Google Android Roadmap: new clues emerge

Here in the Android world-watching, the air smells of uncertainty for a long time. Ever since Google announced Android honeycomb, Tablet PC Edition is optimized to its mobile operating system, there was no shortage of questions on the future of the platform and the direction in which it is directed.

The great unknown, was, of course, what's next: Will make its way Honeycomb Smartphone? Or Android devices will be assigned to one of two locations: the Froyo and Gingerbread-full phone range and deviation of honeycomb only tablets?

Thanks to some revelations at the Mobile World Congress this week, we're finally getting some answers.

Google Android Road Map: gingerbread, honeycomb and everything else

First, a brief explanation of where things stand now: oriented on Google Android smartphone version is gingerbread, also known as Android 2.3. Google has taken the wraps off of gingerbread at the beginning of December. So far, is officially available only on the Nexus S; for the rest of the pack, the update smartphone Android Gingerbread-flavored is still pending. (The vast majority of Android phones--about 89 percent, according to the most recent estimates of Google--is now on Android 2.2 or 2.1).

Then there's the honeycomb or Android 3.0--the new version for tablets. This sweet software entered our lives last month when Google gave us a sneak peek to the platform. About two weeks ago, Google held a media event in Mountain View that paid more details of honeycomb and provided the first hands-on demo of the Motorola Xoom, the tablet of honeycomb soon-to-inaugural-released.

Honeycomb involves major changes to the Android platform, including a new look and feel, interface renewed multitasking and notifications system improved. It also introduces the ability for applications to split into multiple panes side-by-side on the screen.

Despite its Tablet-centric design, Google has dropped several hints that honeycomb could reach Smartphone. Android at the media event this month, Google reps told me that the specs were still up in the air but that Visual elements of the honeycomb will almost certainly land on every Android device--Tablet PC or a smartphone--at some point in the foreseeable future. The real wild card, I suspect, was probably the panels app mentioned above; those are made to take advantage of screen space expanded tablets and it would be difficult to duplicate on one screen-sized smartphone.

Google Android Road Map: What's Next

Fast-forward to today. During a speech at Mobile World Congress, Google CEO Eric Schmidt was asked about the various versions of Android and where things were headed. His answer was very telling.

"We have an operating system for mobile phones called Gingerbread. We have an OS previewed now for tablets called honeycomb, "said Schmidt. "You can imagine the result will begin with an ' I ', be named after a dessert and combine these two."

So there you have it: paths of Android Tablet PCs and Smartphones, in one form or another, will converge soon. But wait--there's more.

Also at MWC today, HTC announced a series of new Android devices, including a 7-inch tablet that will run a version of gingerbread known as 2.4 Android. Which presumably means that we will see at least one Gingerbread oriented phone more significant issue before the unification "" edition of Android arrives.

For those who keeps with entries, this is not surprising huge; We heard about the possibility of a 2.4 release for some time. Earlier this month, Android blog Phandroid published a rumor that Google was working on a version 2.4 that would bring some of the features of the honeycomb in devices at the gingerbread. A Web site called Pocket-link followed this report with rumors, suggesting that the software 2.4 would be able to run applications designed specifically for honeycomb. The site has also predicted that the issue would arrive in April.

These specifications are, of course, still unconfirmed, but they certainly are starting to gel with everything else that we are listening to. And in case you're wondering, inter alia, that the upcoming Android release "I" is believed to be called Ice Cream Sandwich.

There is another factor in the puzzle of Google operating system: Chrome OS. During his speech MWC reinforced this week, Schmidt what Google said about OS Chrome all along: that software is being targeted at notebook type devices with keyboards. Android is made with phones and tablets in mind. The two are separate entities with different purposes. Schmidt said that the first Chrome OS devices trade should hit the market sometime this spring.

The Xoom, meanwhile, is expected to launch within the next two weeks. Many other tablets of honeycomb are expected to follow.

And this, my friends, is the current state of the road map Google Android. We'll be hearing more details about every twist and turn as time goes on, so stay tuned; World of Android, things never stay quiet for long.

PCWorld JR Raphael is a contributing editor and author of the blog Android. You can find it on Facebook and Twitter.