The next version of Googles Android OS called L will be out this Autumn but if you want a quick look at the developer preview you can have a look here:

http://www.engadget.com/2014/06/26/a...view-hands-on/

Google are keen to stop fragmentation but realistically they have no chance. Punters are still likely to wait several months or even forever for L to be made available for their device.

It won't actually be called 'L' - just a name beginning with 'L'. My money's on either Lemon Meringue or Lollipop

Lucky Charms is my bet

I suppose it all depends on whether they can get someone to sponsor/co-brand it. Lollipop does seem to be the most likely.

What happened to 'K' ? Or is that combined with Jellybean? Agh sorry forgot about KitKat!

schoolboy error

Well it was supposed to be Key Lime Pie so maybe they have kept the L from Lime? Maybe its Life just to break with tradition?

At any rate it should be 5.0 and looks likely to be 64 Bit:

http://www.knowyourmobile.com/google...look-android-l

http://www.techradar.com/news/phone-...atures-1091500

they've done a lot to help prevent this. like now when a new version has been released devices with the old version can only be certified for an increasingly short amount of time with the old version.

the fragmentation in the sense of the number of people running J and K is not a massive problem. API's tend to be introduced well in advance. it's the 15% of people still running Gingerbread

Jelly Bean is the most used OS followed by Gingerbread then Ice Cream Sandwich. KitKat was released in October 2013 some 8 months ago which shows just how bad things are!


2.2 Froyo 0.8%
2.3.3 -2.3.7 Gingerbread 14.9%
4.0.3 -4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich 12.3%
4.1.x Jelly Bean 29.0%
4.2.x 19.1%
4.3 10.3%
4.4 KitKat 13.6%

Data collected during a 7-day period ending on June 4, 2014.

https://developer.android.com/about/...rds/index.html

You've just gone off and googled the installed base and not thought about what i said.

JB does have the biggest installed base. what is the problem with that? on a practical level? nearly 75% are on the latest two versions.

Cannot believe they will have a name with lemon in the title. That is asking for problems.

I would imagine the biggest problem is the provision of consistent bug/security fixes.

I still think the main problem is the (in)ability of manufacturer's to roll out the software to their devices.

that is not made harder by the fragmentation though is it. it's made harder by the OEMs being too lazy.

I sort of agree. It is the OEMs that cause the fragmentation.

Google Play Services, where most of the actual changes take place, is updated every 6 weeks, and according to the keynote yesterday 93% of users are on the latest version.

For example Here's what the latest version includes:
http://www.anhroidpolice.com/2014/06...port-and-more/

check the link?

http://www.androidpolice.com/2014/06...port-and-more/

London Pride - cheers

nice.

Will the Android Silver project not help with this. Bringing some manufacturers into pure android way of thinking and encourage them to take updates quicker on more new devices.

[ from a users point of view, some updates are worth avoiding]

L, so they did not find anybody yet ready to pay through their nose to have the honour.

It's not just manufacturers, it's the owners, too. If there are no significant changes in provided functionality/APIs why bother. They need to pick the version that contains most needed features and use it as a standard all apps all OEMs need to support. Kind of like XP was for Windows. Developers will never catch up with this tempo. And they don't have to. I think the fragmentation is a false measure. They should consider how many versions the devices are behind the newest one. That's important IMO, not the absolute version number.

it is a bit strange they're not referring to it by name (yet?). Either negotiations with Lion bar/Lucozade are ongoing or maybe they're dropping the sweet theme entirely.

I can imagine from a branding point of view that Lollipop may be considered infantile, liquorice not to everyone's tastes(as well as being hard to spell) and Lemon Meringue Pie a bit long for constantly referring to it.

i agree. currently we have about 75% on the last two versions and that is what is important for developers to know.

Lobster?