Old Android devices may not support Android 2.0

From InfoWorld: With this week's release of Verizon Wireless' Droid phone comes the first real test of the potential for fragmentation with Android. The Droid will be the first phone to run Android 2.0. After it goes on sale Friday, there will be Android phones on the market running three different versions of the OS.

But operators and hardware manufacturers currently selling Android phones are coy about whether their devices will be upgraded to the new OS. If some phones continue to run old versions, issues could arise with application compatibility across the different OS versions.

Motorola, whose Cliq runs Android version 1.5, would not specifically say if users of that phone would be offered the 2.0 upgrade. "Cliq with Motoblur can be upgraded over the air and will evolve to support how people's needs change. However, Motorola hasn't announced any updates at this time," a Motorola spokesperson said.

Google gave an equally vague answer to questions about which phones might be upgraded and if any of them had hardware limitations that might prevent an upgrade. "Because Android is open source, all software updates we release are available for carriers and handset makers to take and update their current or future Android-powered devices," Katie Watson, a Google spokeswoman said. She also pointed out that the updated OS hasn't been released so no devices can be updated yet.

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