Google is planning to provide device manufacturers with
earlier access to upcoming versions of Android OS, in order to fix Android’s
platform fragmentation. The practice will start with Android 4.1 Jelly Bean and
the OS will be made available to OEMs in the form of a Platform Development Kit
(PDK) 2-3 months before the new version is released.
The Director, Product Manager, Android, Hugo Barra said, “The new Android PDKs were SDKs for device manufacturers. This will provide Google Hardware partners with an opportunity to ensure that new features introduced are compatible with their devices before the new version of OS is released.
The Director, Product Manager, Android, Hugo Barra said, “The new Android PDKs were SDKs for device manufacturers. This will provide Google Hardware partners with an opportunity to ensure that new features introduced are compatible with their devices before the new version of OS is released.
It has been seen that Android device manufacturers do not put much efforts to ensure that the hardware is compatible with the Android OS version. According to Google’s developer dashboard, 65 percent Android devices are running on Gingerbread, or Android version 2.3.3, the update that was released in February 2011. There are only seven percent of Android devices in market, which are running on Ice Cream Sandwich, the most recent version of Android OS.
The announcement by Google won’t close the time gap between the release of new version of Android and the actual period by when majority of Android users get the OS on their phones. The move by Google is definitely going to be a welcome one for the Android developers who want to design applications that are compatible with one of the many versions of OS that is current being used.
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