Google upgrading to Android 3.1, and next release will unify tablets and phones

Google has laid out its Android development roadmap, stating that a limited initial rollout of version 3.1, and a new upgrade dubbed Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS), will be released by the year's end.

The Honeycomb 3.1 update begins today, although initially only for Verizon Xoom 3G customers. Other upgradable systems will receive the new versin as soon as possible, the company said.

The upgrade adds an upgraded task switcher, allowing the user to scroll through recent and current applications, and improved widget code to allow windows to be resized horizontally and vertically. Existing applications will be able to convert with just a few lines of XML.

In addition, Android devices running the code can act as USB hubs for the first time.  Android engineering team chief Mike Claron said during the opening keynote at the Google I/O conference that this will allow "a ridiculous number of USB devices" to be attached directly to tablets.

Other tablets will receive the updates shortly, and Google TV systems will get the new software in the summer, Claron said. Access to the Android App Market will also be added for those systems.

Google will release ICS, which is designed to be a unifying operating system offering the same functionality on smartphones and tablets, by the end of the year.

ICS has a rolling 3D interface and the company demonstrated new built-in technology aimed at videoconferencing, with an application that tracks voice and facial expressions.

Google had split its Android efforts between tablets and smartphones in the past, but the focus now is to draw them together, Andy Rubin, senior vice president of mobile at Google, told the press.

"It was an internal trick to make a schedule, we took a short cut and didn't make ICS available for phones," he said. "We will remerge those things. ICS is the remerging of the tablet and smartphone."

In order to speed up software updates Google is bringing together some of the biggest names in the hardware industry to ensure that new handsets and tablets are supported with firmware upgrades for at least 18 months.

Google has also taken direct aim at Apple with a new focus on entertainment. The company has already begun renting films on YouTube and is extending this to Android, allowing 24-hour rentals and caching before viewing.

The firm also released beta of Google Music, a cloud storage system that allows up to 20,000 songs to be uploaded and listened to on any Android device, while Music Manager, available for Windows and Mac on an invitation-only basis initially, makes music libraries playable on any compatible device.

"You can add music to listen to it on web, and any compatible device, with no wires and no syncing," said Paul Joyce, creative director at Google. "You can stop worrying about where songs are and just enjoy the music."

Google said that it has signed deals with all but two of the major music publishers for Google Music, and is hoping to expand the service.