Google has launched Android 4.0 (‘Ice Cream Sandwich’ in the company’s quirky versioning vernacular), introducing several new features to the operating system. The most important of these, according to analyst firm Ovum, is the merging of tablet and smartphone variants of the OS.
Android has suffered in the past from a fragmentation of versions: Android devices on the market could be using any one of a number of incremental versions of the OS, creating headaches for developers, who faced difficulties supporting every permutation of the OS, and confusion for consumers.
No version gap was bigger than that between the phone (2.3.x aka Gingerbread) and tablet (3.x aka Honeycomb) varieties. Honeycomb introduced a bunch of features to suit larger tablet devices, and while feature innovation is always welcome, the release again created confusion and headaches for developers.
But with Android 4.0 - Ice Cream Sandwich - Ovum says Google is attempting to reduce the fragmentation of versions past, and in particular, bridge the gap between tablet and smartphone flavours of the OS.
“By creating a single version of Android, Google is making it easier for developers to modify their apps and take advantage of the larger screens of tablets, which should stimulate the creation of apps designed for Android tablets,” said Nick Dillon, analyst at Ovum.