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Apr 14

Android Fragmentation Declines, But Older Versions Still Rule

Posted in: Android, Google, motorola, os, Phones, Today's Chili

Google may be racing to release new versions of its open source Android operating system, but most mobile devices that use it are still running older versions.

About 70 percent of existing Android devices use either Android 1.5, aka Cupcake, or Android 1.6, aka Donut, among the earliest versions of the OS.

Android 2.1, nicknamed Eclair, is catching up. About 27 percent of Android devices use Eclair, according to data from the Android developers community. Eclair is the version included with Google’s Nexus One as well as Motorola’s Droid.

The numbers suggest that fragmentation, a concern for both consumers and developers, is on the decline, and that Android devices will coalesce around two versions of the OS.

The latest data on the market share of the different Android OS versions is based on the number of Android devices that have accessed the app store, Android Market, in the two weeks ending April 12, say Android developers.

In the 16 months since the first Android phone hit the market, Google has made four major upgrades to the operating system. Meanwhile, it can take more than a year to develop a new smartphone. So most new cellphones launch with older versions of Android, depriving users of access to nifty features such as turn-by-turn navigation and a better user interface. For developers, all the different OS versions mean they have to spend additional resources creating apps that are compatible with all.

Handsets aren’t automatically compatible with the newest versions of Android, because the manufacturers generally must update the firmware on their devices to support the latest versions.

Earlier this week, Motorola bumped up the Droid, which launched with Android 2.0, to Android 2.1. The company says it is working on a schedule that will update its other phones, too, such as the Backflip and Cliq.

Motorola published a schedule in its community forums that indicates an upgrade to Android version 2.1 for the Cliq is planned for the second quarter, while the Backflip will be upgraded to version 2.1 in the third quarter. The company says it is still evaluating if the Motorola Devour on Verizon will get the newest version of the Android OS. Devour currently runs version 1.6 of the Android OS.

Check out the chart to see how the different versions of Android stack up: