Android 3.0 aka Honeycomb is out now and will continue to be upgraded and will more than likely evolve in to 4.0 and 5.0 and so on, but what about the phone version of Android?
Currently the phone issue of Android sits at version 2.3 (although it has yet to arrive on every device) and Android 2.4 aka Ice Cream Sandwich is already strutting it’s stuff on prototype devices, but within a few versions the phone version of Android is going to have to evolve in to a 3.0, however by that point it will have already swallowed up a few of Honeycomb’s tablet ready features.
Google has already stated that the phone version of Android will receive some of Honeycombs advanced features and UI tweaks, and it looks like we will start seeing some overlap as early as Android 2.4, so the line between phone and tablet OS is already beginning to blur.
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The phone version of Android will support pretty much any size screen, and has already found itself used on the 7 inch Galaxy tablet and in a lesser extent on 10 inch Chinese made tablets, the only problem with this was that applications don’t always want to play nice on these larger screens, however with future version of Android 2.4+ and the advent of larger mobile phone screen, 4 inch +, we will see Google implement ways in which Android can stretch applications to make use of all the screen real estate available to it.
So in reality Android 2.4 could make for a pretty decent tablet O.S!
Don’t believe us? Take a look at HTC’s upcoming Flyer 7 inch tablet, the one which HTC have already made 1 million units of! What O.S does that use? That’s correct Android 2.4!
HTC could have easily used 3.0 for the Flyer but they chose to use 2.4.
So in the future will we see Android split further in to different levels of tablet and phone OS?
We think the answer is Yes, whether or not Google likes it!
Will further fragmentation hurt the already throughly stretched Android market? Possibly
Most importantly though will 2.4 be a welcome addition? Or will it just allow for more low end cheap tablet to flood the market?
We will just have to wait and see!
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