Rumours have surfaced that suggest Google is readying the 5th iteration of Android, to be known as Jelly Bean, for release in the second quarter of 2012. T

The report, which comes via DigiTimes, and points towards the new OS being optimised for large screen formats such as tablets and netbooks.

A key feature of the upcoming platform is said to be the ability to dual-boot Chrome OS, therefore harnessing Android’s huge popularity in order to position Chrome to a larger audience.

Additionally, dual-boot capability will mean that Android 5.0 could potentially offer large-scale integration with the Chrome OS functions in netbooks and laptops, providing key competition for Microsoft’s Windows 8.

It does seem unlikely that Google would launch a brand new operating system so soon after the unveiling of Ice Cream Sandwich, however, a number of sources are already pointing toward Google I/O in June as a possible stage for its launch.