Android 2.2 Froyo take-up leaps to 33 percent

More than one-third of all Android-based handsets are now running on version 2.2, known as Froyo, according to Google.

The most recent breakdown of active devices running the open-source operating system, covering the two weeks up to Friday, has been posted on Google's Android developers page. For its figures, the company looked at the OS versions running on hardware that accessed the Android Market over that period.

Android 2.2, better known as Froyo, is now available on more than a third of all Android devices. Image credit: Android Developers Forum

Google found that Android 2.1 — known as Eclair — is currently the most widely used build, with 40.4 percent of the total Android populace. However, version 2.2 has seen a huge increase in usage since the beginning of August, leaping from around 5 percent to its current level at 33.4 percent of all Android handsets.

Android 2.2 was released in June to the developer community. It made its first handset appearance on Google's HTC-made Nexus One on 28 June. Since then, a handful of other smartphones, such as the HTC Evo 4G and HTC Desire, have begun the transition to the OS.

HTC's upcoming Android devices, the Desire HD and Desire Z, are both expected to feature Android 2.2 when they launch in October.

However, LG Electronics has dropped plans to launch a tablet computer based on the Froyo platform, Reuters reported on Monday. "We plan to introduce a tablet that runs on the most reliable Android version... We are in talks with Google to decide on the most suitable version for our tablet and that is not Froyo 2.2," an LG official was quoted as saying in the report.

In Google's breakdown, the remaining 26.1 percent is spread across versions 1.5 and 1.6, which have 9.7 percent and 16.4 percent share respectively. A further 0.1 percent of devices are still running now-obsolete versions of Android, such as version 1.1, 2.0 or 2.0.1.