Hasta La Gadget!

Fragmentation caused by the different versions of the Android operating system — a cause of concern among developers — is on the decline. The Android OS is coalescing around three major flavors: Android 1.5, aka Cupcake; Android 1.6, or Donut; and Android 2.1, nicknamed Eclair.

Among those, Android 2.1 has the maximum share. About 37.2 percent of Android phones today have the Android 2.1 operating system, up from 27.3 percent in April.

Android 1.5 comes next with about 34.1 percent of Android phones sporting it, followed by Android 1.6 at 28 percent.

The data comes from Android Developers, the official Android developers’ community website, and is based on OS data reported by devices accessing the Android Market during a 2-week period ending May 17.

In the 16 months since the first Android phone hit the market, Google has made four major upgrades to the operating system. But smartphone makers unable to keep up with that pace have continued to introduce new cellphones with older versions of the OS, leading to consumer confusion about what capabilities various Android phones have. But in the past four months, many handset makers, including Motorola and HTC, have been steadily updating the OSes on their older phones. In most cases, they’re upgrading to the latest version, Android 2.1.

Still, in the rapidly changing Android world it is not enough. At its developer conference later this week, Google is likely to release the next update to Android called Android 2.2 or FroYo.

FroYo will support an updated Android Market, Flash Player 10.1, and tethering.

It will be interesting to see what this chart looks like in three months.

See Also:

• Android’s Rapid Growth Has Some Developers Worried
• Android Fragmentation Declines, But Older Versions Still Rule
• Android Comes of Age at Google Developer Conference
• New Phones Still Sold With Old Versions of Android

Chart data: Android Developers

Some eager beavers went ahead and busted through the embargo dam this morning, so you should already be up to speed on the Wildfire’s specs and vital statistics. For the latecomers, this is an Android 2.1 device with the same processor as HTC’s fabled Hero, a 3.2-inch capacitive QVGA display, and an ambition to sate the market for an affordable, socially connected Android smartphone. It’s slated for a release in Europe and Asia early in the third quarter of this year, and you can see all four of its tasteful color options in the exhaustive gallery of intimate photography below. Skip past the break for the full spec sheet and our early hands-on impressions of the Wildfire.

Continue reading HTC Wildfire hands-on (update: video!)

HTC Wildfire hands-on (update: video!) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 17 May 2010 08:14:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Hey, hey — what do you know? If you’re a Samsung Moment owner on Sprint, you know exactly how glorious it feels to have and hold Android 2.1, which Sprint has confirmed to be rolling out to handsets as we speak. Notably, a tweet on the matter has the carrier promising that Hero owners will be “next” to see the same update, but sadly a time line wasn’t given. Enjoy and hang tight, respectively.

Samsung Moment gets Android 2.1 update from Sprint, Hero users promised to be next originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 14 May 2010 15:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sure, it’s been leaked already — but is Moment-gate 2010 finally about to draw to a close? Quite possibly, because folks running the firmware update executable found on Sprint’s site are apparently ending up with a phone powered by Android 2.1 when all is said and done. Considering the fact that the Moment runs stock Android, the update feels long overdue — but Eclair updates are still pretty hard to come by no matter what kind of phone you’re using, so we’re just delighted to see it finally happen. Moment owners: can you do us a solid and check this out (assuming you’re brave enough) and let us know how it goes in comments?

Filed under: Cellphones

Samsung Moment update to Android 2.1 available at long last? originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 13 May 2010 18:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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This wouldn’t be the first time we’ve heard of Android being lovingly grafted onto Nokia’s N900, but this looks to be the most proactive effort yet to get it functional enough for lay N900 users (read: us) to actually install. Eclair’s now up and running on the device, complete with both keyboard and touchscreen support — important fundamentals, we reckon — and it looks like there’s enough chatter on the subject going on over in Maemo’s official forums to keep this ball rolling. Everything’s being managed under the so-called NITDroid project that aims to get Android ready to roll on both the N900 and the N8x0 series of tablets, so feel free to chip in some advice if you like — a functional radio stack would have to be high on the priority list, you can bet. Follow the break for a little video of brilliant hackery in action.

[Thanks, Nosa]

Continue reading Nokia N900 running Android 2.1, still rough around the edges

Nokia N900 running Android 2.1, still rough around the edges originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 12 May 2010 01:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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