Google's Gingerbread Man Has Arrived

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Google's Gingerbread Man Has Arrived

Posted by CmdrTaco on Tuesday October 26, 2010 @02:07AM from the not-my-gumdrop-buttons dept.

Daetrin writes "Last weekend Google received the next statue in the sweets-themed series that commemorates the major updates of the Android OS. In the past this has meant that the release of the next SDK was right around the corner. However this time there's some doubt as to what the version number will actually be. Many sites (including Slashdot) have assumed that 'Gingerbread' was synonymous with '3.0,' but now there's some evidence that everyone may have jumped the gun and the next version will actually be 2.3."

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says the gingerbread man to apple by Anonymous Coward · 2010-10-26 02:13 · Score: 0

you'll never catch me
1. Re:says the gingerbread man to apple by rwa2 · 2010-10-26 02:28 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  Heh, still waiting for OTA updates from T-mobile for my wife's Android 1.6 myTouch 3G. They've been promising it "just next month" since February :P
2. Re:says the gingerbread man to apple by stoolpigeon · 2010-10-26 02:35 · Score: 1
  
  It's become a cruel joke on the XDA forums for the Vibrant. Waiting on 2.2 which has been coming any minute now ever since it came out. I don't want to even think about how long it is before I'll see 2.3
  
  --
  It's hard to believe that's how Micronians are made. Why don't we see it right now by having you both kiss one another?
3. Re:says the gingerbread man to apple by Crudely_Indecent · 2010-10-26 02:41 · Score: 2, Funny
  
  Hey, I got some inside information from the brother of a guy who worked for the sister of a tech support reps bosses secretaries gardener who posted on one of the android forums. We're getting updated next week!
  
  --
  
  "Lame" - Galaxar
4. Re:says the gingerbread man to apple by Pojut · 2010-10-26 02:46 · Score: 2, Funny
  
  Is it going to happen at the Thirty-One Flavors? Eh? Will it? Bueller? Bueller?
  
  --
  Living With a Nerd
5. Re:says the gingerbread man to apple by No.+24601 · 2010-10-26 02:59 · Score: 2, Insightful
  
  Heh, still waiting for OTA updates from T-mobile for my wife's Android 1.6 myTouch 3G. They've been promising it "just next month" since February :P
  Tell me if I'm wrong, but what incentive do the carriers have to provide OTA updates after a customer has purchased a phone and data plan? I think the answer is: very little and probably not at all. I myself would like to believe that customer satisfaction would be a good reason, but I think it's the just a matter of.. once they have your money and updates are not specifically scheduled in the contract then tough luck.
6. Re:says the gingerbread man to apple by Thud457 · 2010-10-26 03:03 · Score: 1
  
  It's Tuesday, time for a google submitt-a-thon on /. ?
  
  So does that mean we hate Apple today? Wait, that's odd days, not even, right? Or is it by the last digit of your IP address? I have such a hard time keeping these all straight.
  
  --
  the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
7. Re:says the gingerbread man to apple by AigariusDebian · 2010-10-26 03:04 · Score: 0
  
  AFAIK this might actually improve on the segmentation, because with 3.0 Google expressly forbids/discourages extensive customisations (like HTC Sence), partially because upgrading those customizations to need Android versions for all the phones is the major reason why it takes so long for phones to get new Android versions.
  So here is hoping that once you get 3.0 after that all further upgrades would be nearly simultaneous for all devices.
8. Re:says the gingerbread man to apple by silanea · 2010-10-26 03:23 · Score: 1
  
  So does that mean we hate Apple today?
  No. Get your schedule right. Apple hate day is tomorrow. Today Apple is ignored as it clearly is irrelevant in the age of the cloud and already fading into obscurity. Has been, really, for the last couple centuries. Just nobody ever bothered to notify Cupertino, so the folks there still show up for work every morning. Poor sods they are, come to think of it.
  
