Gingerbread has been officially announced

Great news for Android aficionados all over the world today- Google has officially announced the successor to Froyo- Android 2.3 or more commonly known as Gingerbread. The long-awaited update to their mobile operating system is finally here, and along with it the arrival of a new flagship phone- the Samsung Nexus S. Here is a rundown of some of the features available in Gingerbread:

– A refined user interface: the whole operating system has been given a facelift, and users will now find it much easier to learn, use and navigate the system with its high contrast, power-efficient design.

– Faster and more intuitive text input- the virtual keyboard has been redesigned to work better and faster. With the ability to add new words to the dictionary, one touch word selection for copy/paste and a multi-touch mode to quickly enter numbers and symbols without switching modes.

– Improved power management: Android now automatically monitors apps that run in the background and takes appropriate actions if they drain too much battery. This ensures longer battery life on your Gingerbread phone. You can now monitor how much power an app is using with detailed statistics from the OS itself.

– Internet calling, NFC and native support for front-facing cameras are now part of the operating system, though these features depend on the manufacturers to include them in their devices.

There’s a whole lot more that’s not listed above, but you can read the complete list can on the Android developers website. The software development kit (SDK) has just been released to developers today as well, so you can expect to hear more about the operating system in the coming days. Stay tuned. Watch a video introduction to Gingerbread after the break: