14 DAY TRIAL // Today, December 6th, 2010, is expected to be the day when the next flavor of Google's Android mobile operating system, namely 2.3 Gingerbread, is announced official for the world. The new OS version made it to the headlines quite a few times before, and was expected to become official ever since October, when Google placed a giant Gingerbread man statue in its campus in Mountain View.
For the time being, the company did not offer specific info on when would the OS flavor land, although it did say that the release would take place before the end of the ongoing year.
Not to mention that Google CEO Eric Schmidt stated loud and clear during the Web2.0 Summit in San Francisco last month that Gingerbread was only a few weeks away.
Another piece of the Gingerbread puzzle comes from Notion Ink, which is about to launch its Adam Android tablet, and which noted in a recent blog post than today will be a big day for Android, while mentioning compatibility with “2.3,” Gingerbread's Android flavor.
Whether they were referring to the launch of the new iteration of Android or at the release of their slate with full support for the new platform version, it remains to be seen.
However, most clues point at an official launch set for today, at the D: Dive into Mobile conference, where Google VP Andy Rubin will take the stage.
Nothing was confirmed for the time being on what exactly would Rubin plan on unveiling today, but most of the reports around the web seem to converge towards Gingerbread.
The new mobile operating system version should bring forth a nice range of enhancements, including support for Near Field Communication, a new open source video codec, support for HTML5, new UI elements, and various other enhancements and fixes.
Another important enhancement included in the new OS would be the support for tablet PCs, which put Android on larger screens.We can only hope that Google would come forth with the Android 2.3 launch today, even if nothing is certain at the moment. Keep an eye on this space for more.