Dec 22, 2024 | Updated: 11:35 AM EDT
May 13, 2013 02:51 PM EDT
Many were hoping for the new Android Key Lime Pie 5.0 OS to be announced but it seems increasingly likely that we are going to get the JellyBean 4.3 upgrade. In fact scratch that, it’s pretty much confirmed that we will see a Jellybean 4.3 update next week instead of Key Lime Pie 5.0.
Perhaps it’s for the best because now we have to consider compatibility issues. Device and software fragmentation is a major problem in the Android market, consider:
“At the height of the Jelly Bean 4.2 era, the update managed to find it way onto about twenty-eight percent of Android devices in use. That includes some obsolete devices that are three and four years old, and while still in use, not realistically expected to be capable of running circa 2013 system software. But it still points to the majority of current model Android devices either not shipping with 4.2 or not being hardware-compatible with the update.”
So far it’s confirmed the Samsung Galaxy S4 and HTC One have forward compatibility with the upcoming JellyBean release. Other devices that 4.3 is already running on include the Nexus 4 and Nexus 7 which Google is naturally focusing on.
Perhaps before getting ahead of ourselves we should keep in mind the vast majority of Android device users won’t even be able to take advantage of. We’ll likely hear more details about what features JellyBean 4.3 will have at the conference. Some of the things people are hoping for include, a mobile gaming hub, enhanced Google Now version, Google Play Store expansion into Google Play News, wider Google Music deployment and an overhaul of Google Talk.
I suspect a good number of these will have to wait till Key Lime Pie 5.0.
Interested in the Google I/O 2013 Conference? You’re in luck! We’ll be covering it all week starting Wednesday.
