ie8 fix
madison

Hardware 2.0

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes
Home / News & Blogs / Hardware 2.0

'Ice Cream Sandwich' powering 0.6% of Android devices

By | January 4, 2012, 4:35am PST

Summary: Android is still horribly fragmented, with most devices stuck several versions behind the latest release.

Google’s latest release of its mobile operating system, Android 4.0 ‘Ice Cream Sandwich,’ is now powering 0.6% of Android devices in the wild, according to data released by Google.

0.6% isn’t a lot, but it’s pretty impressive when you consider that the OS was only released back in October of last year.

But the information also paints a picture of fragmentation. Almost 55% of Android devices are running Android 2.3.3 - 2.3.7 ‘Gingerbread’ released in December 2010, while another 30% are running Android 2.2 ‘Froyo’ which was released in May 2010. Android 2.1 ‘Eclair,’ released October 2009, still runs on 8.5% of devices, which is more than run Android 3.0 ‘Honeycomb’ and Android 4.0 ‘Ice Cream Sandwich’ combined.

Android is still horribly fragmented, with most devices stuck several versions behind the latest release. The historical data chart shows just how bad Google’s problem with fragmentation has become.

This is a problem that Google doesn’t seem to be able to address.

Related:

Kick off your day with ZDNet's daily e-mail newsletter. It's the freshest tech news and opinion, served hot. Get it.

More from “Hardware 2.0”

Topics

Google Android 4.0, Android Device, Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes is an internationally published technology author who has devoted over a decade to helping users get the most from technology.

Disclosure

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

All opinions expressed on Hardware 2.0 are those of Adrian Kingsley-Hughes. Every effort is made to ensure that the information posted is accurate. If you have any comments, queries or corrections, please contact Adrian via the email link here. Any possible conflicts of interest will be posted below. [Updated: February 23, 2010] - Adrian Kingsley-Hughes has no business relationships, affiliations, investments, or other actual/potential conflicts of interest relating to the content posted so far on this blog.

Biography

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes is an internationally published technology author who has devoted over a decade to helping users get the most from technology -- whether that be by learning to program, building a PC from a pile of parts, or helping them get the most from their new MP3 player or digital camera.

Adrian has authored/co-authored technical books on a variety of topics, ranging from programming to building and maintaining PCs. His most recent books include "Build the Ultimate Custom PC", "Beginning Programming" and "The PC Doctor's Fix It Yourself Guide". He has also written training manuals that have been used by a number of Fortune 500 companies.

Adrian also runs a popular blog under the name The PC Doctor, where he covers a range of computer-related topics -- from security to repairing and upgrading.

52
Comments
Add Your Opinion

Join the conversation!

Just In

RE: 'Ice Cream Sandwich' powering 0.6% of Android devices
aiellenon 15th Jan
@jabster
My Samsung moment is also rooted and running Froyo, I think it is much faster, although I hack the Roms and cut useless junk out them. I think I cut the Rom I am using by 35%-45%*...

You can cut the Rom size fast by killing the ringtones and wallpapers that are included in most of them. My primary is an HTC Evo, running MikG 3.0, I cut that from 252MB* to 212MB* (even after adding my ringtones, I use customized ones for important people that might call me, and a 900KB redirecting hosts file) before installing it, now that I've used it a few weeks, I see several other "system" apps that it has as useless and next flash they will be cut also... I just used Titanium Backup to remove them now, although I am not 100% that it actually removes them. As a test, I removed 15MB of system apps and the available system space only went down 200KB, even after a reboot or three.

