While everyone was hoping that the next version of Android will be 5.0 Key Lime Pie, we’re now led to believe that the next version of Android will in-fact be 4.3, and still be Jelly Bean.
As spotted by an Android Police reader, there is an Android 4.3 JWR23B build floating around Google which indicates that it is still Jelly Bean (The first letter of the build is always the first letter of the Android version name.) There are also several very recent comments in the official Chromium bug tracker that list JWR23B as a build number, backing up the claim.
This all tells us a few things – that the next version of Android is coming very soon (Google doesn’t assign version numbers until just before it’s unveiled, nor do they assign version version numbers to internal test releases) – The version change points to an OS upgrade that won’t be too drastic for developers to adapt their apps to and manufacturers to upgrade their devices to. It also backs up recent rumours that Google is delaying the next major release to give manufacturers a bit of breathing space.
None of these leaks help to uncover the features that are coming, though. We will have, if the leaks are correct for Google to unveil those at this years I/O in around 3 weeks.
