Next version of Android will be Bluetooth Smart compatible, launching in the next few months?
Seems the boys at the Bluetooth SIG (Special Interest Group) were all set for a new version of Android to be announced today at I/O, so much in fact that they even released a press release talking about it. Yup, according to the press release, this new version of Android was said to finally take advantage of their Bluetooth Low Energy technology — known as Bluetooth Smart — in Bluetooth 4.0.
The press release went on to talk about this new version of Android to natively support Bluetooth Smart technology would be released “in the coming months.” Only one small problem: in the whole 3 hour long keynote, there was absolutely no mention of a new version of Android at all (Google’s Dan Morrill tells us “Android a topic for another day”). What’s more is the current version of Android 4.2.2 doesn’t yet support Bluetooth Smart. So what gives?
Now, we know we’re grasping at straws here, but… could the Bluetooth SIG be hinting at the possibility of Google announcing — or launching, rather — one more version of Jelly Bean just before the fabled Key Lime Pie debuts on the new next Nexus? Compatibility for Bluetooth Smart technology certainly sounds worthy of a .1 increment.
Many current devices like the Nexus 4 and others are actually Bluetooth 4.0 compatible, the only requirement they need to take advantage of Bluetooth Smart. With several Bluetooth Smart peripherals like wireless controllers and companion devices the Pebble also BT Low Energy ready, we could say, “Bye, bye battery drainage,” and “Hello, battery savings!” All Google needs to do now is flip the switch, pushing out a simple software update to enable this feature in their current line of devices.
The Verge discovered that Google has already revealed the necessary software for developers will use to enable Bluetooth Low Energy in their apps with the release of API 18. And with the release of a a new API, comes… you guessed it. A new version of Android. We’ll leave it up to you to guess if it’ll be Android 4.2.3, 4.2.2.3 or just plain ‘ol 4.3 Jelly Bean.