* - note that is the compressed pre-install file size
View in thread
0 Votes
+ -
Funny
Michael Kelly 4th Jan
It's funny how no one called the Windows ecosystem fragmented when most users were 2 versions behind for a couple years.
0 Votes
+ -
Exactly my thoughts
arki7 4th Jan
@Michael Kelly Exactly what I thought. I still use windows xp at work and vista at home, and I know many people who still use xp.
I'm an Android user. I have 2.3.3 and I'm fine with it.
0 Votes
+ -
Exactly my thoughts
arki7 4th Jan
@Michael Kelly Exactly what I thought. I still use windows xp at work and vista at home, and I know many people who still use xp.
I'm an Android user. I have 2.3.3 and I'm fine with it.
0 Votes
+ -
Exactly my thoughts
arki7 4th Jan
@Michael Kelly Exactly what I thought. I still use windows xp at work and vista at home, and I know many people who still use xp.
I'm an Android user. I have 2.3.3 and I'm fine with it.
0 Votes
+ -
Exactly my thoughts
arki7 4th Jan
@Michael Kelly Exactly what I thought. I still use windows xp at work and vista at home, and I know many people who still use xp.
I'm an Android user. I have 2.3.3 and I'm fine with it.
0 Votes
+ -
Exactly my thoughts
arki7 4th Jan
@Michael Kelly Exactly what I thought. I still use windows xp at work and vista at home, and I know many people who still use xp.
I'm an Android user. I have 2.3.3 and I'm fine with it.
0 Votes
+ -
RE: 'Ice Cream Sandwich' powering 0.6% of Android devices
Return_of_the_jedi Updated - 4th Jan
@Michael Kelly

Your problem is; You are trying to make sense out of Zdnet's nonsense.
0 Votes
+ -
RE: 'Ice Cream Sandwich' powering 0.6% of Android devices
Doctor Demento 4th Jan
@Michael Kelly

The difference is that when they bought those PC's they were running the current version of Windows, and moreover the majority of those PC's could be updated if the owners wanted them to be.....neither of these things are true about many Android devices, obsolete versions of Android are still being sold AND most of those can never be upgraded to a more recent version.
0 Votes
+ -
RE: 'Ice Cream Sandwich' powering 0.6% of Android devices
jabster17 4th Jan
@Doctor Demento: I am NOT going to put Win7 on my 6 year old PC when it runs XP SP3 just fine. I upgraded an old Win95 PC to Win98SE and while it became more stable, it was dog-slow.

I rooted my old Samsung Moment to upgrade from Eclair to Froyo and while it became more stable and smoother, plus added features, it became much slower.
0 Votes
+ -
RE: 'Ice Cream Sandwich' powering 0.6% of Android devices
deaf_e_kate 4th Jan
@Doctor Demento : ok, how do i update Windows Mobile 6.5 to the latest windows mobile software? So, out in the big wide world, there is Win Mob 6.1, 6.5 etc.. so Windows is fragmented as well.
Do all versions of the iPhone upgrade to the latest version of IOS? Fragmentation in the mobile world is rife, most governed by carrier or in MS/APples case, the manufactorer.
0 Votes
+ -
RE: 'Ice Cream Sandwich' powering 0.6% of Android devices
mrxxxman 4th Jan
@Doctor Demento You obviously don't know the meaning of the word obsolete. Just because a version of the OS is not the most current doesn't make it obsolete. There are many reasons why users wouldn't want to run the latest versions of an OS on hardware.

As long as the OS works for you on your hardware it's irrelevant whether it's the latest version or not. Only iOS users would see it differently.
0 Votes
+ -
RE: 'Ice Cream Sandwich' powering 0.6% of Android devices
billtech66 4th Jan
@Doctor Demento Good point Doc, ignore the nay-sayers, your point is well taken.
0 Votes
+ -
RE: 'Ice Cream Sandwich' powering 0.6% of Android devices
crtvance 4th Jan
@Doctor Demento Exactly..
0 Votes
+ -
That's Android strengths...
FuzzyIce 4th Jan
@Doctor Demento When I bought my HTC with 2.3.3 it was exactly what I wanted. Better than anything Apple could offer me, even if I wanted to spend more money paying Apple's taxes to become their property. Now, I don't want to upgrade my Android to the next version... When the time for that device is over, I will replace it with another Android, running whatever version the maker chose to offer it at an affordable price, fit for the hardware I'm going to buy.
0 Votes
+ -
RE: 'Ice Cream Sandwich' powering 0.6% of Android devices
aiellenon 15th Jan
@jabster
My Samsung moment is also rooted and running Froyo, I think it is much faster, although I hack the Roms and cut useless junk out them. I think I cut the Rom I am using by 35%-45%*...

