Yet another day goes by that we’re seeing some more Android 2.3 Gingerbread and Android 3.0 Honeycomb sightings. For those who have not been keeping up with this Android madness, Gingerbread will be version 2.3 of the Google mobile operating system, and Honeycomb will be version 3.0. Today, we’re seeing some test builds of both of these OS versions floating around the web, signaling that Google is nearing completion of their next major Android OS update. Yeah, I know, we’ve said that one before, so who knows what this actually means.
The test builds were spotted using an app called AIRBench, which benchmarks the performance of Adobe Air on a handset, this one in particular being the Nexus One. The benchmarks show us that both Android 2.3 and 3.0 have been using the app, and hopefully are getting closer to a final release so we can stop speculating so much.
From what we’ve heard, Android 3.0 “Honeycomb” will be more tablet-friendly than any version of Android, where Gingerbread is still designated for smartphones. But if we’re seeing the Nexus One running both versions of the OS then Honeycomb may make its way to smartphones after all, with it being able to support a better experience for tablets.
There were a couple of Honeycomb test builds (HRI783D, HRI83D) and one Gingerbread test build (GRH47B) found using the application, but does this mean that the builds will be released at the same time? And if so, will the Nexus One skip Gingerbread all together and get some Honeycomb loving? Probably not, but it’s definitely interesting to see two different versions running on the same phone at the same time.
If the early December rumors are true, then hopefully we may see an announcement for Gingerbread and Honeycomb, but it looks like Honeycomb is slated to debut sometime in early 2011, leaving Gingerbread to rule the roost until then.
So, who’s ready for Android versions like no other?
[UPDATE] We’ve been told that the Honeycomb sightings have been faked by the guys over at Frandroid to show just how easy it is to fake something like this by tweaking the build.prop. This means that even the Gingerbread sightings could have been faked, but were not by the Honeycomb fakers. Sorry to get your hopes up guys! Yeah, we know that’s annoying, but the lesson here is to not believe everything you see.
[Via: Droid-Life, AndroidCentral] [Source: Air Benchmark]