Android 3.0 Gingerbread detailed, juicy specs confirmed

Froyo is barely out the door, but attention is already turning to the next Android version - 3.0 Gingerbread. It will impose minimum hardware requirements, the UI is getting overhauled and Android is splitting into two.

Android 3.0 Gingerbread, says Eldar Murtazin, edotor-in-chief of Mobile-review.com, will be for high-end devices only. A 1GHz CPU and 512MB RAM at minimum plus a display over 3.5" inches in diagonal. Android 2.1 Eclair/2.2 Froyo will remain and run on mid-range and low-end phones.

This will officially lead to the Android platform splitting into two. With so many complaints about platform segmentation now, we can only imagine what it will be when this happens.

Anyway, Android 3.0 Gingerbread will add support for a new resolution - 1280x760 (just over 720p) for screens 4" and bigger (the iPad has a 4:3 1024x768 screen). This should mostly benefit Android-based tablets, which have only recently started cropping up.

The new version will also bring the end to 3rd-party UIs - still, HTC, Samsung, Motorola and the rest will be able to keep their mods for the 2.1/2.2 branch of Android. The new UI for Android 3.0 Gingerbread is said to take its cue from the Gallery App on the Nexus One - the feel, the transitions and so on.

Android 3.0 Gingerbread is expected in mid-October - and we expect the first phone to get it to be the Nexus One (it meets the requirements). Unless the oft rumored Nexus Two beats it to the punch.

And as always unofficial ports will become available for current phones. But let's not put the cart before the horse - all this is still rumors, there's no official word from Google just yet.

Source (Russian audio podcast)