  --
  Rudolf Hess edited Mein Kampf. He was the very first grammar nazi.
9. Re:says the gingerbread man to apple by Lion+XL · 2010-10-26 03:31 · Score: 1, Informative
  
  There is no concept of customer satisfaction when it comes to mobile users. One, we are never satisfied. Two, the carriers don't care even if we were.
  My wife lost WIFI when she upgraded to 1.6. The reason: it doesn't play well with wpa2, the fix: either use WEP or a 8 char pass-phrase. Neither of which is acceptable to me, so she doesn't get to play spades on line anymore....
  I upgraded to a Motorola Cliq last December, we are still on 1.5. Tried to root it, performance started to suck so I went backwards. The have next quarter since then. I think the problem is their idiot developers cant get Blur to work on the later releases.
  The Android developers group needs to set some guidelines so each carrier doesn't go off and do their own thing and keep the market all fragmented. Open source OS's are a great thing, except when fragmentation leads to stagnation. This is like the early days of Linux with incompatible code bases flying all over the place and you had to compile your kernel just to be safe.
10. Re:says the gingerbread man to apple by Eponymous+Coward · 2010-10-26 04:06 · Score: 1
  
  Stupid question here, but why can't you upgrade it yourself?
11. Re:says the gingerbread man to apple by rwa2 · 2010-10-26 04:26 · Score: 1
  
  Yeah, I'm pretty sure T-Mobile is lying (and there were some pretty big ads on their website and in print promising OTA updates) just to keep their older inventory moving off the shelves... that and that the "latest Android" is a swift moving target (how apt the gingerbread man reference).
  Anyway, some lawyer-types ought to take them on for truth-in-advertising, prolly more money to be made there than with silly RIAA john doe suits :P
12. Re:says the gingerbread man to apple by rwa2 · 2010-10-26 04:31 · Score: 1
  
  I made sure the Android phone I got for myself a few months later (myTouch Slide) was well-supported by CyanogenMOD, so I'm all set. I picked up both of them from Craigslist (no doubt by people who wanted to upgrade to the latest and greatest Android or expected something more like an iPhone)
  As for my wife, she loves her "little red phone" just the way it is. It does everything she wants it to, and really not that much less than my phone. So barring an automatic update (heck, she never even updates any of her apps from the market unless I sneak in and do it), she's not going to submit to the CyanogenMOD flashing procedure :P
13. Re:says the gingerbread man to apple by amRadioHed · 2010-10-26 05:35 · Score: 1
  
  I left Verizon because of the lousy, locked-down firmware they put on their phones. Customer satisfaction must count for something.
  
  --
  We hope your rules and wisdom choke you / Now we are one in everlasting peace
14. Re:says the gingerbread man to apple by amRadioHed · 2010-10-26 05:40 · Score: 1
  
  I'm gonna have to ask for a citation here. AFAIK, pretty much the only thing we know officially about Gingerbread is that the rumors about it from a few months ago are BS.
  
  --
  We hope your rules and wisdom choke you / Now we are one in everlasting peace
15. Re:says the gingerbread man to apple by Drathus · 2010-10-26 05:46 · Score: 1
  
  So you left Verizon before they had any Android phones for the behavior that they don't practice when it comes to said Android phones?
  It's okay, I left Ford because of the exploding gas tanks they put in their pintos. Customer satisfaction must count for something.
16. Re:says the gingerbread man to apple by Drathus · 2010-10-26 05:52 · Score: 2, Informative
  
  Uh, no. Just no.
  Eric Schmidt has said that since Android is open carriers/manufacturers aren't going to be prevented when it comes to customizing the builds they use.
  However a rumored goal for Gingerbread was to give it some of the shared UI tweaks that things like HTC Sense and MotoBlur have added to /reduce/ the customizations carriers will do by making them irrelevant. But that's far and away a whole other thing than expressly forbidding it.
  As for updates coming simultaneous? Don't hold your breath. Besides the fact that carriers and manufacturers will still put their own builds together there really is more to it than just customizations.
  Take the original Moto Droid for instance. It's a Google Experience phone, has no Moto Blur or other "enhancements" of which you refer and still it took months for FroYo to be deployed to it compared to the Nexus.
17. Re:says the gingerbread man to apple by lowrydr310 · 2010-10-26 06:59 · Score: 1
  
  I agree with your assessment. Once carriers develop a firmware/platform for a specific phone and it works reasonably well, there's really no reason to fix it unless there are a bunch of complaints about usability, or a bunch of gaping security holes that need to be fixed (which is common on desktop platforms, but isn't discussed much when it comes to mobile platforms).
  
