At Google I/O Google revealed Jelly Bean, the new version of Android (version 4.1). It has some new bells and whistles, but but you’d have to go back three versions to get to the one that most Android device owners actually use.
Gingerbread, which came before Ice Cream Sandwich and Honeycomb has over 60% of Android distribution. Google released the following charts showcasing that distribution:
The data from devices that accessed Google Play (formerly Android market) within a two-week period ending August 1.
Despite the dominance of Gingerbread, one major highlight to take away from this is that Ice Cream Sandwich (version 4.0) has jumped significantly. The number is up about 50% from last month.
Devices that come with Ice Cream Sandwich, according to Android.com, include:
HTC One V
ARCHOS 97 Carbon
Excite 13 Tablet
Excite 7.7 Tablet
Excite 10 Tablet
Asus Transformer Pad TF300T
HTC One S
Galaxy Nexus 4G (LTE)
Galaxy Nexus
ARCHOS 101 G9
ARCHOS 80 G9
The distribution chart really highlights one of the most frustrating things about Android to users, and one major advantage of iOS by comparison. Most iOS users will get the iOS 6 on their devices when it comes out, but Android update distribution is and has always been chaos.