Forget Froyo Android 2.2: here comes Gingerbread 3.0

As Android owners around the world wait excitedly for their OTA Android 2.2 update, rumours and details are already leaking about the next version of the Google mobile OS. Dubbed “Gingerbread“, Android 3.0 is only going to be released on the highest spec Android handsets.

What’s the story?

In keeping with two different habits of Android, this new version of the OS is named after a sweet food, and is being anticipated from at least one release away. The same thing happened with Donut, which was being drooled over while some people were still waiting for their Cupcake update.

According to the WebM FAQ, we’ll be seeing Gingerbread before the end of the year. WebM is a project which is attempting to create a completely open, free media format for mobile devices – and it announced that the release date of Gingerbread was Q4, 2010.

The rumors currently circulating say that the new release of Android will not be for every phone. Only phones with at least a 1Ghz processor will be able to run the new OS, while less powerful phones will stay with 2.1 and 2.2. Devices that want to run Gingerbread will also need to have the following hardware specs:

- good touch screens: with a minimum size of 3.5 inches, and a minimum resolution of 1,280 x 760 if your screen is over 4 inches.
- at least 512MB or RAM

What are the features?

There are still precious few details on the new OS. Since it won’t run on anything with a low-res screen or less-than-spectacular processor, we can suppose that it’s going to be a high media device. But the biggest change being reported it there will be no more UI overlays. Up until now, any company could design it’s own user-interface to run over Android. HTC has done very nicely on this with its Sense UI. But apparently Gingerbread will no longer allow custom UIs – the UI that Android releases will be the only one that Gingerbread can use.

Anything else?

While WebM is claiming the release will be sometime in the last three months of this year, Russian blogger Eldar Murtazin (as translated by unwiredview) got more specific. He says it will be ready for the 15th or 16th of October this year.

Eurodroid also suggests that there’s no good reason to call this Android 3.0 yet – it may be 2.3, or 2.5.

What we think?

Google really knows how to run a black ops marketing campaign. And if this isn’t part of a larger marketing campaign by Google, than it really should be. Just as Froyo is finally rolling out, we get a glimpse of the next destination. There’s no “what next?” moment with Android. As soon as 2.2 is installed on your device, you can start waiting for Gingerbread.

On another note, I’m particularly interested in the news that 3.0 will have some strict “lower limits” on what kind of hardware can run the OS. Part of Android’s strength is that it can cater to mid-level and high-level devices at the same time. By releasing Android into two separate streams – 2.x in the “low spec” and 3.x in the “high spec” – Google can further concentrate on consolidating its grip on the smartphone market.

For more information and details, check out techmeme