Oct 19, 2010 07:08 GMT  ·  By

The next version of Google's Android operating system is just around the corner. Dubbed Gingerbread and expected to sport version number 3.0, the operating system flavor should bring forth a wide range of appealing features, including enhanced support for tablet PCs, a family of devices new to the OS

, which is expected to gain ground in the near future.

Rumors on the version's arrival have emerged into the wild quite a while ago, many converging towards an end of 2010 release, while others suggesting that Google might deliver the Gingerbread SDK as soon as this week.

Of course, nothing was confirmed on this for the time being, but a series of details on what the platform would include have started to emerge, and a recent article on Phandroid puts on the table some of them, such as a possible graphical redesign.

It appears that some visual changes would be indeed present with the new OS flavor, including a cleaner look for standard icons, offering a feel of simplicity and ease.

Some of the said changes should be obvious in the notification bar area, which sports a “warm, slate grey” look in Gingerbread, though all elements there would look familiar.

However, it appears that the carrier branding would be displayed more prominently than in previous OS versions, and that the color of choice for Android is becoming green, though the transition is not yet completed.

The Homescreen should look the same, though green is present here too, as well as new colors for the Browser and Dialer buttons.

According to the said article, Google is focused on making its apps look and feel as extensions of the platform, and the YouTube app is among the first to get this treatment.

The application would come with “reshuffled elements and sections,” along with the possibility to control a full-screen continuous play mode, called “Lean Back.”

“Graphical changes continue where Google’s added the “bouncy” effect that you see on iOS devices and on TouchWiz 3.0 devices when traversing lists. When you reach the top or bottom of a list via kinetic scrolling, it’ll bounce off of the edge and initiate an orange glow at that edge,” Phandroid notes.

Other changes include new style for radio buttons and checkmarks, which are said to be cleaner, greener, and bigger.

In addition to these visual changes, we should also expect for series of modifications to the core of the operating system, where Google reportedly plans to add some more functionality.

One of the most important such addition would be the support for video chat, with similar protocols as video chat on the desktop version of Google Talk, though this is only a rumor for the time being, it seems.

At the same time, the new OS version is rumored to arrive with SIP support in the Google Voice application, so that one would be able to receive calls to the Google Voice number over Wi-Fi and cellular data connections.

Of course, other VoIP options are also available on the market today, but this feature would be supported natively in Gingerbread (though it might not be ready for the release of the new OS version).

All in all, it appears that Gingerbread should arrive as a nice enhancement to the currently available versions of the Android platform, though it still remains to be seen when exactly it would land on devices on the market.