For its April report of Android distribution numbers, Google says that the reporting mechanism has changed from Android activations to only devices that visit the Google Play store. The change will more accurately reflect “those users who are most engaged in the Android and Google Play ecosystem.”

With this new method of reporting, Jelly Bean use has risen by almost 10 percent to 25 percent of the entire Android ecosystem. Ice Cream Sandwich saw a minor rise in use as well with it now sitting at 29.3 percent.

Gingerbread continues its path of decline with only a 39.8 percent share of the Android ecosystem. Even with the new method of reporting, Gingerbread only saw a decline of less than five percent. It will still be a while before we see Jelly Bean or Ice Cream Sandwhich become the dominant player in the Android ecosystem.

It will be interesting to see what the Android ecosystem looks like a few months after Google launches the new version of Android later this year. Distribution reporting may also be thrown off if rumors of an Android notebook turn out to be true. Both scenarios will likely create a very interesting year for Android.

In the latest Android distribution numbers, Gingerbread is shown to be at an all time low of 44.2 percent. It’s still higher than the separate distribution percentages of both Ice Cream Sandwhich (28.6 percent) and Jelly Bean (16.5 percent), but they barely best Gingerbread when combined (45.1 percent).

Aside from Gingerbread’s dominance being semi-officially over, it should be noted that this is the second month in a row where Jelly Bean saw the only growth. Ice Cream Sandwich is beginning to decline as more Android 4.0 devices are upgraded to Android 4.1. Android 4.2 also saw a slight bump.

Google is expected to show off the next version of Android at this year’s Google I/O in May. It will be interesting to see what Android distribution looks like before then. Getting more people on Jelly Bean, or at the very least Ice Cream Sandwich, should be a priority for Google before then. Supporting Gingerbread is good for consumers, but it’s not good for the developers straining themselves to support multiple versions of Android.

In the latest Android distribution numbers, Jelly Bean has grown 3.4 percent to a total of 13.6 percent of the entire Android market. The increase can be attributed to any number of things including the Galaxy S III finally being upgraded to the latest version of Android. Sales of Google’s Nexus 7 and Nexus 10 tablets likely contributed to the increase as well.

What about the other versions? Surprisingly, Ice Cream Sandwich is down, but only by .1 percent. Android 4.0 ended January with 29 percent of the market compared to its 29.1 percent from last month. This is probably an anomaly as ICS will most likely continue to grow as those with cheap Gingerbread handsets will upgrade to now cheap ICS handsets throughout the year.

Speaking of Gingerbread, the Android OS that won’t die is still falling slowly as it only lost a few percentage points over the month. Android 2.3 now holds 45.6 of the Android market. It will only continue to decline as more users upgrade to devices with Android 4.0 or 4.1/4.2.

It will be interesting to see how the Android market continues to evolve over the course of the year. I have a gut feeling that Gingerbread’s days are numbered, and that its overall distribution will see a huge decline sometime in the middle of the year. Google’s expected rollout of Key Lime Pie (or Kandy Kane) may also have an impact on overall distribution numbers later this year.

In the latest Android distribution figures released by Google today, it’s revealed that Gingerbread has finally dropped its deathlike stranglehold on the Android market. Android 2.2-2.3 now only makes up 47.6 percent of the entire Android market. Android 2.2, or Froyo, also saw a marked increase of over one percentage point to a new low of 9 percent.

Old dinosaurs finally showing signs of death isn’t the only good news out of last month’s numbers as Ice Cream Sandwich and Jelly Bean are finally starting to take hold in a big way. Ice Cream Sandwich climbed up one percentage point to a new high of 29.1 percent of the entire Android market. In even bigger news, Jelly Bean has finally reached 10 percent of the entire market with 9 percent of users on Android 4.1 while 1.2 percent are on Android 4.2.

In other interesting news, older versions of Android seem to be finally dying out. Last month, Android 1.5, or Cupcake, was only at 0.1 percent, but now it’s finally died out. Android 1.6, or Donut, is held on last month at 0.2 percent, but it could possibly die out in January. That would finally phase out the version 1.x Android operating systems, and we could move on to phasing out all the Android 2.x operating systems. It’s more likely, however, that the tablet focused Android 3.x operating system will die out before Gingerbread ever gives up the fight.

