Ice Cream Sandwich may be the talk of the future, but Android 3.1 is the talk of now. Google announced that Android 3.1 would be available as early as today for existing Xoom owners with Verizon Wireless, with the first major step to the company's tablet OS happening in lockstep with the I/O conference in San Francisco. Xoom 3G customers are told that the update will be rolled out in phases, so there's no need to panic if you don't see it right away.

What'll 3.1 include that 3.0 doesn't? A whole ton of things, including support for tons of USB ports, USB controllers / gampads, the Android Movies rental market, a new and refined Books app, the Movie Studio movie playing app, a faster web browser, etc. Also of note, 3.1 will be coming to Google TV devices later this summer.


That's a pretty big list of advancement for a simple point release, but with Android Ice Cream Sandwich just around the bend, will 3.1 ever get to 3.9?