Given the fears flying around recently of Android user base fragmentation, Google has decided to take it upon itself to outline the extent to which Android devices will be capable of upgrading to version 2.1 of the mobile OS.

Poor Android, what are the antenna even for...?

One of the persistent issues with Android devices has been that users worry about their upgrade path in terms of the phone’s OS. When Google released Android 1.6, under the codename Donut, it seemed that there were older Android devices in the field, most notably Google and HTC’s G1, that wouldn’t be able to run the latest version of the open source OS. Now, according to Android and Me, that should be less of an issue with Android 2.1 (or Fro-Yo as it’s known).

Word comes via Android and Me that, while Google did eventually manage to fit Android 1.6 into the G1, there was some ongoing worry that the Android 2.0 update might well prove a little too much for some of the earlier Android-based smartphones out there. Now though, it seems that the Android 2.1 update will be usable on all of the Android devices available in the US (which helpfully includes both the HTC Hero and the Samsung Galaxy, the two Android devices available over here).

Still, it’s not all great news. While Android 2.1 will run on those doddering older Android devices knocking around, it won’t boast all of the various bells and whistles that other builds of Google’s Android do. Indeed, support for animated “live wallpapers” is unlikely to make the grade for many devices, but the lack of some features could prove the smallest of worries.

Indeed, it seems that there are still lingering questions about just what we can expect from the update process itself. For those in the US, it seems that there are devices out there, the G1 included, for which an upgrade to Android 2.1 will involve wiping the device… unpleasant stuff.