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Google’s Android 4.0 software won’t be limited solely to new handset models such as the Galaxy Nexus I just ordered. Handset makers are starting to share plans on which existing smartphones will see the update. Both LG (066570:KS) and Sony Ericsson have communicated initial details on their respective Facebook pages, indicating more information to follow. It’s likely both companies will push the update, also known as Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS), in early 2012.
LG’s Facebook page suggests that an upgrade will first be available for the high-end handsets it launched this year: the Optimus 2X, Optimus Black, Optimus 3D, and Optimus LTE. None are available in the U.S. under these names, though some exist as rebadged devices. The Optimus 2X, for example, is sold in the U.S. as T-Mobile’s G2X, which we showed on video early in May. It’s possible then that U.S. versions of LG’s Optimus line will see ICS.
In contrast to LG, Sony Ericsson hasn’t announced anything official on its Facebook page. However, Italy-based XperiaBlog caught a clue by way of a reply on Facebook by Sony Ericsson’s marketing manager to a question about potential updates. In it, SE’s Maurizio De Palma said the Xperia line of phones should get Android 4.0 in March and that all Xperia models from 2011 will get the new software.
With prior Android updates, we’ve seen some handset makers and carriers follow through with new software while others didn’t. Often, those that pushed new software did so more than six months after the code was made available from Google. The various versions of Android available on phones have created a bit of an issue with developers and consumers: Similar phones don’t have the same capabilities and sometimes can’t run the same applications because of the software variance.
I expect we’ll soon start hearing from other manufacturers as to which existing phones will get Android 4.0 in the near future. At its annual developer conference in May, Google announced a new initiative to adopt guidelines that bring Android updates and support to all new devices for 18 months after launch. If Google and its hardware partners hold true to that promise, any Android handset introduced to market after May of this year should see Android 4.0. Partners at the time of that news include Verizon Wireless, HTC (2498:TT), Samsung (005930:KS), Sprint, Sony Ericsson, LG, T-Mobile (DTE:GR), Vodafone (VOD:LN), Motorola Mobility, and AT&T.
There hasn’t been much news of late on this initiative. Google hasn’t released a major software update since version 2.3, known as Gingerbread, arrived last December. Small updates to Gingerbread have launched this year, but Android 4.0 is the next big version—and likely proving ground—for the partnership effort announced in May. The additional goal is to speed up the process pushing updates to consumers, which is sorely needed.
Google has fought the software fragmentation issue for well over two years—with some success. Android 4.0 has the potential to nearly eliminate it. If Googles really does “start over” with a new major version, promising updates for all new handsets after a certain date, consumers buying Android phones should see more similarities than differences among handsets by this time next year, if not sooner.
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Provided by GigaOm—
