Google engineer: Android 2.3 is next major release

An anonymous Google engineer recently responded to a user that was experiencing corporate Wi-Fi login issues on his Android phone, saying they would be fixed in version 2.3. "Yes, Android 2.3 is a 'major release,' and this patch will be available then," he or she wrote on the Google Code Android site under the Issues section (via Android Central).

This would imply that we'll be seeing a new Android version before 3.0, which is codenamed Gingerbread and should be released before the end of the year. We're not sure if 2.3 will get its own codename, however, given that codename Éclair technically encompassed both Android 2.0 and Android 2.1, so codename Froyo could possibly encompass Android 2.2 as well as Android 2.3.

In further Android news, Google put its Gingerbread treat up on campus today and posted this video on the Android developer YouTube channel (we can expect big announcements soon):

The Gingerbread figure joins other treats in front of the Android building which are representing the operating system's codenames for previous versions: a cupcake (1.5), an Éclair (2.0-2.1), a bowl of frozen yogurt (aka Froyo, 2.2 and now possibly 2.3). If you haven't figured it out yet, we'll tell you: the Android releases are codenamed after a dessert, in alphabetical order.

For those wondering, version 3.5 is codenamed Honeycomb and version 4.0 is codenamed Ice Cream. Honeycomb should arrive in early 2011 while Ice Cream likely won't arrive till mid-2011, if not later.