You can cut the Rom size fast by killing the ringtones and wallpapers that are included in most of them. My primary is an HTC Evo, running MikG 3.0, I cut that from 252MB* to 212MB* (even after adding my ringtones, I use customized ones for important people that might call me, and a 900KB redirecting hosts file) before installing it, now that I've used it a few weeks, I see several other "system" apps that it has as useless and next flash they will be cut also... I just used Titanium Backup to remove them now, although I am not 100% that it actually removes them. As a test, I removed 15MB of system apps and the available system space only went down 200KB, even after a reboot or three.

* - note that is the compressed pre-install file size
0 Votes
+ -
Exactly my thoughts, but hopefully only one response.
admiraljkb Updated - 4th Jan
@Michael Kelly

I'm going to join the chorus. I do find the number of people on Froyo 2.2 is a bit concerning, but that is because the vendors haven't upgraded the phone to Gingerbread which is the final step for what is now "legacy" hardware. Most of the Froyo 2.2 phones *should* be due to upgrade and the new hardware will come with Gingerbread or ICS...

Personally, what I see is that "Fragmentation" (as used here) is an artificial Apple construct to deflect attention from it not having any much diversity in the product line. That construct is starting to break down with 3.5" screen iPhones with single cores of varying capabilities, then fragged it decidedly with 3.5" screen iPhones with dual cores, then 2 fragged iPads, and the new "fragglerock edition" iPhone 5 with a modernish 4" screen presumably.

I've been through this on an embedded product lifecycle when it converted from Windows to a Linux based appliance. The big reason was to get rid of version fragmentation (not called that at the time) and force customers to run ONE version of software (the LATEST) to reduce support costs. Long term the newer Linux based versions started piling up as well. From my experience, the only way to actually avoid "fragmentation" is to release ONE product, and never update/upgrade it ever again... Then you have just ONE version to support. Of course you'll be bankrupt in a couple of years if you're lucky, or one year if not.
0 Votes
+ -
RE: 'Ice Cream Sandwich' powering 0.6% of Android devices
jgm@... 4th Jan
@admiraljkb "Personally, what I see is that "Fragmentation" (as used here) is an artificial Apple construct to deflect attention from it not having any much diversity in the product line."

You nailed it right there. Wired magazine, which understands Android in a way Mr. Kingsley-Hughes doesn't, ran an article entitled "There is no such thing as Android, only Android-compatible". They even quote Ed Bott. They explain how users are going to have to accept that you didn't buy an Android device running Google software; you bought an HTC, Motorola, Samsung, etc. device that is Android-compatible. They explain how Android is a "weak OS" that takes a backseat to the hardware and the customizations of the manufacturer, and that we haven't seen this in the mobile space before.
0 Votes
+ -
RE: 'Ice Cream Sandwich' powering 0.6% of Android devices
Axenet 4th Jan
@Michael Kelly I wouldn't compare Windows OS and Android OS in that regard. People with decent PCs running XP can easily upgrade to Windows 7. But you can't do that with older Android phones. My HTC Hero is stuck at 2.1 with no upgrade path.
0 Votes
+ -
RE: 'Ice Cream Sandwich' powering 0.6% of Android devices
jabster17 4th Jan
@Axenet Unless you root it--not unlike the experience of having to do a full wipe to install Win7 on an XP box. But, learning from experience, some of those old Android phones can't handle the newer versions of the OS, so be careful what you ask for.
0 Votes
+ -
RE: 'Ice Cream Sandwich' powering 0.6% of Android devices
mrxxxman 4th Jan
@Axenet I'm sure if you go to XDA you can find a custom ROM to upgrade to a newer version if you want to put in the work to do it. Just like you would on a Windows machine going from XP to Win7.
0 Votes
+ -
RE: 'Ice Cream Sandwich' powering 0.6% of Android devices
Axenet 4th Jan
@Michael Kelly I wouldn't compare Windows OS and Android OS in that regard. People with decent PCs running XP can easily upgrade to Windows 7. But you can't do that with older Android phones. My HTC Hero is stuck at 2.1 with no upgrade path.
0 Votes
+ -
RE: 'Ice Cream Sandwich' powering 0.6% of Android devices
Axenet 4th Jan
@Michael Kelly I wouldn't compare Windows OS and Android OS in that regard. People with decent PCs running XP can easily upgrade to Windows 7. But you can't do that with older Android phones. My HTC Hero is stuck at 2.1 with no upgrade path.
0 Votes
+ -
You can upgrade... maybe not "officially".
SonicLogic 4th Jan
@Axenet check out XDA developers website and look for your phone theres even a ICS rom for it. http://forum.xda-developers.com/forumdisplay.php?f=512

