Google’s Matias Duarte has revealed the new operating system (OS) standards for Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. For any previous iteration of Android we’d say something along the lines of “who cares” but in this instance it’s actually positive news.
Android 4.0, named Ice Cream Sandwich, is supposed to be the version of Android that will herald the new Golden Age for Android devices. Traditionally, one of Android’s biggest problems has been device fragmentation. With so many different and unique devices being pumped out by a multitude of manufacturers across a range of carriers it’s been an extremely difficult for Google to ensure that its Android OS updates actually reach the devices currently on the market. So difficult, in fact, that it hasn’t really been happening.
In many instances market-leading phones are waiting up to or over six months to receive the latest Android updates. This has led to some pretty loud complaints from customers and more than one scathing article regarding the Android OS as a whole.
Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS) is designed in a way that should begin to solve this problem. With ICS will come a new set of guidelines and standards by which developers and manufacturers will have to abide if they wish to succeed. That is to say, these guidelines are not compulsory, just very strongly suggested.
As these new standards see increasing adoption anyone who isn’t complying will begin to stand out, in a bad way. In playing by this new rulebook apps will be able to work more easily and efficiently across all Android 4.0 and above devices. There’s also some user interface (UI) characteristics that have been suggested, meaning that users will be able to more easily adapt to the UI layout of new and unfamiliar apps.
We’re certainly looking forward to Android getting its act together and taking this big step towards eliminating device fragmentation. It will probably take a while and things are sure to be slow at first. But hopefully by this time next year we’ll see a significant improvement across the Android range.
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