Schmidt reveals Ice Cream Sandwich due in October/November
updated 04:45 pm EDT, Wed September 7, 2011
Ice Cream Sandwich/Android 4.0 coming by November
At last week's Dreamforce conference in San Francisco, Google Chairman and ex-CEO Eric Schmidt revealed that the code-named Ice Cream Sandwich build of Android will arrive in October or November. The software is expected to bring together the smartphone and tablet versions of the OS, making it easier for developers to create apps for both device types. The Droid Prime or Nexus Prime, a smartphone showcase for the OS, is expected to arrive at or near the same time.
This is the first semi-official indication from Google of when the OS, likely to be called Android 4, would see the light of day.
As for the Droid/Nexus Prime, it may get a 4.5- or 4.65-inch, 480x800 touchscreen and a dual-core 1.5GHz processor, though these are just rumors at this point. It will be built by Samsung, however. [via AndroidandMe]
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Sep 2010
More fragmentation
The open but closed progress of Android is a good thing but the reality is is that the uptake of Android 4 will be as slow as Honeycomb because Google will not release the source code to OEM's who layer their own interface on top.
On the flipside the OEM's are not giving up their interfaces because they do not want to become dumb hardware manufacturers relying on razor thing margins and being undercut by the other 38 or so Android OEM's.
Considering how OEM's put the emphasis on the interface (ie. Motoblur, Touchwiz, HTC Sense) they can put older versions of Android on their devices and the vast majority of buyers neither know or care.