  As a nerd, I like to have the latest and greatest software/firmware, especially if it adds new functionality and runs faster, but most people won't care if they're updated or not as long as their shit "just works."
18. Re:says the gingerbread man to apple by lowrydr310 · 2010-10-26 07:05 · Score: 1
  
  I never gave Verizon wireless a dime of my money precisely for that reason. Most carriers are bad enough, but Verizon had some very tight lock-in with no reasonable alternatives, and in some cases even charging extra for features that were a standard part of the phones.
  
  I may not be 100% correct here, but I recall phone shopping about three years ago for a Blackberry and I believe Verizon was charging and extra fee for use of the GPS receiver. I went with Sprint because just about every feature of the phone was available without any extra charges.
  
  Sprint had it's own limitations, specifically not supporting MMS on the Blackberry Curve, however there was a system update not long after I got it that enabled MMS functionality (instead of their silly "picture mail" service that utilized a web server and simply SMSed a link to the website).
19. Re:says the gingerbread man to apple by No.+24601 · 2010-10-26 07:23 · Score: 1
  
  Once carriers develop a firmware/platform for a specific phone and it works reasonably well, there's really no reason to fix it unless there are a bunch of complaints about usability, or a bunch of gaping security holes that need to be fixed (which is common on desktop platforms, but isn't discussed much when it comes to mobile platforms).
  Personally, I think Google needs to take a serious look at taking over supporting OTA updates. Yes, there are currently practical obstacles like how to separate core Android from the carrier's aesthetic modifications, but I don't think that would be impossible to address. People mention the specific low-level tuning done by carriers and their manufacturer partners as a major issue. This is something that Google should clamp down on now that they have gained significant market share. They should ensure that Android manufacturer pass all certification tests and don't fool around with anything that Google can't support themselves (besides trivial aesthetic concerns). Now is also the time to start adopting the Fuck off! strategy for dealing with manufacturers who want to use Android but don't want to obey the rules. Google now has clout. Before anyone says Google would end up looking like Apple, to that I respond that they should ensure the industry has some level of influence in their design decisions for Android going forward, but all OEMs going rogue with certified Android is simply not Option 2.
20. Re:says the gingerbread man to apple by VolciMaster · 2010-10-26 07:23 · Score: 1
  
  I left Ford because of the exploding gas tanks they put in their pintos. Customer satisfaction must count for something.
  The gas tank only exploded because the woman driver was BACKING UP on the interstate!
  
  --
  antipaucity
21. Re:says the gingerbread man to apple by amRadioHed · 2010-10-26 20:50 · Score: 1
  
  Umm, I left Verizon before Google had Android. They sucked then and I've seen no reason to give them another try. I'm quite happy with T-Mobile.
  
  --
  We hope your rules and wisdom choke you / Now we are one in everlasting peace
I can't wait for the Apple Pie release... by digitaldc · 2010-10-26 02:19 · Score: 1

...and watch as people start to call it 'Pie in the Sky.' But, you know you can’t eat your cake and have it too.

--
He who knows best knows how little he knows. - Thomas Jefferson
1. Re:I can't wait for the Apple Pie release... by camperslo · 2010-10-26 02:26 · Score: 1
  
  I wonder if there will be an changes in response to the Oracle Java suit. If I understand correctly, it was a matter of the completeness of the Java support. Perhaps that could mean Android would be able to run apps that weren't intended for the phones?
2. Re:I can't wait for the Apple Pie release... by Anonymous Coward · 2010-10-26 02:28 · Score: 0
  
  But, you know you can’t eat your cake and have it too.
  Some people try to.
3. Re:I can't wait for the Apple Pie release... by Archangel+Michael · 2010-10-26 02:55 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  Pie Version will be just a maintenance release ... 3.14
  
  --
  Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
4. Re:I can't wait for the Apple Pie release... by tlhIngan · 2010-10-26 03:34 · Score: 1
  
  I wonder if there will be an changes in response to the Oracle Java suit. If I understand correctly, it was a matter of the completeness of the Java support. Perhaps that could mean Android would be able to run apps that weren't intended for the phones?
  Well, they could make Dalvik be J2SE compatible, which would come under the free patent license for J2SE only.
  Sun never licensed J2ME under a free patent license for a very good reason - J2ME is/was quite lucrative, being on tons of "dumbphones" and "featurephones". Carriers and handset manufacturers were paying a good chunk of money to Sun to license J2ME. And you can bet Oracle's not giving up that source of money, either.
  J2SE was given away for free since it was mostly desktop oriented, and for that you want ubiquity moreso than money. The more Java on the desktop, the more Java developers and the wider the platform gets. But considering how much Java is available on phones (smartphones is but a tiny market compared to all phones), there's no need to give away what people are paying for already.
5. Re:I can't wait for the Apple Pie release... by SQLGuru · 2010-10-26 05:40 · Score: 1
  