Im currently using a LGE GT540 optimus LG supported it to 2.1 but im using Cyanogen 7.2 on android 2.3.7. The phone is now 10 times faster than it ever was in stock I even overclocked it for extra smoothness!.

Remember android is open source it is not illegal to do this to your phone. I would recommend it especially with aging phones as manufacturers tend to stop support so you want to buy a new one.
0 Votes
+ -
RE: 'Ice Cream Sandwich' powering 0.6% of Android devices
Return_of_the_jedi 4th Jan
"Android is still horribly fragmented" a problem the WP7 ecosystem wish it had.
0 Votes
+ -
RE: 'Ice Cream Sandwich' powering 0.6% of Android devices
Return_of_the_jedi 4th Jan
"...0.6% isn???t a lot, but it???s pretty impressive when you consider that the OS was only released back in October of last year."

And in two weeks will surpass WP7 total marketshare. Now that's impressive.
0 Votes
+ -
So, explain the logic behind your jubilation...
adornoe@... 4th Jan
True, WP7 has not taken the world by storm, but, what's that got to do with the ICS?

ICS, if it's growing, is growing through people upgrading from prior versions of Android, and it's not the same as a completely new and separate OS that is overtaking an older OS. So, ICS might be growing at the expense of the older Androids getting upgraded. When Windows 7 came on the market, it's growth was mostly at the expense of the older Windows OSes, XP and Vista. ICS might be cannibalizing from its older brothers. Even if ICS attains 50% share in the next year, will the total Android market have doubled, or would it have simply gotten updated?
0 Votes
+ -
RE: 'Ice Cream Sandwich' powering 0.6% of Android devices
mrxxxman 4th Jan
@adornoe@... What? ICS is the next version of Android. Going forward there won't be a distinction between tablet and phone versions. ICS is the next Android OS for all Android devices.
0 Votes
+ -
mrxxxman:ICS being the next version of Android doesn't answer the questions
adornoe@... 5th Jan
I posed.

Your statements are irrelevant to my comments.
0 Votes
+ -
RE: 'Ice Cream Sandwich' powering 0.6% of Android devices
mrxxxman 4th Jan
@Return_of_the_jedi BTW, the article is incorrect too. ICS was announced in October, not released. It was released when the Nexus shipped in December. Which makes the adoption rate even more impressive. I'm sure two months from now it will be exponentially higher.
0 Votes
+ -
0.6% isnt a lot...
wright_is 4th Jan
But when only one machine is being sold with ICS and no manufacturer has released an update yet, it isn't bad... :-S
0 Votes
+ -
no need for manufacturer updates,
SonicLogic 4th Jan
@wright_is Check out XDA there are many ICS roms available for phones you just have to use tools like fastboot to flash your phone. Android is open source many devs make there own modded roms or just grab the AOSP from google and create a rom compatible to the selected phone. Cyanogenmod 9 is a good example of what can be achieved through the open source of Android. You do get the bugs in early releases as sometimes kernel updates are much harder to achieve than the actual rom.
0 Votes
+ -
RE: 'Ice Cream Sandwich' powering 0.6% of Android devices
ericfoss@... 4th Jan
Wow, Adrian. You've certainly experienced a major paradigm shift.

In October of 2010, you wrote:

"I think that (Steve) Jobs is trying to make out that the Android market is far more fragmented and differentiated than it actually is. Sure, there are plenty of handsets on offer, but underneath a thin veneer of customizations Android is Android. And as 2.0+ versions of the OS take over from earlier versions, the fragmentation issue is getting better, as opposed to getting worse."

Fast forward just over a year and you say:

"Android is still horribly fragmented, with most devices stuck several versions behind the latest release. The historical data chart shows just how bad Google???s problem with fragmentation has become."

