Good news regarding Android fragmentation. More and more devices are running Android 2.1. And while that isn’t the latest version, it’s still in a whole different class compared to 1.6 or 1.5, which at this point should really be on the way out. That is, of course, unless phone manufacturers insist on bringing other new Android 1.6 devices to market. Google should still probably impose an end-of-life for each version, to prevent its hardware partners from releasing products with obsolete versions of the OS, but the situation seems to be more or less taking care of itself, albeit very slowly.
55.5% of Android devices are currently on 2.1. Only 3.3% are on Android 2.2 (at this point, that’s only the Nexus One). 1.5 and 1.6 together still represent 41% of the total, but at least they’re not the majority anymore. Android’s version fragmentation issue is very real, there’s no denying that. However, given time, the situation might not be as bad as some anticipated. The true test will be in Q4, when the next version of Android is due out. 1.5 and 1.6 will clearly still be around, and then the charts have the potential to become a lot more messy.
Most of us ignored the star news at the I/O Conference when the Google wave hits the rock at the conference. The star news is 18 new Android phones are being ready by Google with its partner by the end of this year. 20 more new headsets are also expected to be launched by Google.
News was declared only after Google revealed that the Android platform is growing fast with a substantial 5,000 odd applications available for the platform as of now.
iPhone consists of 35000 apps though 5000 is also not a small amount of apps. The developer interest and more apps can be seen as the number of phones is increasing on a daily basis.
All the companies working closely with Google have made the 18 handsets of New Google Android phones interests the most. Other manufacturers are trying to make the devices made by using Basic Android system.
Google’s debut web browser, Chrome, exited its beta form back in December of last year and now the company is ready to release version 2.0 of the software.
Included above is an informational video released by Google detailing the changes featured in version 2.0. As you can see, the feature list isn’t exactly extensive with the video showcasing the ability to remove thumbnails, go into a new full screen mode and use the new auto correct feature.
Android is mainly associated with smartphones, but that doesn’t mean Google won’t try to bring the OS to other platforms. The Mountain View giant has just set up an Android team somewhere in Taiwan, with the said purpose of providing technical support to local hardware manufacturers that want to develop products based on Android – including (apart from smartphones) netbooks and embedded systems.
Google has fixed a minor problem that iPhone users might have been experiencing over the last few days. If you searched Google via the toolbar in Mobile Safari, you would be presented with Google’s standard non-iPhone-formatted results page.
BlackBerry users will now have a new application to play with – Google Mobile App for BlackBerry. This app will bundle Google’s search function together with Google’s other BlackBerry apps and its online mobile services such as Google Mail, Google Maps and Google Sync, all for your BlackBerry. With a simple way to access so many of Google’s services, it’s easy to imagine that this app will be a hit very soon.
If you thought the browser wars weren’t intensive enough, you’ll be happy to hear that Google has (accidentally) announced their upcoming Google Chrome web browser, based on Webkit.
The announcement actually came about due to an accidental leak of a comic regarding the browser, which is now making its rounds on the Internet. It should be released by Wednesday, if the rumors are to be believed, and will be available on Windows only, while Mac and Linux versions will be available later.
Some of the more interesting points of the Chrome browser include:
A new UI that places the tabs above the address bar, instead of the traditional way
Incognito mode, which will allow you to browse the web in complete privacy, without recording any of your activity.
A new JavaScript engine to speed things up
They’ve even put up a web comic to provide users with additional information regarding Chrome.
NMA.co.uk reports that Google CEO Eric Schmidt has predicted that Google will in fact make more money from Mobile Ads than Internet Ads in the future. His opinion is that due to the personalisation element of Mobile, accurate targeting is going to take place – which means more contextually relevant Ads, and more click-through.
As you may know, Google has been developing in the Mobile space for some time with it’s core search service, mapping Apps, and obviously the Android platform, for which devices should be coming reasonably soon.
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