Google is set to call the next iteration of its mobile OS Android Honeycomb, following on from the tablet-friendly Gingerbread platform.

Multiple sources have confirmed to TechRadar that the next version will be called Honeycomb, although details of what this upgrade will bring are still sketchy.

It's likely that it will be more of an incremental upgrade, in the same manner as Android 2.2 (Froyo) was to Android 2.1 (Éclair) as Google seeks to perfect the new platform on tablets and high-end smartphones.

That means Android Honeycomb will probably be Android 3.1 or Android 3.2, rather than a leap to the unimaginable magic of Android 4.0.

Honeycomb – a surefire way to eventual baldness


Gingerbread is due out towards the end of the year (or possibly leaking into 2011) with tablets from Toshiba and Samsung likely to make use of the upgrade, which will only work with fast processors and high-res screens.

However, it will be interesting to see where Android Honeycomb machines land in the marketplace against Google Chrome OS tablets, which we should start seeing in November onwards – is there a large enough tablet market to sustain two operating systems from the same manufacturer?


Android Honeycomb coming in 2011?