Google announces operating system distribution of Android devices

The fragmentation of Android devices is no doubt a situation developers will be revisiting throughout 2010.

Indeed, it’s something Google is already investigating thanks to a new dashboard software widget that provides it with data about the relative distribution of Android OS versions, which are running the Android Market.

Announced on the Android developers blog, the main use for this information is so developers can work out which OSes they should support when they’re making games and apps.

So for the record, the current breakdown is

1.1 - 0.3%

1.5 - 27.7%

1.6 - 54.2%

2.0 - 2.9%

2.0.1 - 14.8%

Android 1.6 and above sees the first fragmentation of the platform in terms of the requirement to handle different screen densities and sizes, with Google’s Raphaël Moll reminding developers that: "Android Market will not list your application on small screen devices unless its manifest explicitly indicates support for 'small' screen sizes (QVGA)".

Good to know.

Moll also says Google will be releasing more details about the type of devices connecting to the Android Market during 2010, including details such as the distribution of different screen sizes.

[source: Android developers blog]