Key Lime Pie!
Getting Excited for Android 5.0 or...
So Google will be introducing Android 5.0, also called Key Lime Pie at Google I/O on May 15. Are you excited? Can't wait for all the new features, apps, a complete new UI, and whatnot?
Oh, hold on... Some rumors just surfaced that there might be no Android 5.0 as of yet. Maybe Google will just introduce another version of Jelly Bean. Maybe 4.3 or 4.5? How dare you, Google! Now all the excitement is gone and I don't want to hear anything about Android ever again.
Come on, people. Android is an operating system. It is meant to power any kind of electronic device, bringing hardware and software together. And an operating system that is changing fundamentally every couple of months is just extremely hard to sell and maintain. Users are complaining because they have to learn new patterns all the time, OEMs are complaining because they can't keep up with all the changes, and developers are complaining because they can't keep their apps up to date, tools and support lag behind, and all their users are running older versions of the OS.
Don't get me wrong here: Innovation is great. Staying a little ahead of the competition is also great. Learning something new every day is even greater. But forcing everybody in the ecosystem to tag along at increasing speed is just not great for anybody. The only people really raving about major version jumps are tech journalist. Bigger headlines and hypes make more money, right?
Well, I really enjoyed the jumps from Android 4.0 to 4.1 and 4.2. Not only did Google introduce a couple of new, exciting features, but they made Android faster, more responsive and stable. And that is exactly, what I want from an operating system.
How about you? Also excited for Android 4.3?