Forget Key Lime Pie, Google is Serving Jelly Bean 4.3 this Year – Report
No Android devices will get the Key Lime Pie first anytime this year as new reports suggested that 2013 is not the release date set by Google for the Android 5.0.
It will be more of an incremental upgrade for Google's mobile operating system, according to a new report published by tech blog site Android Police. The version mainly involves the fixing of existing Android bugs and the inclusion of some new features, the same report said.
And since the Google dispatch will not reflect a major overhaul of the iOS and the Windows Phone 8 rival, it will be called Jelly Bean 4.3.
The news dashed the hopes of many that Google will deliver a jaw-dropping reengineer of its dominant mobile platform, with the tech giant using either the Nexus 5 or the Motorola X-Phone to showcase the powerful nee features of the OS.
According to Android Police, Jelly Bean 4.3 is now on the testing phase, noting in a report that "floating around our server logs is Android 4.3 JWR23B, which indicates this is still Jelly Bean (the first letter of the build is always the same as the first letter of the Android version name)."
The development also suggests that come the Google I/O Developers Conference set for late May, the sweet menu will be dominated by Jelly Bean and not by Key Lime Pie.
Earlier, reports have emerged that KLP's introduction and release date will be delayed by a few months, possibly to accommodate the rumoured debut of the Motorola X-Phone, which is said to come August 2013 at the earliest.
It appears now that Key Lime Pie will skip the year 2013. Now, the question begs: Will the rumoured Nexus 5 and X-Phone debut suffer a pushback or Google would actually surprise everyone by letting out the two handsets via the I/O event?
Or will the company simply hold back a little and opt for a KLP release in the last few months of 2013, thereby giving both the Nexus 5 and the X-Phone considerable over their top-rival like the Samsung Galaxy S4 and the HTC One?
Note that by the holiday quarter sets in this year, the GS4 and the One are already some months old, which could give Google's signature handsets the momentum they need to outpace the two flagship brands.