  Or, they could port it to Go. Then they'd own the language, too. Just one more snub to Oracle (see other article about Oracle's brain drain).
6. Re:I can't wait for the Apple Pie release... by Anonymous Coward · 2010-10-27 20:47 · Score: 0
  
  Just hope that it isn't filled with irrational choices
huh? by martas · 2010-10-26 02:22 · Score: 1

OK, +5 freaking weird/confusing headline... funny, tho

--
weinersmith
1. Re:huh? by jac89 · 2010-10-26 02:26 · Score: 5, Informative
  
  Each major version of Android is named after a dessert, and in alphabetical order, so Cupcake, Donut, Eclair, Froyo, and now Gingerbread (with Honeycomb to come). When the Android team finishes the next version they celebrate by getting a big statue (in this case a gingerbread man) put on their front lawn.
2. Re:huh? by ByOhTek · 2010-10-26 02:43 · Score: 1
  
  Was there an 'A' or 'B'?
  Hmm... What will 'I' be?
  
  --
  Self proclaimed typo king, and inventor of the bear destroying coffee table (patent not pending).
3. Re:huh? by happydan · 2010-10-26 02:47 · Score: 1
  
  Ice Cream
4. Re:huh? by DragonWriter · 2010-10-26 02:48 · Score: 1
  
  Hmm... What will 'I' be?
  After Gingerbread, the next two have already been announced: Honeycomb and Ice Cream.
5. Re:huh? by teh31337one · 2010-10-26 02:51 · Score: 2, Informative
  
  Alpha, Beta and Ice Cream
6. Re:huh? by xenapan · 2010-10-26 03:43 · Score: 0
  
  I wonder what they are gonna name release 26. 'z'______? I cant think of anything sweet that begins with z.
  
  --
  insert funny sig here
7. Re:huh? by Anonymous Coward · 2010-10-26 03:51 · Score: 2, Informative
  
  zabagione
8. Re:huh? by Anonymous Coward · 2010-10-26 04:21 · Score: 0
  
  The initial release was just 1.0.
  The first update (1.1) was petite four.
  The third release (1.5/cupcake) was where the alphabetized tasty treats started.
9. Re:huh? by Briareos · 2010-10-26 05:05 · Score: 1
  
  Last I checked Google was an international company, so...
  Zimtschnecke
  Zucker
  Zwetschkenknödel
  np: Shadow Huntaz - 2020 (Valley Of The Shadow Instrumentals)
  
  --
  "I'm not anti-anything, I'm anti-everything, it fits better." - Sole
10. Re:huh? by Drathus · 2010-10-26 05:55 · Score: 2, Informative
  
  A and B pre-date Google's purchase of Android, Inc.
  A was Android
  B was Bender (Futurama)
  Cupcake was the first release under Google which started the naming after treats instead of robots.
11. Re:huh? by drcheap · 2010-10-26 06:55 · Score: 1
  
  Okay smartypants, what's after that?
12. Re:huh? by RzUpAnmsCwrds · 2010-10-26 09:47 · Score: 1
  
  That's not true - Google released both 1.0 and 1.1 for the G1 before 1.5 (Cupcake) was released. Both were released more than 3 years after the Android acquisition in 2005.
  There were no public releases from Android, Inc. And I can't find any reference to a release named "Bender", which would almost certainly run into trademark issues.
13. Re:huh? by Xest · 2010-10-26 20:07 · Score: 1
  
  "When the Android team finishes the next version they celebrate by getting a big statue (in this case a gingerbread man) put on their front lawn."
  This has to rank up there with burning effigys on a large fire (Guy Fawkes / Bonfire night in the UK) as weird celebrations from the West that must make us look fucking insane to the rest of the world.
  Yet here in the West we often have the cheek to claim other culture's celebrations are strange!
14. Re:huh? by Drathus · 2010-10-28 05:46 · Score: 1
  
