A week before Google's I/O conference, clues indicating online tests of Android 4.3 Jelly Bean appear to be popping up on some websites.
Last week, SlashGear noted 17 visits to its website from computers using an operating system self-identified as Android 4.3. While Google hasn't announced that update yet, it's certainly working on it, and many devs expect the tech giant to unveil 4.3 at I/O, or at least soon after.
"Android 4.3 Jelly Bean appeared from an unknown source and hit SlashGear 17 times on the 5th of May," SlashGear writes-.
It's important to note that it's not difficult to fake the operating system reported to Google Analytics, so this could just be an elaborate fraud perpetrated by bored teenagers.
It's also interesting that SlashGear recorded the same number of hits from operating systems purporting to be Android 5.3.8, an obviously faked moniker.
"Android 5.3.8 comes from a provider by the name of Pardaz GoStar Ertebatat Berelian Limited Liability Company and comes from Iran. Because it's essentially impossible for a new operating system from Google to have emanated from the source this one does here, it'll be best to discount it as either a hacked system -- pushing that number falsely - or as a non-Android OS posing as one for the giggles, writes SlashGear.
The 4.3 hits could have been from the same source, but there's no way to tell. That they both registered the same number of hits is suspicious, though, which lends more credence to the possibility that the Android 4.3 hits are also fake.
We won't know for sure until Google makes an official announcement, but look for one soon. The Google I/O conference begins next Monday and runs through next Friday, so it could come anytime in there. Google has plenty of other announcements slated for the conference, including some rumored updates to the Google Maps interface, but an Android update will be big news.