By 
It’s official. Google has just updated their Android Distribution chart and it looks like Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich has been making some headway these past few months, and can now be found on close to 16% of Android devices. We’ve started seeing the last of 2011’s Android heavy hitters receiving their update to Ice Cream Sandwich, with the HTC EVO 3D, and other Galaxy S2 variants all finding themselves updated in the last few weeks. Last month, ICS was on 10.9% of devices and as new hardware is launching, we should continue seeing that number spike rather quickly.
Creeping in for the first time in the Android Distribution chart is Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, and although only official Nexus devices (and the Xoom, an “unofficial” Nexus tablet) are enjoying the Google’s latest treat, it’s currently accounting for .8% of Android devices in the world. Not bad at all. Can’t wait to see how quickly that number rises once Google puts more Nexus 7’s in customers’ hands. Go run and tell all your friends, Jelly Bean is the bee’s knees and the easiest way to get it is in the Nexus 7.
I think Google should make sure that the latest version of the OS is on the majority of capable handsets before releasing a new OS. Sounds stupid when you realize it’s the carriers, and not Google, but I think Google can do something about it.
Google COULD enforce it but what manufacturers and carriers do/impose on Android is their business. It’s (semi) open-software.
What matters is that Google updates their devices (Nexuses) quickly. A few weeks after Jelly Bean was announced — BOOM. It was available on their devices.
But then they’re going to get behind the competition. I think the answer is to force the carriers to not get involved in the updates.
I’m sorry to say it but google isn’t apple and they can’t throw their balls around like apple can, it’s the sad truth
I’m open to correction if I’m wrong, but isn’t the best thing Google could do to decrease fragmentation is reusing kernels between Android releases? I thought the big problem with updating, starting with Honeycomb, were proprietary driver incompatibilities? New kernels will screw with drivers right? If Honeycomb, Ice Cream Sandwich, and Jellybean all used the same kernel then you would have a much easier time reusing any proprietary audio and video drivers (At least for releases like Cyanogenmod. Official ROMs would still be delayed because of skins and bloatware.).
WOW 60% GB…. That’s pretty good……
For 2011… O_o
I kid, I kid……………. but really: O_o
Well, if we consider the amount of low-end and mid-range Android devices out there, GB @ 60% is pretty good, i thought the majority would be 2.2
Same, for me the Gingerbread distribution was the most surprising.
Google and manufacturers (mainly Samsung) are catching up
I have three Android devices-
1.Galaxy Nexus (HSPA+)-Jelly Bean 4.1.1
2.Nexus 7-Jelly Bean 4.1.1
3.Asus Transformer Infinity TF700T-Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0.3
I guess I’m not the norm, but hey, I gotta be I :D Asus is going to roll out JB to the TF700T in the coming months, hopefully sooner than later.
Same three devices I own. Looking forward to JB on the Transformer the most, speed boosts will be great.
Atrix 4G and Nexus 7 both running jellybean, AAWWWWYEEAAAAA
Google has done what it needs to do: they’ve provided an option for people who care about getting timely updates. They can’t bully the manufacturers and carriers into doing it.
If you keep buying devices that aren’t getting updated, they’ll keep making devices that don’t get updated.
This. Google need to push the Nexus a lot harder and create a culture where the race is about support and updates rather than bloatware and megapixels.
Google hasn’t done what it “needs” to do. They have to first provide a Nexus device on every carrier with a simultaneous launch in order for that argument to be fully valid, in my opinion. They also could stop producing phones at the end of a tech cycle and start producing them at the beginning. I counted down the days until the sprint gnex was available, but after i saw the Evo LTE produce far superior battery life and a superior camera. I couldnt force myself to get a gnex.
It might be at 1% if vzw would update the gnex…. :-/
Maybe even 2%!
I just got my GSM Nexus, and two minutes later updated to Jelly Bean. Best feeling ever being able to upgrade to the newest software straight out of the box ^.^ (coming from only having used motorola android devices, I had forgotten what updating my phone felt like :)
So they basically have sold 30 million Nexus devices?
Actually quite a lot more, since none of these galaxy nexus variant, have received jelly bean
yakjudv | Variant for Australia.
yakjukr | Variant for South Korea.
yakjusc | Variant for Japan.
yakjuux | Variant for Canada.
yakjuvs | Variant for Brazil.
yakjuxe | Variant for Russia and the former Eastern Bloc.
yakjuxw | Variant for for most of western Europe.
yakjuzs | Variant for China and Hong Kong.
yakjukr | Variant for South Korea.- I am using one right now in Seoul with Jellybean :)
My mistake almost all of them ;-)
When did yakjukr get jelly bean?
“Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich Now On 15.9%”-Courtesy of the Samsung Galaxy S III
I always here from Apple fans about how Android phones never get updates so they “suck.” Well I also remember being able to multitask and send picture messages with my G1 when my Iphone using friends could not. What really matters is what each version can do. 2.2 and up should have little to no problems holding it’s own against an Iphone or Windows phone. Yes 2.2 or 2.3 may not be as flashy as 4.0 and up but it still performs just fine for most of those on that version.
I really have to chuckle a little every time this chart comes out. It’s not like a web browser or PC OS. For the vast majority of consumers (ones that don’t load custom ROMs, and have no idea why you should buy a Nexus device), it’s not like you can choose to upgrade your Android OS or not. If you are still running on IE6 (and have at least XP), you can upgrade to IE8. If you are on Windows XP, you can most likely run Windows 7. If you are on an old version of Chrome or Firefox, you can upgrade those.
Android OS upgrades (for phones at least) are controlled/hindered by the carriers, some being worse than others. I fully disagree with the argument that many people have of “they just want you to buy a new phone, so they don’t upgrade it”. What percentage of customers buy a new cell phone at full retail cost every few months to a year? Sure there are some, but not enough to affect these statistics, and not nearly enough to justify the “they just want you to buy a new phone argument”.
I love my Android devices, but these charts are always misleading to me. It’s not like people are resisting updating to ICS or Jellybean. They simply can’t without rooting/hacking their phone (which, again, the vast majority of consumers won’t do).
ICS is not the big update some might think. 4.1 brings much more to the table and I hope it is available soon for my GSII and the wife’s Note. Both are good phones, but both could really use a little Project Butter action.
Hopefully by the time those FroYo people get a new phone the carriers will have ICS and JB phones ready. Right now the only option is Nexus (which isn’t bad, in fact best in my opinion).
‘proud’ user of 2.2 thx HTC.
Rooted VZW Galaxy Nexus running 4.1.1. I feel sorry for the 99% of users stuck with Android 4.0 and below. Jelly Bean is just that nice. Far superior to any other version of Android. The app support is not amazing right now, but that will change over time. Most apps will run fine however. JB makes me excited for the future of Android.
Google needs to control updates not carriers for androis os, just as apple does. Skins for devices should be applied after from updates from carriers in another layer so at least then the user will be updated to the latest stock with a choice of applying a skin, if they dont want the latest stock because they like the current stock with skin then let them skip the update until they want to update. I bet you the fragmentation would go down real quick, but i gaurentee you device manufactures would throw an argument about user experience.