The latest distribution numbers show that Ice Cream Sandwich usage has only jumped a measly two percent in a month’s time to 27.5 percent of the entire market. The slow growth can be attributed, however, to the relatively explosive growth of Jelly Bean. Android 4.1 was only on 2.7 percent of all smartphones, but now it has grown to 6.7 percent with 0.8 percent of users being on the newest distribution of Jelly Bean – Android 4.2.

As for the Gingerbread the undying, it refuses to let go. It’s still on a little above 50 percent of all Android smartphones at 50.8 percent. I predicted that Gingerbread usage would drop below 50 percent before the end of the year, and I still stand by that prediction. The holidays should provide enough new ICS and Jelly Bean equipped phones to push Gingerbread out of its majority stranglehold.

Even then, Android has a long way to go before it can rid itself of its fragmented ecosystem. Google has to work with carriers to deliver timely OS upgrades and updates to the numerous Android devices that are now invading the market. It doesn’t help that smaller players in the Android market are still offering entry-level phones with Android 2.3. Google needs to hold OEMs and carriers to an ICS standard if it wants to solve its fragmentation problem.

The next Android distribution numbers should be out at the beginning of January and cover the tail end of December. The holidays are coming up fast, and a Christmas miracle complete with Gingerbread falling below 50 percent could happen. We can only dream, but hey, that’s what the holidays are for. Let’s just hope Google doesn’t get too caught up in the Christmas spirit and names it next Android distribution “Kandy Kane.”

Google released the latest Android distribution report today and there’s some good news – Ice Cream Sandwich distribution has grown yet again. Jelly Bean is also showing signs of life as more users adopt the OS. At the beginning of October, ICS was on 23.7 percent of Android devices. That number has grown to 25.8 percent, a full quarter of the entire Android ecosystem. As for Jelly Bean, it has grown to 2.7 percent from 1.8 percent.

The old dinosaur that is Gingerbread is still hanging on to its majority across Android platforms. At the beginning of the month, Android 2.3 was at 55.5 percent distribution. In a month’s time, that number has only shrunk to 53.9 percent.

It can be frustrating, especially to developers, to see Gingerbread retaining its dominance. It’s not going to change either until more people get newer phones that run ICS. A number of phones running Gingerbread were slated to get upgrades until the handset manufacturer pulled the update. Customers are irritated as they can’t upgrade to a new phone just yet, and it holds back developers who want to focus solely on the improvements afforded by modern operating systems.

There’s still hope for Android 4.0 this year though. A number of people will be receiving new phones over the holidays and the newer phones will come equipped with ICS. It should help boost Android 4.0 distribution. A number of Android handsets will also be getting their ICS upgrades later this month as well. All of this should help to bring down Android 2.3′s distribution below 50 percent.

Google released the latest Android distribution numbers, and it’s similar to how it’s been the last few months. Gingerbread, or Android 2.3, still makes up most of the market. The only real difference this time is that Ice Cream Sandwich is finally starting to make some progress towards usurping Gingerbread.

As of October 1, Gingerbread is now installed on 55.8 of all Android phones. In second place is Ice Cream Sandwich which is installed on a total of 23.7 percent of all Android devices. Third place goes to Froyo with 12.9 percent.

What about the newest OS, Jelly Bean? The latest numbers put it at 1.8 percent. It’s only been out for just a few months, but it’s still lagging behind legacy Android operating systems like Honey Comb and Eclair. The slow adoption of Jelly Bean shows that carriers are still trying to push Ice Cream Sandwich before they even touch Jelly Bean.

Google has been working furiously with carriers to get everybody up to speed on the latest versions of Android. Jelly Bean is obviously out of the question for now, but it’s nice to see that Ice Cream Sandwich is now starting to gain some traction in the Android ecosystem.

Looking at the speed at which Gingerbread is losing ground and ICS is gaining, we can estimate that Android 4.0 will become the dominant OS before the end of the year. The holiday rush to buy new Android devices like the Galaxy S III will certainly help push Android 4.0 to the top. It may not happen, but it would definitely be nice to finally be out of the obsolete shadow of Gingerbread.

Nikon announced three new cameras today – the Coolpix S6400, the Coolpix S800c, and the Coolpix S01. It’s the S800c that we want to pay special attention to. The camera is powered by Anroid 2.3 and features a 3.5-inch OLED screen for impressive photo detail.

