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Google's Gingerbread Man Has Arrived
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."
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
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:
I'm not a lawyer, but I play one on the Internet. Blog
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?
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)
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.
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
Achievement unlocked?
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
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.
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.
This Space Intentionally Left Blank
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
for android 69, they should call it "cream pie"
Is it going to happen at the Thirty-One Flavors? Eh? Will it? Bueller? Bueller?
Living With a Nerd
Alpha, Beta and Ice Cream
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.
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.
zabagione
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!
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.
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.