An update from the OUYA team on the progress of their crowdfunded open-console project has confirmed that the ambitious Android OS device will launch with the most recent 4.2 update of the OS, affectionately known as "Jelly Bean"

I’m happy to announce OUYA will run on Android Jelly Bean, the newest version of the Android operating system. We’re making the jump from the old version, Ice Cream Sandwich, to ensure that we’re running on the most up-to-date software available. You asked if it could be done, we looked into it, and we made it happen.

The news accompanies a progress update on the OUYA's manufacturing process, which is reportedly now in the Engineering Verification Testing (EVT) phase, with the first run of circuit boards said to be performing well.

During the EVT phase, we’ll be testing both the console and the controller with our OUYA software. We'll continue to verify our design and push the performance limits of our software. We’ll go through a couple more EVT build phases, as we weed out issues and refine the design for optimal performance and large-scale manufacturing, before we start cranking out OUYAs.

So, awesome news: we’re set to complete this EVT phase on time, and we’re in sync with our December target for developer kits. Since these dev kits are still in pre-production phase, we’ll build a limited quantity. Each one will be a collector’s item -- unique in design, build and appearance. (So, they’ll look different from the consumer-ready units.)

Following the December dev-kit units, the models promised to general consumer backers are still expected to hit the original target of March 2013, and later pre-order customers in April 2013 --reassuring news considering the uncertainty currently clouding the similarly Kickstarted-funded and Android-powered Pebble watch, that continues to leave tens of thousands of backers hanging for a now undetermined delivery date.