Rumor: Android 2.4 coming in April 2011

[Emil]

There's talk once again that Android 2.4 is simply a minor bump to Android 2.3, that it will work with Android 3.0 (codenamed Honeycomb) apps, and that it should arrive in April 2011. Those that think this is an early April Fools' joke will be quick to point out that this conflicts with a previous rumor that says Android 2.4 will be codenamed Ice Cream (Sandwich) and that it will be ship this summer.

The news comes from Pocket-Lint, which spoke to Viewsonic about the company's recently announced ViewPad 4. The smartphone will feature a 4.1-inch screen, a 5-megapixel auto-focus camera, Bluetooth 2.1, 802.11 b/g/n wireless connectivity, Flash 10.1, and also have HD 720p video recording, playback, upload, and a mini-HDMI 720p display output. Most importantly, the device will come with Android 2.4 when it launches in two months:

According to our source, the release date of version 2.4 has been brought forward to ensure that dual-core apps designed for Honeycomb (v3.0) will be able to work with single-core devices running v2.4. Currently, our man on the inside says that's not possible with version 2.3 (Gingerbread) hence the need to push to the next iteration and version number, but not change the name. It's most likely to be one of the main reasons we've yet to see any major manufacturer gunning to get Android 2.3 handsets out there. "It's to ensure compatibility with dual-core apps," our agent explains before adding that "it will still be called Gingerbread."

Of course, we speculated this might happen last month, when the first screenshots of Android 2.4 leaked running on the newly-announced Sony Xperia Arc. Codename Gingerbread may thus encompass versions 2.3 and 2.4 much like how versions 2.0 and 2.1 were both under codename Éclair. This new information also aligns with rumors that Google may soon be releasing a Nexus S with Android 2.4.

It appears that either Android 2.5 or Android 3.1 will be codenamed Ice Cream (Sandwich) or maybe, the original rumor from four months ago was right all along: Android 4.0 is where it's at. In either case, Google needs to clearly outline its branching strategy for Android: will the split of smartphone (Android 2.x) and tablet (Android 3.x) remain indefinitely?

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https://www.techspot.com/news/42303-rumor-android-24-coming-in-april-2011.html

 

[aj_the_kidd]

Big fan of Android and yes i admit it has it faults but getting updates on a Android phone is definitely a wait and see game. I like the split idea one OS for phones and another for Tablets

 

[Jibberish18]

Just my opinion but I can't STAND Android in it's current form, so the quicker it gets updates, the better. Although that won't necessarily matter if all of these damn companies take MONTHS to roll it out.

 

[gwailo247]

Have there been any android phones that actually have been upgraded by either the cell phone company or the manufacturer? From what I've been reading, they pretty much avoid the practice in order to sell you a new phone with the next version of the OS on it.

 

[aj_the_kidd]

There's no real profit in it for the vendors which is the big problem, they will create a phone which will be ready for the next iteration, suck you in on that basis, then spend the next couple of months taking their sweet time with the update, then the telecommunication companies need to test it, that takes another month or so, than it gets distributed based on location.

 

[Archean]

+1 Jibberish18

Along with many ills of Android it is one reason compelling me to think about changing, i.e. as soon as WP7 get its updates, I may chuck this Galaxy S out for good and get a WP7 phone (+ it has much better user interface unlike a cooked up lookalike of iOS). Hell I think webOS (or whatever HP calls it) has a much better interface compared to Android.

@gwail
Samsung took 6 months or so before they upgraded Galaxy S to Froyo; and there is absolutely nothing from them about upgrade to gingerbread .......... so I guess it should give you your answer.

 

[9Nails]

My Samsung Android phone is frozen in time at version 2.1. I guess I should be happy it ever made it that far. But with that said, my one looming problem with Adroid phones in general is for their lack of strong base applications. I don't want to put too much blame on Google, but the phone really needs to ship with some better email programs, some better camera programs, and some of the bells and whistles things like tip calculators, note taking software, and video editing. It's just not competitive against MS or Apple in it's base applications that Google ships the OS with.

 

[Archean]

Well at least you are not having such ghastly problems I've been having since I jumped to Android bandwagon e.g. sluggish performance even when nothing else is being done, messaging crashing just for the sake of crashing, performance degradation over time as closed programs never really are 'closed' properly, PC connectivity never really works ..... etc. etc.

 

[fpsgamerJR62]

Google should take control of the Android update process. It relies too much on the manufacturers and telecom operators to roll out the updates. This leaves a lot of users still stuck on Eclair and even those using handsets running Froyo where the manufacturer has no intention of shipping the Gingerbread update to those particular models. This happens a lot with the lower-end Android phones whose hardware barely exceeds Google's minimum requirements.

 

[Archean]

+fpsgamerJR62
Not a bad idea, but I doubt it will be feasible considering the huge hardware base Android is being shipped on, although it can eliminate instability and other performance related issues.

Now if Google's Nexus S can run gingerbread I wonder why galaxy s can't hmmm ....