No surprises in December, but legacy versions are down to just 23 percent of the total
Google has released the version distribution numbers for December 2013, and things are just about what anyone following along would expect.
KitKat gets a small bump of .3 percent since November, Jelly Bean gets a big boost — up from 54.5 percent — and Gingerbread continues to decline, losing about 3 percent since that last chart. The good news is that legacy versions — anything older than Ice Cream Sandwich — are just under a quarter of the total at 22.6 percent.
This means that more than 75 percent of the devices out there can run all those great apps that require Android 4 or higher. Android's open nature means one version will never fill the pie chart, but from an application developer standpoint, things are looking good.
Source: Google
Reader comments
Android version numbers in for Dec. — KitKat and Jelly Bean up, Gingerbread down
So 78% or so can run BBM
Posted via Android Central App
How does this even relate to... never mind :/
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" Android's open nature means one version will never fill the pie chart" - this needs to be in a larger, bolder font.
At least with Google buying Motorola updates seem to be coming faster for them which means even if your carrier doesn't have a Nexus phone you can still choose a phone that does get updates in a timely manner if you go with a Motorola phone. I suppose the carrier itself may still delay those updates though.
All I know is with my Nexus 5 on Sprint it sure was nice to get my first OTA right away when everyone else did. I hope to never have to rely on anyone but Google for updates again as long as I run Android. Hopefully future Nexus phones come to Sprint the same as this current one.
At least it seems Donut is finally gone...
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Rip gingerbread. U were the best one before I switched to iphone
Posted via Android Central App
Hmm... If I'm on CM 11 Android 4.4.2 with my S3 does that mean I have Kit Kat or a "hacked" OS? LOL
Posted via Android Central App
Both? It's kit kat, but not oem so hacked on there
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Mommy posted this because I am not allowed to internets
Hmm... If I'm on CM 11 Android 4.4.2 with my S3 does that mean I have Kit Kat or a "hacked" OS? LOL
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I'm more surprised about the Honeycomb stats more than anything else, it is STILL hanging in there at 0.1% If you consider that the overall android market is growing all the time, the relative number of 3.2 tablets must be going down! Yet it refuses to die!
How long before it finally falls off the chart with a number that is too low to worry about? Surely it will go at some point this year? Maybe we need a sweepstake as to which month it will go :)
Glad that I'm now one of the 4.3 number with Sammy finally giving me an update to my S3, though I guess I need to upgrade my touchpads which are still on 4.0 & 4.1.2 respectively!
Umm.. Hai guys... I am walking slowly away from this thread..
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Mommy posted this because I am not allowed to internets
Me, too, brah.
Posted from my "Gift from God" Nexus 5, my "God-Given" iPad Mini 2, or my "Risen" Samsung Chromebook.
Great that 9.2% run "2013 android" (4.3 & 4.4). And a bit better considering they were both released in the 2nd half of 2013. Let's just hope more devices get updated.
Also, over this past holiday season, I discovered one of my friends gingerbread phones broke. And another changed from gingerbread to iPhone, so that is a tiny bit good.
Posted via Android Central App on my Nexus 5 (4.4.2)
How is going from Android to Iphone "good"???
Posted using Android Central App on my Samsung Galaxy S4 T-Mobile
I'm more concerned about his SIG. Like who lists their android version for a phone that supposed to be running that version of android?
Posted via Android Central App
I'm confused on your question. I am just saying it's good that almost 10% of phones have an android version that's less than 6 months old. Fast updates! Well mainly for Nexus, Moto, and a few others.
Posted via Android Central App on my Nexus 5 (4.4.2)
It wasn't a question. The Nexus 5 is SUPPOSED to run 4.4.2 but you have it listed in your sig like it's not common knowledge. Just thought that was odd.
It's not good but it is is alright that there's 1 less gingerbread user. Yea, she should have stuck to the better platform (android)
Posted via Android Central App on my Nexus 5 (4.4.2)
Gingerbread still lives !
Posted via Android Central App
Who/What is "Tantai 2.0"???
Posted using Android Central App on my Samsung Galaxy S4 T-Mobile
Tantai was a troll that attacked the Moto X in every single article about it. I shouldn't have called the poster above that, so I apologized. Boom.