  Late reply, but just to clarify as I might not have been clear with my wording.
  The A and B were not releases, but code-names used internally.
  The C-Cupcake release was the first Google release which had the treat themed codename.
  So the 1.0 and 1.1 releases were outliers in this trend of codenames.
Worthless without pictures by iONiUM · 2010-10-26 02:22 · Score: 4, Informative

Why doesn't the summary include a picture of the gingerbread statue after making a specific reference to it?
Anyways, this has a small picture and a video with it actually being unveiled (I couldn't find a better article with an actual pic): http://www.pcr-online.biz/news/34973/Google-unveil-Android-Gingerbread
1. Re:Worthless without pictures by Scyth3 · 2010-10-26 02:37 · Score: 1
  
  Better picture...showing its awesome gumdrop buttons: http://www.gearlog.com/2010/10/android_gingerbread_gets_its_o.php
2. Re:Worthless without pictures by Anonymous Coward · 2010-10-26 02:48 · Score: 1, Funny
  
  Not the gumdrop buttons!
3. Re:Worthless without pictures by Dishevel · 2010-10-26 02:55 · Score: 1
  
  Because it would have been relevant and this is /.
  
  --
  Why is it so hard to only have politicians for a few years, then have them go away?
mmmm by bittles · 2010-10-26 02:24 · Score: 1

i dont care what number they call it, it sounds delicious mmmmm gingerbread
2.3 == 3 by Compaqt · 2010-10-26 02:25 · Score: 5, Insightful

It's the new math, previously put forth by Sun when they started calling Java 1.2 "Java 2".
Not to mention version jumps from SunOS to Solaris:

After Solaris 2.6, Sun dropped the "2." from the number, so Solaris 7 incorporates SunOS 5.7, and the latest release SunOS 5.10 forms the core of Solaris 10.

--
I'm not a lawyer, but I play one on the Internet. Blog
1. Re:2.3 == 3 by KlaymenDK · 2010-10-26 02:32 · Score: 0, Redundant
  
  New Math never was more brilliantly explained than by Tom Lehrer:
  http://curvebank.calstatela.edu/newmath/newmath.htm
  
  --
  "Good news, everyone!"
2. Re:2.3 == 3 by Dionysus · 2010-10-26 02:50 · Score: 1
  
  It's the new math, previously put forth by Sun when they started calling Java 1.2 "Java 2".
  They got the idea from GNU and Emacs: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emacs
  
  --
  Je ne parle pas francais.
3. Re:2.3 == 3 by hansamurai · 2010-10-26 03:04 · Score: 2, Insightful
  
  Winamp skipped version 4 because they said what became version 5 was the best of both versions 2 and 3 (2+3=5).
  And of course the general disconnect between Java versions of what the consumer sees and what the developer works with. Java 1.5 to the developer, Java 5 to the end user, etc.
  
  --
  Reviewing just the first hour of video games.
4. Re:2.3 == 3 by Anonymous Coward · 2010-10-26 03:44 · Score: 0
  
  4 is also an unlucky number in Japan, a lot of software companies will skip right over 4 when doing numbering. Just like the Axim 4 didn't exist, it went from axim 3 to axim 5, can't blame winamp there.
5. Re:2.3 == 3 by drcheap · 2010-10-26 07:19 · Score: 1
  
  It's the new math, previously put forth by Sun when they started calling Java 1.2 "Java 2".
  I can't wait to see what happens when they get past 1.9 (aka Java 9?)
  Will it be 2.0? Can't call it Java 2.
  Maybe it will be 1.10? Isn't 1.10 == 1.1? Taken.
  They'll probably just start jumping on the meaningless-pair-of-letters bandwagon that everyone else has been getting on and off of over the years...MX, CS, XP, ME, CE, NT, FX, DX, MP, XL, ...
  "Just released, the latest and greatest, J2EE JDK DD!"
  (DD, for double-digit, lol)
6. Re:2.3 == 3 by shutdown+-p+now · 2010-10-26 07:31 · Score: 1
  
  It's unlucky in China as well, I believe. This makes for some funny things - I live in Richmond, BC, where more than half of locals are ethnically Chinese. The elevator in my building does not have buttons for 4th, 13th and 14th floors.
And this is important because? by whizbang77045 · 2010-10-26 02:25 · Score: 3, Interesting

I may be missing something, but what does it matter if it's 3.0, 2.3, named strawberry pie, or whatever? How does this impact our quality of life?
1. Re:And this is important because? by Anonymous Coward · 2010-10-26 02:36 · Score: 0
  
  It's a giant gingerbread man. Why wouldn't that be important to your quality of life?
  But seriously, it has gumdrop buttons.
2. Re:And this is important because? by Errol+backfiring · 2010-10-26 02:38 · Score: 2, Insightful
  
  By approximately 0.7
  Seriously though, companies are sometimes fooled by the looks of the numbers. 3.0 sounds like a whole new shiny redesign, while 2.3 does not.
  