What was it that so drastically changed your mind?
0 Votes
+ -
RE: 'Ice Cream Sandwich' powering 0.6% of Android devices
jkohut 4th Jan
@ericfoss@...
Probably the passage of time.
Google can only do so much to get OEMs to provide updates. If the OEMs are more worried about new sales then keeping customers happy over the useful life of a device (I consider that to be about 2-1/2 to 3 years), then they will face the consequences. I have a 3 year old Nokia E71 Symbian Smartphone that does 80% of what I want/need it to do (PHONE, Web, Facebook, etc...). No need for me to rush to figure out what I am going to spend my money on next as it is still working well.
0 Votes
+ -
RE: 'Ice Cream Sandwich' powering 0.6% of Android devices
admiraljkb 4th Jan
@jkohut

The number of Froyo's on the list is a bit troubling. Mfg's really need to be on the hook for updates for 24 months after End of Sale.
0 Votes
+ -
RE: 'Ice Cream Sandwich' powering 0.6% of Android devices
zephaman Updated - 4th Jan
Do I get the feeling that zd net is against android if so I prefer to unsubscribe to them ios is not much different when u think how long iPhone has been on the market I never hear positive news about Google, Android and HTC
0 Votes
+ -
RE: 'Ice Cream Sandwich' powering 0.6% of Android devices
crtvance 4th Jan
@zephaman Zdnet bashes apple just fine.. it goes both ways..
0 Votes
+ -
RE: 'Ice Cream Sandwich' powering 0.6% of Android devices
ritab124 4th Jan
I've had my phone for a little over a year, running 2.3.3
When I run Firmware updates, it tells me my phone is up to date. Is there something else I am supposed to do?
0 Votes
+ -
RE: 'Ice Cream Sandwich' powering 0.6% of Android devices
lambtron__40 Updated - 4th Jan
@ritab124
This fact was not really mentioned in the article: only 1 device is currently sold with ice cream sandwich; no US phone has been officially upgraded. So no you are fine. Check back in about 4 - 6 months when you should start to see a large ICS conversion launch.
0 Votes
+ -
RE: 'Ice Cream Sandwich' powering 0.6% of Android devices
ritab124 4th Jan
@lambtron__40
Thank you for in the information. The article made it sound like the population in general was flawed for not upgrading. I think the author needed to do more homework.
0 Votes
+ -
RE: 'Ice Cream Sandwich' powering 0.6% of Android devices
jkohut 4th Jan
Those rooting their devices and putting on "unsupported" ROMs may also be responsible for some of that number. If Google fails to "nudge" OEMs to help get users of fairly new phones upgraded, then you will probably see the number of people going rogue to increase even more.
0 Votes
+ -
RE: 'Ice Cream Sandwich' powering 0.6% of Android devices
admiraljkb 4th Jan
@jkohut

In terms of build quality and such, it's hitting a point where the manufacturers (with some weird tweaks that cause them not to be able to upgrade - yeah - Samsung and HTC I'm looking at you in particular) are now the "rogue" ones in the Androidsphere, and folks running CyanogenMod (THE standard Android ROM for all intents) are much less rogue by running standard Android. I can't figure out really which one is truly "unsupported" at this point. Froyo with all its issues running clunkily on a device, or CyanogenMod 7.1 running smoothly on the same device...
0 Votes
+ -
RE: 'Ice Cream Sandwich' powering 0.6% of Android devices
haole 4th Jan
I'd sure like to install the ICS OS on my Arnova 10 G2 tablet but it appears that the manufacturers don't want to prepare a firmware update for a few more months.
Rt. now I'm stuck w/ android 2.3.1 Gingerbread.
0 Votes
+ -
RE: 'Ice Cream Sandwich' powering 0.6% of Android devices
Brian Jones 4th Jan
I'd update both my Android devices now if I could, but Verizon doesn't offer that option to me.
0 Votes
+ -
RE: 'Ice Cream Sandwich' powering 0.6% of Android devices
morrig 4th Jan
I am one of those ICS users, on a rooted Xoom ,very nice O/S upgrade but at the moment a definite downgrade in some respects, in that camera and Bluetooth and some software not working.
0 Votes
+ -
RE: 'Ice Cream Sandwich' powering 0.6% of Android devices
mrxxxman 4th Jan
@morrig But that's the price you pay for uploading a non official upgrade. The camera and bluetooth issues were known to you before you updated that unsupported custom ROM.
0 Votes
+ -
RE: 'Ice Cream Sandwich' powering 0.6% of Android devices
rengek 4th Jan
Fragmentation is a problem for those who knows nothing about software development. Its confusing and difficult to wrap your head around because you're not in software engineering so you don't understand it and you don't know how to manage it. Fixing a flat tire is also a difficult chore for a lot of people but for many flat tire repair is nothing.

