State of the Gingerbread upgrade: June 2011

By JR Raphael (@jr_raphael)

Friends, Romans, Androidmen: A significant time approaches. The end of June marks the official halfway point of 2011 -- the conclusion of two full quarters of the calendar year. Given this noteworthy mark, I thought it'd be a good time to deliver a State of the Gingerbread report, looking at the big picture status of Google's Android 2.3 upgrade and its rollout to handsets around the world.

Android Gingerbread, as it's commonly known, launched last December with the Nexus S phone from Google. Its next appearance came about two months later, on February 22, when Google's flagship Nexus One received the upgrade.

Since then, Gingerbread has been slowly trickling down to other devices. By my count, 11 devices total have now been graced with the taste of Gingerbread, including -- most recently -- the Motorola Droid X, the HTC EVO 4G, and the HTC EVO Shift.

If promises and leaks hold true, several more devices should be receiving the software within the coming weeks of summer.

[STORY: Android Gingerbread: The complete FAQ]

State of the Gingerbread Upgrade: Who's Next?

So where does your phone fall in the Gingerbread waiting list? The device that should, by all counts, be at the head of the pack right now is T-Mobile's HTC G2. Back in April, an HTC spokesperson told me the G2 was scheduled to receive Gingerbread within the second quarter of the year. If that promise is to be fulfilled -- and we'll see -- the G2 would have to get its upgrade within the next week.

(Recent signs have suggested the G2's upgrade is indeed close to ready: Earlier this month, T-Mobile enthusiast site TmoNews.com reported that T-Mobile's G2 warranty replacement units had started to ship with Gingerbread preinstalled.)

We've heard that same second-quarter timing mentioned for a couple of other phones, though in less official contexts. A combination of unsubstantiated chats with customer service reps and published info from unnamed tipsters suggests the HTC Droid Incredible and HTC Thunderbolt will both be getting Android 2.3 in late June, too. In the case of the Thunderbolt, an alleged leaked document from Verizon's internal computer system has been floating around the blogosphere this week, leading to fresh speculation that the phone's upgrade is imminent. Thus far, neither HTC nor Verizon has officially commented on either device.

Then there's the Droid 2 Global. Last week, Verizon posted info about the phone's Gingerbread upgrade and openly discussed the start of a rollout on Twitter. In an odd twist, though, Motorola came forward to say the upgrade was not, in fact, ready. It isn't yet clear what caused the conflicting info, but one way or another, it certainly seems like something's cooking. Previously, Motorola has said the Droid 2 Global, the original Droid 2 and the Droid Pro would all be upgraded sometime "before the end of the third quarter or sooner."

[IN-DEPTH: Android upgrades: Which manufacturers can you trust?]

Other phones expected to see Gingerbread within the summer include T-Mobile's G2X and AT&T's Motorola Atrix; unofficial leaks point to a June or July rollout for both of those handsets. Sony's Xperia X10, meanwhile, is currently slated for an early August upgrade.

Plenty of other phones are on the Gingerbread upgrade list but with less certain time frames. Apparent test builds of the 2.3 software have popped up for the MyTouch 4G and for various U.S. models of the Galaxy S, for example, suggesting that work is underway -- but thus far, no firm info has surfaced as to when those rollouts could begin.

Remember, of course, all of these details -- particularly the unofficial and leak-based bits -- are not set in stone. You can keep tabs on the Gingerbread status for any device at my Android 2.3 upgrade list. It's always kept up-to-date with the latest info available for every Android phone, including many models not mentioned here.

JR Raphael writes about smartphones and other tasty technology. You can find him on both Facebook and Twitter.

Article copyright 2011 JR Raphael. All rights reserved.