Android 4.0 has broader reach with new Texas Instruments processors
Ice Cream Sandwich can now be used in home automation panels and portable navigation devices
By Mikael Ricknäs | Published: 12:43, 08 June 2012
Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich can now be used on low-cost and low-power devices, thanks to a new SDK (software development kit) for Texas Instruments' Sitara processors, the chip maker said.
The kind of devices Texas Instruments has in mind include wearable gadgets such as watches, goggles, display panels for home appliances and automation, tablets, point-of-sale terminals and portable navigation devices.
The products will use Sitara AM335x and AM37x, which are both based on ARM's Cortex-A8 processors. The chips are available now, but Texas Instruments didn't elaborate on when it expects products using them to arrive.
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The SDK includes the Android OS, drivers for 3D graphics, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth as well as guidance to help product developers with their designs, according to Texas Instruments.
It can be downloaded for free from the company's website.
Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich was introduced in October last year and is used on 7.1% of all devices based on Google's OS, as of June 1, according to the Android Developers website.
The most popular version of Android is still version 2.3, which is used on 65% of all devices, it said.
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