  --
  Nae king! Nae laird! Nae yurrupiean pressedent! We willna be fooled again!
3. Re:And this is important because? by DragonWriter · 2010-10-26 02:54 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  I may be missing something, but what does it matter if it's 3.0, 2.3, named strawberry pie, or whatever?
  I believe Google said that tablets should wait for 3.0 (not any particular codename). If Gingerbread isn't 3.0, that means that there is at least one more significant release than people expected between now and the time Google thinks Android is tablet-ready. This probably matters to some people.
4. Re:And this is important because? by LingNoi · 2010-10-26 02:54 · Score: 1
  
  because they think it has importance. I've had it explained to me in many ways. The user thinks 1.0 is done, it lets people know which version to download (regardless of if your product has more then one version at any time). It's basically one of those bullshit things which suffers from parkingson's law of triviality.
5. Re:And this is important because? by shish · 2010-10-26 04:58 · Score: 1
  
  How does this impact our quality of life?
  When a new major version comes out, phone companies use it as an excuse to stop supporting the old one, and you have to buy new hardware to get new software (or use a third party rom, which disproves claims of "the old hardware can't handle it"...)
  
  --
  I mod down anyone who says "I will be modded down for this", regardless of the rest of their comment
2.3 by surgen · 2010-10-26 02:26 · Score: 5, Insightful

I hope its 2.3. Many of the 1.x handsets never got a 2.0 upgrade, but 2.x handsets seem to have decent offerings for upgrades in the 2.x version. I don't want to see handsets that could otherwise support Gingerbread have support dropped for them just because the marketing plan says to stop supporting certain handset when the next major version come down the pipeline.
Yes, yes, there's always rooting the device and custom firmware but that's not an option for every one (be it technical limitation or user limitation)
got gingerbread ? by Thud457 · 2010-10-26 02:29 · Score: 2, Funny

Achievement unlocked?

--
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
Android development is moving too fast by erroneus · 2010-10-26 02:34 · Score: 5, Insightful

I sincerely hope that they maintain backward compatibility and things of that nature. Already there is a division between 1.5 (and older) and 1.6 (and newer). I would hate to see another division after that.
There has already been much said about the scattering of various (usually carrier-driven) modifications to the OS that cause compatibility problems with apps in that an app on one model/make of phone will not work with another where the OS version is the same. (That's a big deal) I think it is important that this sort of consistency problem get resolved. I am sure wireless phone carriers have no problem with users not being able to run apps that were not purchased through them. But the market will very quickly become larger than mobile phones and consistency issues need to be resolved before that happens.
1. Re:Android development is moving too fast by Anonymous Coward · 2010-10-26 03:05 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  How many apps actually have this compatibility problem? I mean I get that there are certain apps specifically for 1.5 and some for 2.0, but I must have downloaded and run at least 100 apps for my android phone and all of them have run just fine. And I'm running a HTC magic, which came with 1.5, never had 1.6 delivered, and I have rooted and upgraded to 2.2. It mostly runs fine btw, despite rubbish hardware with a few tweaks and compromises (no widgets), And as I said it runs everything just fine. In fact I'm sure if some HTC engineers took some time to optimise v2.2 for the device it would run great. The fact is the Android platform isn't nearly ready for mainstream consumption (no way I recommend it to non-techies) and needs a heap more development, so regular version updates should be expected for some time. With enough iterations, Android will become a very powerful and flexible portable computer OS, so bring the new versions on!
2. Re:Android development is moving too fast by Microlith · 2010-10-26 03:07 · Score: 2, Informative
  
  I know, just like how Linux development started moving so fast there were four version in a single year. Everyone gave up and ran away, now all we have are Windows and MacOS X!
3. Re:Android development is moving too fast by shugah · 2010-10-26 03:30 · Score: 1
  
  The minimum CPU speed is now apparently 1Ghz. That means most of the top end phones available today will "minimally" run gingerbread (although there is a big difference in benchmark performance between the 1GHz Snapdragon based Androids and the 1GHz Hummingbird based Androids).
  