Here’s the official feature sheet from Nikon:

Simple setup and connection
Setup and text input for Internet connection using operations that are similar to those used by Android smartphones is possible.

Browse and post to social networking sites (SNS)
The beautiful still photos and movies recorded with this digital camera, as well as comments, can be posted to social networking sites such as Google+, Facebook, and Twitter. Not only is posting to an SNS simple, but browsing them is also smooth and easy.

Support for Google Play and built-in Google apps
Users can customize their cameras by downloading favorite apps from Google Play. This will expand the ways in which users enjoy digital photography. A number of Google apps, including Google+, YouTube, Google Maps, and Gmail come preinstalled on the camera.

Simple image transfer to other smart devices
The camera’s Upload to Smart Device app can be used to transfer high-resolution photos and movies to smart devices running the Android or iOS operating system over a wireless connection.

The S800c will come equipped with a 10x optical zoom and built in vibration reduction. It’s also able to record full HD movies at 1920×1080 resolution. All in all, it’s a basic point-and-shoot camera that has the added bonus of being an Android phone without the phone. With Skype and free messaging services, there really isn’t a need for the phone part anyway.

Unfortunately, there is no release date or price set for the camera yet. It’s safe to say that the camera will be released by the end of the year. As for price, your guess is as good as mine.

Nikon Rumors got hold of a filing with the Indonesian Communication Agency that outs the existence of Android-based camera from Nikon. The model is called the Nikon Coolpix S800. It will be the first Android-based camera from Nikon and as such, it won’t sport the best the operating system has to offer just yet.

The rumors suggest that the camera will be running Android 2.3. That’s probably due to limitations of the hardware itself. That being said, it will run all the apps that are available in Google Play. So you can play a quick game of Angry Birds while you’re waiting for photography subjects to show up.

As for the actual hardware, the camera will reportedly sport a 25-250 mm lens and a 3.5 inch OLED screen. It will also have built-in GPS and Wi-Fi for all the Android apps that support those features. Nikon Rumors says that we can expect an announcement of the camera on August 22.

It’s suspected that Nikon is going to start small as a way of testing the market. Many people already have cameras on their Android phones, so it remains to be seen if demand will be high for an Android powered camera. If successful, we might start to see Android powered high-end cameras.

The lead image is of the CoolPix S8200, but we can expect the Android-powered version to look somewhat similar.

Russian tech site, hi-tech.mail got their hands on some shots of the new Lamborghini luxury Android smartphone and tablet. These are real and they are ridiculously expensive. How expensive? Hi-tech.mail puts the cost at about 90,000 rubles, or $2,760 USD. At that price, the phone should be top of the line, right?

Unfortunately, the Lamborghini Android phone is about the worst possible deal for your money. For one, it’s only running Android 2.3 and has a 2.3 GHz Qualcomm processor. The resolution is only 800×480 at 3.7 inches. It does have two cameras, but the front camera is only 0.3MP while the back is a paltry 5MP. But hey, at least it comes in a nice box.

If you thought the embarrassment couldn’t get any worse, just wait until you see the Lamborghini tablet. It’s processor is even worse than the phone clocking it at only 1.2 GHz. It sports 512 MB of RAM and 4GB of internal memory. Thankfully, it can be expanded with an SD card slot. It has two terrible cameras again with the front being only 2MP and the back the same as the phone at 5MP. The only decent thing about the display is that it’s 9.7 inches at a resolution of 1024×768. Of course, it ships with Android 2.3, but they claim it can be upgraded to 4.0. With those specs, why even bother?

Just like the phone, the only real appeal of the Lamborghini tablet is that it comes in a nice box. It’s kind of sad when one of the world’s premier automobile manufacturers can’t even get the basics of a decent tablet down. If you still want to get a hold of a Lamborghini tablet, it will set you back 75,000 Rubles, or $2,291 USD.

I will admit, these phones look really nice. Looking nice can only get you so far though. Only the most self-indulgent of people would be willing to pay over $2,000 for a crappy phone in exchange for luxury. I paid $20 for my phone after contract and it’s better than what Lamborghini has cooked up. I think that’s enough evidence for Lamborghini to just stick to making cars.