So please do those of us in software engineering a favor and stop bugging us about fragmentation. Most of those using versions below 3 don't even know nor care what version they are on.

And with the short shelf life of phones, fragmented phones will fix itself by dying off in a heart beat. And those who continue to hang on to the old phones I can probably guarantee they don't care what version they are on. They will just use their phone as a phone and whatever is on it suits them just fine.

Now back to my 5 projects each with 7 different versions. Oh my god fragmentation how horrible. How have I been able to deal with this for the last 20 years so successfully?
0 Votes
+ -
How many of you are running out of date wireless router firmware?
daboochmeister 4th Jan
I'm sure there are a few who religiously update, but I'll bet way more just let the thing hum. For those few -- is your TV's firmware completely up to date?

Yes, i know neither of those analogies is perfect - but I think they're just as close to true as comparing an Android phone to a PC. A phone is an appliance at LEAST as much as it's a computer.

Heck, I don't hear anyone screaming about how MS is making people PAY to get all the new features in Win7 on an existing PC ... egads, nearly half the PCs in the world are still running XP, and MS isn't upgrading them to Win7 for free, like people seem to expect of the phone makers/carriers?
0 Votes
+ -
ICS released in October of 2011, really?
mrxxxman 4th Jan
What device shipped with ICS installed in October? ICS wasn't released in October. It was announced in October. The real release date came when the Nexus shipped. That was in mid December. So in the real world, ICS 4 has only been out for less than a month.
0 Votes
+ -
Problem with fragmentation
rynning 4th Jan
The problem with Android Fragmentation is not with users, it's with the developers. ICS introduced lots of new APIs for social networking, calendaring, visual voicemail, streaming multimedia, camera functionality, networking, and UI. All great stuff, but what developer is going to jump on that when the adoption rate is so slow (for whatever reason)?
0 Votes
+ -
RE: 'Ice Cream Sandwich' powering 0.6% of Android devices
SeanBlader 4th Jan
Hah, I had to go look at my Evo 3D to see what version it was running. I think the most interesting part is that not only does it not matter, I realized I don't particularly care.

Also there are problems with this analysis in that Honeycomb is a variant for tablets only, so until Ice Cream Sandwich, Gingerbread was the latest version for phones, and given that the latest version is less than 3 months old, AND that phones have a lifespan measured in months, not years, I call shenanigans on this whole article. So the fact that most devices are Froyo or later at this point is perfectly fine. This isn't going to be an issue at all until there are a significant number of applications that ONLY run on Ice Cream Sandwich. Bad reporting. Let's not run this series again until then... Or if you want to run this series, be sure to show comparable fragmentation data for BlackBerry, iOS, and Windows Phone. This article by itself is pointless.

Join the conversation!

Formatting +
BB Codes - Note: HTML is not supported in forums
  • [b] Bold [/b]
  • [i] Italic [/i]
  • [u] Underline [/u]
  • [s] Strikethrough [/s]
  • [q] "Quote" [/q]
  • [ol][*] 1. Ordered List [/ol]
  • [ul][*] · Unordered List [/ul]
  • [pre] Preformat [/pre]
  • [quote] "Blockquote" [/quote]
ie8 fix
Click Here
ie8 fix

The best of ZDNet, delivered

ZDNet Newsletters

Get the best of ZDNet delivered straight to your inbox

Facebook Activity

Blog Roll

Blog Archive

White Papers, Webcasts, & Resources
ie8 fix
ie8 fix