The Moto X seems like a fine smartphone to me. Lots of cool color options. But due to me being a Samsung person, I don't like this concealed battery crap!
Posted using Android Central App on my Samsung Galaxy S4 T-Mobile
You must not have ever used a Moto X then. The fact that it doesn't have a removable battery is irrelevant when its battery life is better than most phones WITH removable batteries.
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Agreed!
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True, but if it had the option of a removable battery, that would this phone a even greater phone! But with planned obselance, manufacturers aren't going that route .
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Yeah, if any company is actively working to improve battery tech, it's Motorola.
The recent price drop has me questioning what I really value in a smartphone, lol.
Posted from my "Gift from God" Nexus 5, my "God-Given" iPad Mini 2, or my "Risen" Samsung Chromebook.
LG chem makes the best batteries. Period.
Posted via Android Central App
Trust me, I understand. It seems Samsung is the lone OEM that still includes removable batteries in their builds. But, for how much longer?
Posted from my "Gift from God" Nexus 5, my "God-Given" iPad Mini 2, or my "Risen" Samsung Chromebook.
I think Samsung knows their customers like user-accessible batteries and user-expandable memory. They have continued to do it with the S4 and the Note 3. . .
Posted using Android Central App on my Samsung Galaxy S4 T-Mobile
Being a Sammy fan, I would not be opposed to a non removable battery, as long as I still had the SD card option.
Posted via Android Central App
Yeah, but if Sammy went down that route, I'm sure, they'd at least provide a respectably-sized battery.
Posted from my "Gift from God" Nexus 5, my "God-Given" iPad Mini 2, or my "Risen" Samsung Chromebook.
I don't think Sammy will ever move away from removable batteries. They need them with the way they keep stuffing PC specs into smartphones.
Don't get me wrong: bleeding edge is great, but Sammy loves to do things, "because they can," and the result isn't always practical. It takes more muscle control for your finger to hover an inch over your phone than it does to just touch the damn screen!
Posted via my tricked out Moto X.
You have never used this feature.
Posted via Android Central App
Which they have in the note series and will most likely do with the S5 although the 2600 mAh in the s5 is not terrible.
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I mean S4
Posted from my G2 running android 4.4 via Android Central App
Dammit Gingerbread. WHY CAN'T YOU DIE ALREADY?
I concur!!! 4.0+ or go home!!!
Posted using Android Central App on my Samsung Galaxy S4 T-Mobile
If you look at carriers like Boost and the like you'll see a lot of phones that run GB being sold as new devices. They are bargain basement so many people will buy them and love them. I too wish it was different but until the bottom of the market stops making money we'll continue to see these POS phones register on the version counter.
But I'm with you, it needs to die.
That's a great point, brother.
Posted from my "Gift from God" Nexus 5, my "God-Given" iPad Mini 2, or my "Risen" Samsung Chromebook.
Until we get to mud pie, gingerbread will power to low end prepaid Walmart jobs
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Mommy posted this because I am not allowed to internets
Any phone that are not release in KitKat should be banned
Posted via Android Central App
It takes time. Don't forget that there were many OEM still releasing Gingerbread phones well after Jelly Bean came out.
So 99% of android devices?
Posted via VZW Moto X on the Android Central App
Would someone please enlighten me on what active notifications, and update assist are in Kitkat? They bith sound like good features.
Posted using Android Central App on my Samsung Galaxy S4 T-Mobile
Active Notifications is a Moto X and Moto G feature, not a KitKat feature.
Posted from my pure Google Nexus 4 using the AC app.
Oh!...Darn!
Posted using Android Central App on my Samsung Galaxy S4 T-Mobile
You can get the app. It's called dynamic notifications
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Mommy posted this because I am not allowed to internets
Not on the Moto G... just the X and some of the Droid series
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Considering how new kit kat is, these numbers aren't surprising. I'm just glad the lion's share are at least up to Jelly Bean. remember when Jellybean first came out and over 60% of devices were still on 2.3? There was a time not that long ago that OEMs didn't even bother to update a device at all. We've come a ways since those dark days.
