In comparison to the clear, tangible rumors and releases in connection with Apple’s latest operating system – iOS 7 – news surrounding Google’s Android 5.0, or “Key Lime Pie,” has been sparse and vague, for the most part. The fact is, at this stage we have neither a confirmed release date or a confirmed set of features. In fact, we don’t even know which mobile phones the new operating system will debut or become available on! But there are certain things that we can speculate about based on the rumors that are out there. So let’s take a look at what we do know.
Release Date
As yet, no release date has been confirmed, and given the fact that there have already been apparent delays, you might have a better shot at predicting a World Series winner than figuring out the release date. That said, the two might occur around the same time of year! PC Advisor points out the best guess for a Key Lime Pie release date, which would appear to be somewhere in the vicinity of late October or early November. Truth be told, we just don’t know, but a pre-holiday release would seem almost certain.
Included Devices
This is a total wildcard, in terms of speculation. Some have suggested that the new operating system will only be available on forthcoming devices like the HTC T6 and Nexus 5, and that you’d have a better shot at winning a BetFair Casino jackpot than getting Android 5.0 on your existing smartphone. Others, however, have noted that flagship mobile devices like the Samsung Galaxy S4, HTC One and the newly released Moto X will indeed be eligible to upgrade to Key Lime Pie. Realistically, we won’t know for sure for some time, but the latter scenario would seem more likely (particularly due to Apple’s decision to make iOS 7 available to iPhone 4, 4S, and 5 users). I would love to see 5.0 hit popular devices which are a mere cycle life away from relevancy such as the Galaxy S3 and HTC One X but OEM’s are notorious for biting the hand that feeds them. They’ve made a habit of dropping support for last-gen devices as soon as there is a major jump in OS number, remember the Android 2.3 to 4.0 jump? For the consumer’s sake lets hope the Lime in Key Lime Pie doesn’t stand for leaving a sour taste in our mouth.
Included Features
This of course is where the juiciest rumors lie, as – let’s face it – we just want to see fun new operating system features and capabilities! Perhaps the hottest rumor about the new operating system is the inclusion of “Google Babel,” which is basically a communication hub uniting Messenger, Hangout, Voice talk, and various Chat services. Additional rumors include a Linux 3.8 kernel (which would help devices to lower their RAM usage), a Games Center, and a fun new feature that allows users to launch apps by tracing patterns on their screens. All of the above are a great start but if you’re anything like me, you miss the days when Google used to take our breath away during Android keynote announcements and that simply hasn’t happened in a while. If I could cherry pick my top KLP features they would include official multi-window support, as was made popular by the Samsung Note line of devices, as well as a more robust multitasking experience such as the Paranoid Android HALO video walk through below.
Lastly I would love to see a continued dismantling of the OS features which would then be made available to everyone via the Play Store. If they succeeded in doing this, fragmentation of the OS would no longer be an issue. Imagine if the Android team cooked up a new camera feature, such as Photo Sphere 2.0 and instead of baking it into Android, made it available for download to the masses the very next day. That would be worthy of a jump to 5.0, less is definitely more in this situation. Let us know what your thoughts or Key Lime Pie wish list is in the comments below.
