Original title: Nexus One won’t be the standard bearer for Android 3.0
Update: So it seems that all parts of this article not taken from previously verified information is completely false. We aren’t link baiting. We legitimately, totally, and egregiously messed up. I’ll leave up the original post, just you can revel in my idiocy. Normally I’d get mad at commenters’ unrelenting anonymous insults, but in this case I deserve them. If I had something to give away I’d give it to the person who could file the best article-related insult. So keep trying. Maybe I’ll find something.
So, when are we going to get Android 3.0? That’s a half-joking question I’ve heard from many fellow Nexus One users during the past few weeks. Most N1 users have already upgraded to 2.2, whether via a Google-released OTA update or by just doing it manually. In either case, nearly every Nexus One user should have 2.2 now, since Google has started pushing out the official update to all owners.
It is no surprise, of course, that Nexus One users get the first taste of Froyo. Not only is the phone fully endorsed by Google — it has their bloody name and logo on the back — but it is also seen as the Android standard. While some outlets, eager for page views, will look at the sales numbers and call it a flop, they miss the point of the Nexus One. It wasn’t meant to sell better than the iPhone. If Google wanted to do that they would have coordinated releases better and made it available at retail outlets. Instead, it was created for the hardcore Android user in mind — the developers, the people who wanted to stay on the cutting edge. The N1 offered that experience, and owners have been rewarded with first-look updates.
It appears now, however, that Froyo is the Nexus’s final stand. Sure, it will still receive future updates, probably still before other comparable devices. But for Android 3.0? Don’t count on it. Phandroid relays a rumor regarding Android 3.0, Gingerbread, which should hit airwaves later this year. If true, it would mean that any device eligible for 3.0 would have to meet certain hardware requirements. Specifically:
It must have a CPU clocked at 1GHz or higher
It must have 512MB or more of RAM
It must have a screen sized 3.5-inches or higher
This, of course, raises the issue of fragmentation to the mind of many Android users. I don’t think it will remain an issue for much longer, if in fact it really is a huge problem right now. The population most affected by fragmentation is the developer contingency, since they potentially have to create versions of applications that cross many Android platforms. As long as they have an apparatus to adapt applications for 3.0, 2.1, and 2.2, it shouldn’t be too large an issue on their end. If that remains a time-consuming issue for developers, however, we could see problems. But that’s another issue in itself.
On the user end, it will be a matter of making sure that each device is at its maximum OS capacity. That is, some devices top out at 2.1, others will top out at 2.2, while devices that meet the hardware requirements will top out at 3.0 (and beyond). That gives you three basic platforms, and, again, as long as Google makes it easy for developers to release their applications across all three platforms this shouldn’t be a huge issue. Certainly, at least, not as large as some make it out to be.
It will be sad, though, to not have my current device be the one to receive the initial updates. It will probably mean getting another device and filing away my Nexus One, the device that has helped keep me up on the latest with Android.
Update again: I’m sticking this at the bottom, because no one would probably read it anyway. Why would we link bait by posting false information? How in the world do we stand to gain from that. The next time I write something, who’s going to believe me? Don’t you think I have a huge hole to dig out of here?
