Android 5.0, Jelly Bean Could Arrive as Early as Q2 2012

By Vincent Funaro, Christian Post Reporter Thursday, February 16, 2012

With Android 4.0, Ice Cream Sandwich barely staking its claim on 1 percent of Android devices, industry insiders are already saying that the release of Android 5.0, Jelly Bean could arrive as early as the second quarter of this year.

The new software will be specifically designed for tablets, according to Asian publication DigiTimes.

Sources in the Taiwan based supply chain recently told the publication that Google is working on integrating Chrome OS functionality for dual-boot tablets and netbooks.

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Tech site 9to5 Google commented on the information.

"DigiTimes said Android 5.0 would have a unique feature, because it will have a dual operating system approach," wrote the site. "It will reportedly be able to boot into both Android and Chrome without having to shutdown."

Insiders also revealed that Google is pushing Android 5.0 and Windows 8 hybrids to its manufacturing partners, for notebooks, netbooks and tablets that offer the best of both platforms, but also that Jelly Bean powered devices will not arrive until 2013.

Google has yet to comment on whether or not Ice Cream Sandwich has met its expectations in the market. The software is running on just 1 percent of all Android devices as of Feb. 1 2012. The majority are still using Android 2.3, Gingerbread.

The publication also stated that it expects Microsoft to launch Windows 8 in the third quarter of this year so Google might be looking to beat them to the punch with Jelly Bean.

Ice Cream Sandwich was launched in the U.S. back in Dec. on the Samsung Galaxy Nexus smartphone. The software debuted at a joint event called "Mobile Unpacked" hosted by both Google and Samsung.

Devices aside from the Galaxy Nexus have yet to receive the ICS upgrade. Those updates are expecting to begin rolling out next month.