Android Rules Smartphones, But Which Version?

Nerval's Lobster writes "Google Android's dominance of the smartphone space has been reinforced by a new IDC study that places its market-share at 68.3 percent, well ahead of iOS at 18.8 percent. But which version of Android is most preferred by users? A new set of graphs on the Android Developers Website offers the answer to that question: 'Gingerbread,' or Android versions 2.3 through 2.3.7, dominates with 50.8 percent of the Android pie. 'Ice Cream Sandwich,' or versions 4.0.3 through 4.0.4, is second with 27.5 percent, with the latest 'Jelly Bean' build at 6.7 percent. As demonstrated by that graph on the Android Developers Website, there are a lot of devices running a lot of different versions of Android out there in the ecosystem, all with different capabilities. In turn, that could make it difficult for Google to deliver 'the latest and greatest' to any customer that wants it, and potentially irritates those customers who buy a smartphone (particularly a high-end one) expecting regular upgrades." Here's how Slashdot readers using Android break down: 31.0% Jelly Bean, 31.5% Ice Cream Sandwich, 0.7% Honeycomb, 22.8% Gingerbread, 4.3% Froyo, 1.1% Eclair, 0.05% Donut, 0.02% Cupcake, 8.5% unknown. Looks like you folks are ahead of the curve. iOS breaks down like this: 67% iOS 6, 28.6% iOS 5, 3.2% iOS 4, 0.5% iOS 3, 0.7% unknown. (These numbers include more than just phones, of course.) Overall, our iOS traffic (8.74%) is higher than our Android traffic (6.75%). Windows Phone and BlackBerry both clock in at about 0.2%.

Comments

Preference

[Anonymous Coward]

"But which version of Android is most preferred by users?"
I don't think it's about which version users prefer but rather what version they are stuck with.

Re:Preference

[Githaron]

"But which version of Android is most preferred by users?"

The newest.

Re:Preference

[ZombieBraintrust]

Well it depends. The newest runs like crap on a two year old phone. Some of the early Android phones didn't have enough memory.

Re:Preference

[lister king of smeg]

"But which version of Android is most preferred by users?".

CyanogenMod

Re:Preference

[icebike]

I have to give credit to Apple that even users of the positively ancient iPhone 3GS still get first tier support. You would be hard pressed to find an Android phone from that era with official support for Jelly Bean. Maybe one of the Nexus phones?

Um, no, that's not entirely true.

Ask anyone who has installed IOS5 or IOS6 on an old iPhone 3G, or even a 3Gs. Its horrible.

Large portions of new and marvelous best-thing-ever features are just not present on the old phones, (even those features that do not technically require new hardware elements, or are so slow as to be unusable. Battery life goes to hell, even with after Apple attempts to fix it. Most people who do this immediately hop on the net looking for a way to revert, the rest give up and run out to buy the latest iPhone (which was the plan all along). There is a lot of advice to simply not upgrade old phones.

Even iPhone 4 users are wary about updating to IOS6.

If anything the fact that you can install IOS6 on older devices speaks only to how little the iPhone has really progressed over time.

Re:Preference

[ozmanjusri]

I've been dithering on buying a tablet, and upgradability is one of the biggest sticking points.

Then buy an Asus or a Nexus.

Vote with your wallet - show those lagging vendors who's boss.

Re:Preference

[ozmanjusri]

It still drives me crazy that there isn't a "reference install" for Android that you can use

AOSP is the reference version. http://source.android.com/faqs.html

Which version is preferred?

[stevez67]

That should read "which Android version is the one their device will run or has been allowed to upgrade to." It's not like anyone with an android phone running Froyo can arbitrarily decide to upgrade to Jelly Bean.

I miss version numbers

[H0p313ss]

I know I'm not the only one but is this just age? Is there a real problem with the "code word" naming schemes?

And stay off my snow.

Unanswerable question

[Anonymous Coward]

Which version of Android is most preferred by users?

How would anyone know? The decision is made by the service provider, not the user.

Android version fragmentation is google's fault

[denis-The-menace]

If Google would have made it so that OS upgrade directly came from them and not the scumbag carrier, most phones would be running v4.0 or better.

Instead if the carrier thinks it will benefit them (the carrier, not their custmers), then they will crapify the OS and impose it on their captive customers. Most times they wont do this because the new OS is what will sell a new phone.