The insane pace of Android

Oh, right, there’s an entirely new version of Android right around the corner. It could be days away, it could be weeks away. We’re not totally sure what Google has planned for what is easily the most ambitious and promising update to the platform since Android 2.1. It’s easy to forget that there’s a whole new world right around the corner, because Android is in this seemingly constant state of change now. We have core apps updating on a regular and consistent bases, manufacturers pushing their apps to the Play Store in order to update them in a timely manner, and the beating heart of the platform is on a six week release cycle. Of all the incredible things that we saw and heard about at Google I/O this year, Sundar Pichai’s announcement that Google Play Services would be updating and improving every six weeks is one of those things that didn’t get nearly as much attention as it probably should have.

It really is quite remarkable. In some ways, Android is starting to faintly look like a rolling release, with more and more core smartphone applications, as well as several core smartphone APIs, updated continuously through Google Play. The pace is quick, and I like it.

Still, the Android update situation has not been resolved. There’s a lot more work to do.

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