Google Android 2.2 Froyo is just starting to ship, but the folks at the Googleplex are already working on the next generation of the mobile operating system. We’ve heard a few details about the new version of Android, code-named Gingerbread It should be available later this year, and it should have some user interface improvements. But that’s about all we knew… until now.

Mobile-Review and Unwired View are reporting some of the changes that will be made in Gingerbread, including some pretty strict hardware requirements.

Phones will reportedly need a 1GHz or faster CPU, at least 512MB of RAM, and a 3.5 inch or larger display to run the Gingerbread release of Android. The operating system is also said to support 1280 x 768 pixel screen resolutions on phones with 4 inch or larger displays. It’s not clear if this is a response to Apple’s Retina display on the iPhone 4, or just the natural evolution of the pixel wars.

Here are a few more changes we may see in Gingerbread:

  • Higher end devices will get Android 3.0/Gingerbread while lower end models will be stuck with Android 2.1 and 2.2
  • The user interface will feature 3D animations and transitions similar to the Gallery app in Android 2.1
  • Gingerbread could be released in mid-October, with the first Gingerbread phones shipping in November or December

Let’s take this with a grain of salt for now. It all comes from a single source talking on a recent podcast, and that source doesn’t exactly work for Google. But it all sounds… interesting, at the very least.

Update: It looks like those minimum “requirements” might just be suggestions.

via Android Central

Brad Linder

Brad Linder is editor of Liliputing and Mobiputing. He's been tinkering with mobile tech for decades and writing about it since...

9 replies on “Google Android Gingerbread coming in October with a 1GHz CPU requirement?”

  1. Our site (http://www.shanzai.com) covers a slew of tablet devices running Android, most of which would heartily welcome 1280×760 resolution support, but I doubt too many of those lower priced products would be running a 1GHz CPU… but maybe that's when we'll be able to see some very competitive (at least to the iPad) mainstream tablets emerge.

  2. Our site (http://www.shanzai.com) covers a slew of tablet devices running Android, most of which would heartily welcome 1280×760 resolution support, but I doubt too many of those lower priced products would be running a 1GHz CPU… but maybe that's when we'll be able to see some very competitive (at least to the iPad) mainstream tablets emerge.

  3. Our site (http://www.shanzai.com) covers a slew of tablet devices running Android, most of which would heartily welcome 1280×760 resolution support, but I doubt too many of those lower priced products would be running a 1GHz CPU… but maybe that's when we'll be able to see some very competitive (at least to the iPad) mainstream tablets emerge.

  4. Our site (http://www.shanzai.com) covers a slew of tablet devices running Android, most of which would heartily welcome 1280×760 resolution support, but I doubt too many of those lower priced products would be running a 1GHz CPU… but maybe that's when we'll be able to see some very competitive (at least to the iPad) mainstream tablets emerge.

  5. Our site (http://www.shanzai.com) covers a slew of tablet devices running Android, most of which would heartily welcome 1280×760 resolution support, but I doubt too many of those lower priced products would be running a 1GHz CPU… but maybe that's when we'll be able to see some very competitive (at least to the iPad) mainstream tablets emerge.

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