Posted via my tricked out Moto X.
Yeah, I remember, when Jellybean was first released, the carriers were still releasing devices with Gingerbread.
We have come a LONG way.
Posted from my "Gift from God" Nexus 5, my "God-Given" iPad Mini 2, or my "Risen" Samsung Chromebook.
Too bad that devices at CES are being released with 4.2.
Posted via Android Central App
Yeah, but those devices were probably in development, long before either 4.3 or 4.4 were released.
Posted from my "Gift from God" Nexus 5, my "God-Given" iPad Mini 2, or my "Risen" Samsung Chromebook.
Hi Jerry. I think your math is off. It should be legacy versions older than ice cream sandwich are 22%.
Posted via Android Central App
He was talking api. I think.
Posted from my Nexus 7(2013).
No, he wrote:
" The good news is that legacy versions — anything older than Jelly Bean"
Ice cream sandwich is 16.9%.
Posted via Android Central App
It's 22.6%, which can be rounded to 23%.
Maybe my math is wrong, but Ice Cream Sandwich (16.9%) plus Gingerbread (21.2%) is closer to 38% than 23%. Or are you rounding differently?
Posted via Android Central App
ICS isn't a legacy version, as it says in the article.
Posted from my pure Google Nexus 4 using the AC app.
Right, he changed it. Before the change it said Jelly Bean. Hence my comment. I mean, really, read my original post for crying out loud.
Don't get all pissy because the article was changed before anyone read your comment.
Posted via Android Central App
If only Samsung ditched TouchWiz, ran stock Android on their devices and updated them, KitKat would have increased more than just a mere .3%.
They would have been at 30%
Posted from my Nexus 7(2013).
If only more people had a brain and converted their S4 to GPe
Posted via Android Central App
The problem is, GPe edition devices are not available everywherrrrr..............dotsdotsdots
Just kidding on the excessive ellipsis, but seriously.
Legacy versions? isn't jelly bean technically a legacy version?
Also, if motorola did their job right, kitkat numbers would be higher, it's a shame it only focused on the US, europeans should be thanked they did not recieve the moto X, because they would have recieved a subpar experience with no kitkat, and that also means no active notifications, camera, and assist updates through the play store.
/rant
What are you talking about? All Moto X's have KitKat. Mine shipped with it.
Posted via my tricked out Moto X.
most apps require 4.0 or higher, so its basically legacy.
motorola didnt have a "job" to do. their products have been updated better than any other now. its just ridiculous to blame motorola for this, but rather you can thank motorola for those 1.4% kit kat.
Well the thing is this:
They are offering a product, in this case the moto X, and they offer you fast upgrades as one of the cool stuff about the product. Then, they realease kit kat a week after it was announced or something in verizon, wich is cool, its amazing really, and then they expand it to the other carriers...in the US.
The moto X is being sold at the US, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, and some other countries...none of them have recieved 4.4
So...motorola took 2 weeks to release the update to kitat since it was announced in the US, and is taking 2 months and counting to release it in the rest of america?
As i said before, i hope that if they release the moto X in europe the 14th, they release it with kit kat, and have fast upgrades, because withouth it you can't update any of the moto apps that are in the playstore like active notifications and the camera, wich is a shame. For example, remember that cool winter animation moto did? well, no one from the other countries remember it, because they never saw it because they don't have kit-kat. That isn't a big deal, but whats next? Maybe they do something useful that the other people won't get.
What I am saying is that if motorola really wan't to make profits and get really big, they need to step up their game, they have to do it better than Samsung,but not only in the US, but worldwide.
When they release the Moto X2, wich i will most probably buy because i like the moto x, i think it would be really nice if they upgrade it fast, world wide.
Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you... Tantai 2.0!!!
Until you've worked for a carrier or OEM and are involved in the OTA update process, you can't possibly understand everything that's involved in getting the next version of Android out to the end user.
The onus isn't all on Motorola. But, I'm positive, they will get the updates out "on time," whenever that is.
Posted from my "Gift from God" Nexus 5, my "God-Given" iPad Mini 2, or my "Risen" Samsung Chromebook.
