Back in January, Android 4.0 made up for all of 0.6% of the world Android market share. As of February 2, it has jumped up to a full 1% as a handful of tablets received updates from Honeycomb. Gingerbread as expected, remained king, growing another few percentage points thanks to updates on a number of phones.

Overall though, the pie looks almost identical to that of the previous month. While manufacturers work hard on updating their phones to ICS in the coming months, it likely won’t change much for a while.

Via:  Android Developers

Each month, the Android team publishes the distribution numbers for each version of Android.  It doesn’t do much other than give us a chance to laugh at the idea that some people are still running phones with Cupcake and Eclair on them.  Well, it also gives us a look at which OS is on the rise – this month it’s Gingerbread thanks to Motorola who upgraded their entire portfolio.

And then next month or in December, we should see a new entry as Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich). Fun, fun.

Via:  Android Developers

A few days ago I went on a hunt for a retro feel for my Nexus S. I stumbled on some pictures of good ‘ol Froyo, and thought to myself how that might look. I started searching the Market for a Froyo CM7 theme, but with no avail. I went to Twitter and asked my followers if they knew where to find one. Huge props to M1ghtySauc3 for finding this for me.

If you want to remember how Froyo looked (but not felt), then definitely check this ‘theme’ out. Sometimes, you have to relive the past to appreciate the present. “Bubble icons FTW.”

Download: RetroDroid.apk

Via: XDA

Head on over to the Market, and update your Google Videos application. Besides a couple bug fixes, the new main feature is support for Froyo, and Gingerbread handsets. We will stick by our opinion that $2.99+ to rent a movie for 24 hours is completely ridiculous, but to each his own.

Speaking of which, we have a few people over on our Twitter, claiming that their Thunderbolts are getting the new Market pushed to them? Anyone else getting it on their devices?

Market Link

Cheers ___! 

Cupcake. Donut. Eclair. Froyo. Gingerbread. Honeycomb. Ice Cream Sandwich.  J….

What could possibly be next?  We still have a few months to go before we even see ICS on a device, but you have to think that Google is already planning the version to follow it.  And since we’re all assuming it will start with a “J”, we wanted to ask that DL readers give some suggestions. Will it be Jawbreaker?  Jelly Bean?  Jolly Rancher?  Unlike the letter “I”, there are plenty of options to go with.  Let’s hear some!

The folks at Tecca decided that we all needed to take a visual journey through the evolution of Android, from Donut (Android 1.6) all the way up to Honeycomb (Android 3.0).  Filled with tasty treats and a bunch of features and enhancements that iOS is still only capable of doing in beta software, we have the following infographic.  

Via:  Best Buy, AndroidGuys

Cincinnati Bell is releasing Froyo for their XT720 Motorola Milestone, and what else are they giving customers? Superuser Permissions. Doesn’t look like they have an actual OTA program going, so they’re having users follow some mildly complex PC instructions for them to update their devices to Froyo, then giving them one click root. If Verizon did this, we would all be in paradise.

From what the instructions are saying, they’re giving users root due to the fact they lose all their data in the process of updating, so after installing a different firmware, you root, save your data, then flash the update. The instructions are about 23 pages long, and the step by step video guide only runs about five and a half minutes.

If you’re interested in looking it over (it’s very interesting) head over to the Cincinnati Bell website. Can we now all shout, “Verizon take note!”

Update instructions here.

Cheers Syrenz32!

Do we have any time piece fanatics here? If you are one, then we’ll assume you have heard of TAG Heuer, a high end Swiss watch maker who’s pieces are quite extraordinary and pricey. TAG is now introducing the Link, which is a smartphone running Android 2.2, has a variety of skins such as alligator hide for an exterior, and even Gorilla Glass.

The phone has a listing of $5,000 US Dollars, and TAG mentions they do plan on updating the OS in the future to hopefully Android 2.3. Let us proceed to wipe the sweat from our brows, because the phone itself, has actually been built like a tank. It is waterproof, air sealed tight, and is completely shock resistant (Samsung take notes). 

TAG has spared absolutely no expense in making this thee phone that all the celebrities want, and have produced an amazing promo video for its release. If anyone was wondering what the boys here at Droid Life want for Christmas this year, it’s not this.

“Android OS is like hot sauce, they put that sh*t on everything!”

Click here to view the embedded video.

Via: A Blog To Read

The DROID3 is looking more and more like the first real next-gen player of 2011 for Verizon, but if it ends up running Froyo at release, there better be a firm paddle to the rear of the person responsible for making that decision.  We’re almost positive this phone will run on TI’s new OMAP 4430 dual-core processor, sport a 4″ qHD screen, front-facing camera, 8MP rear camera, 5-row keyboard, and HDMI out.  So with all of this new technology tossed in, why go with last year’s OS?  The original DROIDX just received GB – let’s do the right thing here and release it with this phone as well.  OK, Big Red?

And of course we can also assume that this is just one bad type-o, except for the fact that we just saw the DROIDX2 hit the market running 2.2, so nothing would surprise us at this point.  No word yet on a release, but June is starting to get a lot of play behind the scenes.

Cheers ___!

Any LG Ally owners still in the wild?  If so, you should be receiving an update to Android 2.2.2 any day now.  You may also be receiving a text like the one above from Verizon which is reminding you that before you can update, you’ll need to download a special app from the market.  We’re not exactly sure why LG and Big Red are requiring an app on your phone in order for this update to go through, but that’s what is needed.

The update looks to be an SMS and other random bug fixer.  Nothing major.  

Market link for app.  More info.

Cheers @nach220 and rocktoonz!