  This would seem to indicate that Gingerbread really is targeted to tablets.
  
  So - is Honeycomb going to require a 2GHz CPU? Will there be a version targeted to smartphones (lower CPU specs)? For most people, a mobile phone has a 2 or 3 year life cycle. I would hate to have shelled out for a brand new Samsung Galaxy S or Droid Pro just to find out that the next OS update won't be supported.
  
  --
  If you aren't part of the solution, then there is good money to be made prolonging the problem
4. Re:Android development is moving too fast by Anonymous Coward · 2010-10-26 04:09 · Score: 0
  
  So what? Why this urge to have everything run the last major version of everything?
  My HTC Magic still runs 1.6 perfectly fine and I don't feel like missing out from not running 2.x.
  The new beefy 2GHz dual core phones can run 2.3 or 3.0 or whatever it's called, and lower spec phones can continue to run 1.6 or whatever works for them. Jesus Christ, it's not like running an older version of the OS is going to hurt or kill you.
5. Re:Android development is moving too fast by spire3661 · 2010-10-26 05:03 · Score: 1
  
  Being forced to use Windows Millennium would hurt or kill me.
  
  --
  Good-bye
6. Re:Android development is moving too fast by SQLGuru · 2010-10-26 05:45 · Score: 1
  
  Being forced to use Windows Millennium would hurt or kill me.
  If you didn't do it yourself for having to run it......
7. Re:Android development is moving too fast by Drathus · 2010-10-26 06:07 · Score: 2, Interesting
  
  The response from Rubin about the rumored requirements for Gingerbread was, "Don't believe everything you hear."
8. Re:Android development is moving too fast by xonicx · 2010-10-26 06:17 · Score: 1
  
  How can you install a new released version of android on old phone? Android uses different kernel(read device drivers) for each release.
  
  Cupcake: 2.6.27
  Donut: 2.6.29
  éclair: 2.6.31
  Froyo:2.6.32
  
  Google does not write device drivers or port kernel. Google get involved only in reference platform which is required to develop android user space. For rest of devices, kernel porting is mostly driven by OEM(for a particular hardware) and it is done by hardware partners. What is the incentive for OEM to port a new kernel for old hardware which is already in market?
9. Re:Android development is moving too fast by shugah · 2010-10-26 07:00 · Score: 1
  
  The OEMs are not the only source of Android hardware ports. There is a very active community of users building images for a wide variety of phone. The third party / community builds are usually available long before the official OEM supported upgrades because they don't have to worry about supporting "Sense" or "Motoblurr" or what have you.
  
  My phone came with Android 2.1, but my carrier (Rogers) disabled Google Navigation so that they could sell their own navigation app. So I rooted the phone and re-flashed it with a community 2.1 image. A couple of months later I upgraded to Froyo - and got a huge bump in performance, battery life and some added functionality.
  
  --
  If you aren't part of the solution, then there is good money to be made prolonging the problem
10. Re:Android development is moving too fast by Anonymous Coward · 2010-10-26 07:09 · Score: 0
  
  So what needs improving for mainstream consumption?
  I mean, there might be a thing or two that needs tweaking / bugfixing, but nothing "lifeshattering".
11. Re:Android development is moving too fast by erroneus · 2010-10-26 07:56 · Score: 1
  
  Off the top of my head, a usable and flexible syncML client with syncML compliance with all the apps that should be able to use it.
  That should be a pretty obvious feature that isn't yet fully enabled. And Funambol... sheesh! damned thing won't do SSL without being registered to one of the recognized CAs. And when I add the CA it still won't work. Meanwhile Funambol developers won't even recognize the problem.
  SyncML should be included in the OS.
12. Re:Android development is moving too fast by tknd · 2010-10-26 08:14 · Score: 1
  
