2.3 is set to become the shortest lived version of Android. If reports are to be believed, Android 2.4 is round the corner and is scheduled for an April launch. It too will be called Gingerbread.
Tech website Pocket-lint has quoted an anonymous source from device manufacturer Viewsonic saying that Viewpad 4 smartphone will run on Android 2.4. The new software will be optimised to use dual core processors such as Nvidia Tegra 2 or Qualcomm Snapdragon MSM8660.
It is also expected that version 2.4 of Android will be the smartphone version of Android Honeycomb, which is originally for tablets.
Samsung had last month announced the Google Nexus S running on Android 2.3, but no other manufacturer has announced any other smartphone on this platform yet, and this could be because of the imminent new release.
Pocket-lint says that Google wants to create a version of Honeycomb for smartphones as well, a move that would eliminate the amount of recoding developers have to do in order to maintain apps on two platforms –tablets and smartphones.
The tech blog’s Viewsonic source also mentioned that Android 3.1 will be named Ice Cream. The name of 2.4 remains undisclosed.
Viewsonic is set to announce ViewPad 4 tablet in April and hopes it will be the first Android 2.4 device. ViewPad 4 will have a 4.1 inch screen. It will use 3G networks and a dual core Qualcomm MSM8255 processing chip.