"Tantai 2.0"?
Posted using Android Central App on my Samsung Galaxy S4 T-Mobile
Tantai could have never put that many coherent sentences together.
ಠ益ಠ
lol
Posted from my pure Google Nexus 4 using the AC app.
You're right. I think, I went just a little too far, calling him tantai, lol.
Agreed, carrier OTA's are complex and very dependant on the carrier's priorities, which is one of the reasons I haven't bought a carrier phone in years, always unlocked GSM. they are usually the first to get OTA's.
With carrier's they don't care much if the OTA's are delayed unless it's a really popular phone. The S4 for instance carrier's will prioritize the OTA because they have users clamoring for it. Smaller less popular phones like the Moto X they couldn't care less if the OTA is delayed.
Buying the retail unlocked version on prepaid gives me a better experience, which is sad but true. No one to hold up OTA's on a nice unlocked GSM device :)
It shows how screwed up carrier's are that a user like me gets better service and updates on prepaid than postpaid. The only problem I encountered on MetroPCS is that it won't let me download the T-mobile voicemail app, which works perfectly on kitkat with MetroPCS I just had to side load it. Though I think the app has issues with Kit-Kat, for some users, that's not a carrier thing.
Weird that it has worked perfectly for me.
I understand your point of view, but when you take into consideration that there are no other phones besides nexuses and moto devices that have kitkat, I still think it's impressive.
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Good point!
Posted using Android Central App on my Samsung Galaxy S4 T-Mobile
No other phones my HTC One has 4.4 kit Kat
It's not official.
It's a hack
... (Oppo F5) ...
Nope international got 4.4 a while ago.
Posted via VZW Moto X on the Android Central App
Yeah, keep telling yourself that.
Posted via Android Central App
You forgot the GPe phones.
Posted via Android Central App
HTC one developer edition.
Posted via Android Central App
I believe they kind of are doing it better than Samsung. Samsung never pulls off an update within two weeks of official Google release no matter where it is.
Posted via Android Central App
Well moto runs near stock android. It takes longer to implement sense, touchwiz, etc. Glad they ditched that god awful motoblur. Wish Samsung ditched touch wiz or at least made it lighter. I actually like sense. But the htc one developer edition with sense receiving kit kat impresses me more than moto releasing kit kat.
Posted via Android Central App
I apologize for calling you tantai, brother.
You do realize that the moto x has been officially named "phone of the millinium" (paraphrasing) by Phil, right? That means it never needs an update.
Posted via Android Central App
Lol, it's perfect!!
Posted from my "Gift from God" Nexus 5, my "God-Given" iPad Mini 2, or my "Risen" Samsung Chromebook.
A phone doesn't have to have the newest os to be great. My nexus 7 runs perfectly on 4.3 and I'm never upgrading. My iPhone 4 on the other hand sucks running iOS 7 and that is my fault for updating since I was waiting for an ios jailbreak which finally arrived. Unlike apple though, Google doesn't beta test the new software and relies on nexus users to be test rats, I'm not one of them, nexus devices, with new updates, cause more issues to the device than benefits. My dads s3 runs smoothly on android 4.1 jellybean, the is that shipped with it, and no problems, although the Samsung bloatware makes it frasturating laggy sometimes.
Posted via Android Central App on Nexus 7
That seems overly pessimistic, upgrades to nexus devices often add features or fix existing issues with the device. What you call a negative, most user's call a positive. They like having the newest bleeding edge version of Android, that's why we bought nexus devices.
The small bugs in nexus devices tend to be very minor in my experience a small price to pay for always having the latest and greatest version of stock Android.
Deciding to never update your Nexus 7 regardless of what comes out seems foolish. Waiting on OTA's to find out what bugs they cause may make some sense, though I find ost user's who do that are the one who freak out over ever bug report on XDA or somewhere and are scared of supposed bugs that most user's never experience. I've been using nexus devices since the Galaxy Nexus and have yet to have a real show stopper bug on my nexus.
He is plain lazy to actually manage his data. Fearing that update might delete his sms
Posted via Android Central App
It won't be the same phone..it will be some upgraded doo hicky
... (Oppo F5) ...