of devices and then updated to be ready for the other set? And when is the ETA of Honeycomb?
Google just seem to be annoying everyone and causing confusion. Clearly Honeycomb is very different, and therefore why arent they giving proper indication on its plan?
My theory as that we will see:
Android for Mobile Devices (Will continue on, and maybe even see our own Gingerbread 2.4(Then a Honeycomb) with certain updates based off additions in the Android for Tablets)
Android for Tablets (Starting with 3.0 and based off of Android for Mobile Devices)
Then on each receiving it’s own updates.
To those saying 3.0 is for phones as well, watch the release video. It clearly states that it is built for tablets alone.
The interview with Matias Duarte was quite informative. Some of us don’t have time to invest in rooting. I love his articulation of google’s android values. And me was totally charming, too.
Oh no it’s Fragmentation! Fragmentation is what stopped me from buying a pc. I mean all those versions of Windows and computers from all those manufacturers. I knew someone with a Packard Bell P75 and he couldn’t even play Crysis while someone else I knew could. It’s crazy!
Fragmentation exists and it’s not as bad as people think it is. Yes some people still have 1.5 on their phone, but they probably have an old phone (except for that Dell air thingy). A better way to look at it is to look at what phones came out each quarter and to see what OS ran on those phones.
iOS and Blackberry aren’t perfect either. The company I work for had to contract QA out to a third party because of all the version ob BB devices on OSs on the market.
my droid eris runs gingerbread :)
lol seems like all of you have forgotten some of honeycombs purported requirements IE dual cores.
seems like alot of new single core phones are still comming out and to suddenly be rendered obsolete would make people unhappy so having a convergence period where the 2’s are kept first as incremental and then as time goes by major changes until they meet at 3.0 and cross platform
will gingerbread 2.3 till 2.5??? what about ice cream what version ??
I think the main point to deciphering the “android code” is in the hardware. Pay attention to ARMH, MU, Nvidia… These guys are making/participating in the future of which phone gets what. Dual core tablet? Dual core “super” phone, right? Tegra 2 will be interesting to test drive. It’s like the guys that were excited about Galaxy Tab. Or if you are young enough to remember 8-bit/16-bit gamer releases? Nintendo, Sega, and Super nes all had what looked to be expansion ports under their casings. Sega was the only one that took advantage of it. Ever buy a Sega CD??? Then there was 32x. If you don’t remember that (or beta/vhs wars!!!) atleast you remember hd/br battles? This technology is soooo young that most investors and wall street masters have not even caught up yet! The big guys in suits don’t think that you will use a “roku remote” or whatever and there is some truth. Shit I had to show my girl how to switch to wifi on optimus s and why you would even want to do that! As soon as these guys get the hardware figured out and STAY there for a decade, people will integrate it into their lives. And I think google is into something that they don’t even realize how big it is yet. Apple looked to be the guys that were going to make “everything”. So you had a mac computer and apple tv and ipad and iphone 4. But apple has too much control on what you can do period. Plus don’t the users seem so elitist! My wishes? Hardware updates and permanent, free, world-wide(or atleast Texas wide???!!!) WIFI. Figure that last one out and kill the carrier!—Hey it happened to music!