According to Pocket-lint, Google has been working on an update to its Gingerbread Android operating system which will include support for a new wave of dual-core capable applications and be released as the version Android 2.4.
We have seen a few images of unreleased handsets sporting the update, but until now it was unknown what the update would actually be.
Smartphone manufacturer Viewsonic confirmed to the popular mobile blog that its new ViewPad 4 smartphone would be running the new Android 2.4 update, which is expected in April, the update would introduce the ability to operate Honeycomb applications.
An April release date was pushed forward to ensure that applications created for Honeycomb-powered tablets would be able to work on smartphones also, with Gingerbread in its current state, these apps would not function as intended.
It also explains why there have not been any major smartphone releases (besides the Nexus S) with Android 2.3 as the main operating system. We expect manufacturers were told of this update shortly after the Nexus S hit markets and subsequently delayed the release of their handsets until the Android 2.4 update had been released.
Confirmation from ViewSonic also ties in quite nicely with reports that Google was working on porting over specific parts of Honeycomb operating system to smartphone devices – codenamed GRI17 – although it was suggested this could be the Ice Cream update. Pocket-lint’s source believes Ice Cream will take the form as Android 3.1, with it suggested that all Android updates will be split from now on.
We imagine things will become clearer come Mobile World Congress or perhaps Google IO, we will of course seek independent confirmation to see what Android 2.4 has in store for us.
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