The latest version of Google’s operating system has just reached its first milestone but it still has a long, long way to go.
Though not an official number, Android 4.0, also known as Ice Cream Sandwich, is reported to be on more than 1% of all Android devices. That is according to mobile ad firm Chitika, which examined the number of impressions its ads received from the different iterations of Android.
According to the firm’s numbers, version 2.3, or Gingerbread, accounted for 66.29% of Android impressions, followed by Froyo (2.2) at 22.33% and then the outdated Eclair at 5.39%.
Android 3.0, also known as Honeycomb and the only version of Android used exclusively on tablet devices, came in at 3.3%.
Google’s official stats, last released in January, showed that Ice Cream Sandwich was powering about 0.6% of Android devices.
Ice Cream Sandwich is one of the biggest updates to Android yet, and includes such features as scanning your face to unlock the phone, a much more robust speech-to-text software program, and an entire platform of data sharing that focuses on Near Field Communication (NFC).
NFC so far has been mostly focused on using your phone as a payment device in retail stores, but with Ice Cream Sandwich’s Android Beam, it can also allow users to easily share contact information, Youtube videos, or website addresses simply by waving two phones next to each other.
Several other manufacturers have pledged support for the new update, and a bunch of phones currently running an older version of Android will be eligible to upgrade to Ice Cream Sandwich beginning in the coming months.
