Jelly Bean on 10 per cent of Android phones, Gingerbread falls

The latest version of Google's mobile software, Jelly Bean, has reached 10 per cent of all devices, according to the latest numbers just in from Android Developers. That's calculated in the two weeks ending 3 January, and is up from just under 7 per cent at the start of December.

The other big news is that crusty old Gingerbread is on the way down, though version 2.3 is still by far the most popular build of Android, accounting for just under 50 per cent of devices. Will we ever see the back of it?

Out of the two flavours of Jelly Bean -- 4.1 and 4.2 -- it's 4.1 that's increased the most. It's to be found on 9 per cent of Android devices (equal to ancient 2.2 Froyo), while 4.2 is on just 1.2 per cent. Which makes sense, seeing as it landed in October, compared to 4.1 back in July.

Ice Cream Sandwich, meanwhile, is on 29 per cent of Android phones and tablets.

Jelly Bean is still the preserve of flagships such as the Samsung Galaxy S3, HTC One X and Google Nexus 4. It's taken six months to reach 10 per cent market share, which isn't unusual in the world of Android updates. It's not ideal, obviously, but there are millions of low-cost phones running older versions, so the fraction with the most up to date software is always going to be small.

Fragmentation is the main problem plaguing Android. Unless you're buying a new phone every 12 months, you're likely to miss out on the latest update. And even if you are getting a new handset, you're far from guaranteed. It's all well and good Google pushing out a new build of its operating system every 12 months (or even less), but if you've only just got the previous version, being told you're already out of date is rather galling.

Which version of Android are you running? And what can be done about these update woes? Let me know what you reckon in the comments, or on our always up-to-date Facebook page.