Android team's Morrill discounts Gingerbread rumors
By Ross Miller 
posted July 1st 2010 9:25PM
posted July 1st 2010 9:25PM
Eldar Murtazin has a pretty decent track record when it comes to smartphone whispers, but his Android 3.0 Gingerbread morsels yesterday are now at odds with someone a bit closer to the dough -- namely, Dan Morrill, Android's Open Source and Compatibility Tech Lead (yeah, that's a bit of a mouth full). Here are a few highlights from his Twitter feed tonight: "I love it when people just make stuff up" (sarcasm, obviously), "rumors are not official announcements," and so on. Sure, he could just be playing coy here, but for now, this is more or less the final word on the matter -- until either Google or the rumor mill heat up again, of course. Guess that's how the, erm, cookie crumbles.
I doubt the rumors we saw on gingerbread were entirely correct. This update is to fix everything so its no longer fragmented. But we'll see what happens.
@EggoEspada It's brilliant! Fight fragmentation by making half the Android phones in use incompatible with the new OS.
That's how you fight fragmentation in the bizarro world.
Hey guys, I'm seriously hurting with the new iPhone. What's a good Android phone on AT&T?
@Mitch19 Right now, the Aria is about the only game in town. The Captivate looks good, but nobody really knows when it will be available. Which is why I'm going to Verizon when my contract is finally up.
@Mitch19
The Nexus One is nice as well. However, you can only get the unsubsidized for AT&T and this might not be worth it with how soon the Samsung Galaxy is going to be released. Of course, at least with the N1 you know you won't get abandoned any time soon.
Anyone who has used Android knows what the sucky parts are. It's not too hard to speculate what will be revamped. Android presently is like Linux on the desktop. The OS is really good but a lot of the apps are buggy, the UIs are bad, they're too complex and convoluted, the UI is inconsistent, the fonts don't look very good, etc. I'm sure Google can fix all this stuff but it's going to take some time.
@UptownDonkey
Have you used 2.2?
The UI is amazing. The UI is beautiful and is very nice and easy to use.
There are skins you can download if you want too which work great.
if you are buying and HTC phone they run the Sense UI which is very elegant.
I think he's refering to the "requirement list" because its no secret there's an UI overhaul coming.
And now reporting tech news just got that much harder.
Android makes me hungry... Android COokie Monster!
Hopefully, it'll end with something like "Gingerbread? What are you talking about? Android 3.0 is called Croissant!". Just with a better name.
"Eldar Murtazin has a pretty decent track record when it comes to smartphone whispers"
No, Engadget, he really doesn't. In fact, his recent track record has been absolutely abysmal. Why do people continue to spout this guy's garbage like its gospel?
Ok so this is how I think it went down.
The "morsels" of info yesterday created an atmosphere that started cannibalising froyo's prospects with companies emailing google furiously for more information - perhaps asking things like "I don't want froyo. Why should I bust my company's @ss bringing out a 2.2 product which would be considered 'low end' only to have it swamped by 3.0 less than 6 months down the line?" --- so basically my take is these things are causing a negative impact in froyo adoption and partner confidence.
So... a reaction to this reaction would be to get a higher more reputable employee of Google to either denounce these mere morcels as pure speculation ot discount them completely. Discounting them may not be such a good idea because they are quite tasty and delectably possible in the short term... but they need to get froyo out the door and onto real devices that are out there NOW and the ones coming up and dangling a 3.0 carrot just doesn't help things.
cheers.
@buoy
Nah.
Phone makers who use Android are more likely then not fully briefed already on Androids roadmap.
Unlike us, they know what is planned up ahead, while we can only guessed.
so are the minimum requirements true or not?
(Yea, that's a mouthful we know) . . . That's what she said ;) . . . I love making engadget rethink about what words they use & the way they write reviews
Two words for Gingerbreads release "Google Me"
I want a gingerbread cookie now. :P