Rumour: Android 2.4 out in April
Also called Gingerbread
So where are all these Gingerbread (version 2.3) Android handsets, then?
Having seen the Nexus S come to market with the (second) newest iteration of the Android platform, it's surprising that barely anyone else has joined in, with only a handful of the (unlaunched) dual-core models preferring to roll with the most modern version for handsets.
For good reason, it seems, as an insider at Viewsonic talking to Pocket-lint has revealed that Google is about to unveil yet another version of Android in April.
And the codename for this successor to the short-lived Gingerbread? ‘Gingerbread’. Well, that’s not confusing at all, is it?
The reason for the reluctance to change the codename is that this next version of Android is intended to add very little to the existing OS.
In fact, the insider mentions that it merely adds support for dual-core apps designed for Android Honeycomb (version 3.0, currently only seen on tablets) on single-core Android phones running Gingerbread.
Presumably this means that 2.3 wasn’t up to scratch in this regard, hence the lack of uptake for the version from newly announced single-core handsets.
Why this information has leaked from Viewsonic - a company more associated with making desktop monitors than cutting-edge phones - is because it claims to be releasing the first product to ship with Android 2.4: the Viewpad 4. Out in April, would you believe?
