Android Army to Unify With Ice Cream Sandwich

A virtual army of mobile devices are now running the Android operating system, and there are several different Android versions among them. Furthermore, there is a separate version that only works on tablets, so not everybody is talking about the same thing when they discuss their Android device. Often times, the smartphone battles in main stream media are framed as Apple vs Android, and that makes sense to a point. Most of the smartphones sold today are powered by the Android system, it's just that they may not be running the same version.

If you've purchased a new Android-powered tablet in the last few weeks, there is a good chance it is running Android 3.0, nicknamed Honeycomb. If you've recently bought an Android smartphone, it's most likely running Android 2.3, called Gingerbread. Most phones out there use Gingerbread now, but almost as many use an older version, 2.2 called Froyo (short for frozen yogurt). Besides naming the new versions alphabetically by dessert names, each new version fixes bugs and adds new features.

Now comes Android 4.0, codenamed Ice Cream Sandwich, and it will be used for tablets and smartphones for the foreseeable future.

It's not yet been released, but when it does, it will just be one more version of the system out there among the other three. While some of the newest Gingerbread-enabled devices (Honeycomb, too) will eventually be updated with the 4.0 version, many of the older Gingerbread and especially the Froyo devices will not. Most of those devices will simply not be able to properly run the update, even though they may be just two years old. That's how fast the technology is moving forward. Android 4.0 will debut in November with the launch of the Galaxy Nexus, the Google branded device made by Samsung.

Let us know if you are awaiting Android 4.0 or if you are on an older device that won't get the update.