  The division isn't because older android versions aren't compatible in newer versions, the division is because developers want to use features of newer SDKs that are not available in the older ones. There are many big and important changes from 1.5 to 1.6 and 1.6 to 2.0. But many devs started around 1.5 or 1.6 and so they already have a user base or they started with 2.0, had success, and wanted to capture more market by making compatible 1.5 or 1.6 versions.
  So while you can use the 1.5 version, it probably lacks features and has other restrictions that are not present in the 2.X version. All newer devs are switching to 2.X since the 1.5 and 1.6 market share is stagnating/shrinking and many features in the SDK aren't there. Nearly all new devices are 2.X android so it doesn't make much business sense to deal with the limitations in the 1.5 or 1.6 SDKs.
13. Re:Android development is moving too fast by adolf · 2010-10-26 14:44 · Score: 1
  
  The fact is the Android platform isn't nearly ready for mainstream consumption (no way I recommend it to non-techies)
  Which, you know, is funny. I used to think the same thing.
  And then, I started asking non-techie folks about how they like their shiny new Droid. They all seemed to like it just fine as a widget that makes phone calls, does text messages, browses Teh Intarwebs, and plays a cheesy game, and were satisfied with their limited use.
  
  --
  Kid-proof tablet..
14. Re:Android development is moving too fast by tjhart85 · 2010-10-26 16:57 · Score: 1
  
  The market only shows you apps that should work on your device. Therefor, EVERY app you download should work properly. It is of course somewhat dependent on the dev. coding properly [no insult intended, please don't take one] and also on the hardware manufacturer not mucking around with apis.
Mea culpa by Daetrin · 2010-10-26 02:40 · Score: 2, Interesting

Sorry about that, i originally had the second link, which includes a video of the unwrapping, as the first link. But then i decided to swap them because the (currently) second one went into more detail about the version confusion. I spent some time looking for a good article with a picture of the entire lineup of statues as well, but decided i already had too many links. As you seem to have noticed already there are a lot of copies of the video around but not a lot of simple pictures, at least not associated with decent articles so far.

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This Space Intentionally Left Blank
naming convention by underqualified · 2010-10-26 02:44 · Score: 5, Funny

for android 69, they should call it "cream pie"
1. Re:naming convention by simpz · 2010-10-26 03:44 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  I don't see how 69 logically leads to "cream pie"! Or your doing it wrong
2. Re:naming convention by donatzsky · 2010-10-26 03:56 · Score: 1
  
  I guess Snowball would be more appropriate.
  
  --
  VPS-like shared hosting, on under-crowded servers.
3. Re:naming convention by KlaymenDK · 2010-10-26 05:34 · Score: 1
  
  ...Or your doing it wrong
  Nevermind him ... he's underqualified.
  
  --
  "Good news, everyone!"
4. Re:naming convention by Anonymous Coward · 2010-10-26 06:22 · Score: 0
  
  I don't see how 69 logically leads to "cream pie"! Or you're doing it wrong
  Fixed that for you.
5. Re:naming convention by tool462 · 2010-10-26 07:08 · Score: 1
  
  Seriously. Glazed Donut would be a much better name.
Not much new in Gingerbread by Anonymous Coward · 2010-10-26 02:53 · Score: 0

Most of the features have fallen off into Honeycomb(3.0), especially since the best features are more appropriate for a full tablet OS than a smartphone OS.
2.3 = tablet version of 2.2? by Anonymous Coward · 2010-10-26 04:52 · Score: 0

Has anyone considered the possibility that Android 2.3 is just Froyo with some tweeks for the upcoming Android tablets?
That would explain why it is potentially already completed and the statue in place.
Statue? bah by shish · 2010-10-26 05:07 · Score: 1

Screw celebrations, I want to know what's new in the API...

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I mod down anyone who says "I will be modded down for this", regardless of the rest of their comment
newer phones by mschoolbus · 2010-10-26 05:17 · Score: 4, Interesting

It's good to see cheaper android phones coming out soon.

I am still waiting to upgrade from my g1 to the g2, if they can ever perma-root that thing!
Ditto here by phorm · 2010-10-26 09:10 · Score: 1

Ditto here on the motorola milestone, which moto kindly locked so I can't upgrade the base OS myself as it has a hash check (unlike the Droid).
Are there any 3rd-party updates for your MyTouch (HTC Magic elsewhere)?
android is open?! by hyartep · 2010-10-27 02:03 · Score: 1

fascinating, how much is android open.
there is new version very close, but nobody knows what the new features will be, or even what version number it will have.