Rumors Already Swirling Over Android 5.0 Release

Sources within Android OEMs claim Android 5.0 may show up as early a this summer.

(Image source: Pocket-Lint ) BY EVAN THOMAS ANCHOR JIM FLINK You’re going to want a lot of salt for this one: Sources within Taiwanese manufacturing companies say Android 5.0 may be coming as soon as the third quarter of this year. DigiTimes is citing unnamed sources somewhere within the companies that build Android phones, who say Jellybean is on its way . Google is seeing less-than-stellar adoption rates for Android 4.0 -- that’s Ice Cream Sandwich -- and the company is reportedly anxious to time its latest release with the debut of Windows 8 – and push a new trick onto the phones in our pockets. “Brand vendors can either choose to adopt only Android 5.0 or add Android 5.0 to Windows 8 devices with the ability to switch between the two OSes without the need to shut down the computer.” Live dual-booting on your phone? Slashgear says that would make for some useful versatility . “That would give users the opportunity to use Android for its web-centric functionality and speed, while switching to Windows would offer the various legacy and business apps many users still demand.” But Computerworld argues -- rushing just because 4.0 isn’t seeing huge use isn’t the answer. “...when you consider that most Android phones don't even have Ice Cream Sandwich yet and that big delays for the upgrade are expected from manufacturers like Motorola, does that come as a surprise? Give the releases some time to breathe, Google!” Ice Cream Sandwich has only been breathing long enough to make it onto about 1% of Android phones and tablets, according to statistics on the Android developer website . Updates are in the pipeline for lots of devices, but GottaBeMobile reports the soonest any will drop will be in April . “I understand the difficulties involved but you would think, after all of these years, that someone would have figured it out by now. Wasn’t Android 4.0 supposed to help solve the fragmentation problem not make it worse?” If anything comes of these rumors, it won’t be until summer, so maybe you can cool off with an Ice Cream Sandwich while you wait.