Again I Say Rejoice (Live From Another Level Version)
Android Versions
Android versions: A living history from 1.0 to thirteen
Explore Android's ongoing evolution with this visual timeline of versions, starting B.C. (Before Cupcake) and going all the way to 2022's even so-under-development Android thirteen release.
Past
Contributing Editor, Computerworld |
What a long, foreign trip information technology's been.
From its inaugural release to today, Android has transformed visually, conceptually and functionally — time and time again. Google'southward mobile operating system may have started out scrappy, but holy moly, has information technology always evolved.
Here'due south a fast-paced tour of Android version highlights from the platform's nativity to present. (Feel free to skip ahead if yous merely desire to see what's new in Android 12 or Android 13.)
Android versions 1.0 to i.one: The early on days
Android made its official public debut in 2008 with Android 1.0 — a release so ancient it didn't even accept a beautiful codename.
Things were pretty basic back then, but the software did include a suite of early on Google apps like Gmail, Maps, Agenda, and YouTube, all of which were integrated into the operating system — a stark dissimilarity to the more easily updatable standalone-app model employed today.
T-Mobile The Android 1.0 home screen and its rudimentary web browser (not still called Chrome).
Android version 1.five: Cupcake
With early on 2009's Android 1.five Cupcake release, the tradition of Android version names was built-in. Cupcake introduced numerous refinements to the Android interface, including the start on-screen keyboard — something that'd be necessary as phones moved abroad from the in one case-ubiquitous concrete keyboard model.
Cupcake too brought near the framework for third-party app widgets, which would quickly turn into one of Android's near distinguishing elements, and information technology provided the platform's first-e'er choice for video recording.
Android Law (CC Past-SA iv.0) Cupcake was all almost the widgets.
Android version 1.vi: Donut
Android one.vi, Donut, rolled into the world in the fall of 2009. Donut filled in some important holes in Android'southward centre, including the ability for the OS to operate on a multifariousness of different screen sizes and resolutions — a gene that'd be critical in the years to come. It likewise added support for CDMA networks like Verizon, which would play a key office in Android's imminent explosion.
Google Android'south universal search box made its showtime appearance in Android one.half-dozen.
Android versions 2.0 to 2.ane: Eclair
Keeping up the breakneck release pace of Android's early years, Android 2.0, Eclair, emerged only six weeks later on Donut; its "point-i" update, too called Eclair, came out a couple months later. Eclair was the first Android release to enter mainstream consciousness thanks to the original Motorola Droid telephone and the massive Verizon-led marketing campaign surrounding information technology.
Verizon's "iDon't" ad for the Droid.
The release's virtually transformative chemical element was the addition of voice-guided plough-by-turn navigation and real-time traffic info — something previously unheard of (and withal essentially unmatched) in the smartphone globe. Navigation aside, Eclair brought live wallpapers to Android as well equally the platform'due south outset speech-to-text function. And information technology made waves for injecting the once-iOS-exclusive compression-to-zoom capability into Android — a motility often seen as the spark that ignited Apple tree'south long-lasting "thermonuclear war" confronting Google.
Google The first versions of turn-by-turn navigation and speech-to-text, in Eclair.
Android version 2.two: Froyo
Just four months subsequently Android two.one arrived, Google served up Android 2.ii, Froyo, which revolved largely around under-the-hood performance improvements.
Froyo did deliver some important front-facing features, though, including the addition of the now-standard dock at the lesser of the home screen besides as the offset incarnation of Voice Actions, which immune you to perform bones functions similar getting directions and making notes by tapping an icon and then speaking a command.
Google Google'south beginning real attempt at voice control, in Froyo.
Notably, Froyo also brought support for Flash to Android'due south web browser — an pick that was significant both because of the widespread use of Wink at the fourth dimension and because of Apple's determined stance confronting supporting it on its own mobile devices. Apple would eventually win, of course, and Flash would become far less common. But back when it was all the same everywhere, existence able to admission the full web without whatever black holes was a genuine advantage only Android could offer.
Android version 2.3: Gingerbread
Android'southward first truthful visual identity started coming into focus with 2010'due south Gingerbread release. Bright light-green had long been the color of Android'south robot mascot, and with Gingerbread, it became an integral part of the operating system's appearance. Blackness and green seeped all over the UI every bit Android started its slow march toward distinctive design.
JR Raphael / IDG It was easy being dark-green back in the Gingerbread days.
Android iii.0 to iii.ii: Honeycomb
2011's Honeycomb menstruation was a weird time for Android. Android 3.0 came into the globe as a tablet-only release to back-trail the launch of the Motorola Xoom, and through the subsequent three.i and iii.ii updates, information technology remained a tablet-sectional (and closed-source) entity.
Nether the guidance of newly arrived design chief Matias Duarte, Honeycomb introduced a dramatically reimagined UI for Android. Information technology had a infinite-similar "holographic" design that traded the platform'south trademark greenish for bluish and placed an accent on making the almost of a tablet's screen space.
JR Raphael / IDG Honeycomb: When Android got a case of the holographic dejection.
While the concept of a tablet-specific interface didn't concluding long, many of Honeycomb's ideas laid the groundwork for the Android nosotros know today. The software was the first to utilise on-screen buttons for Android's main navigational commands; it marked the beginning of the end for the permanent overflow-carte button; and it introduced the concept of a card-like UI with its take on the Recent Apps list.
Android version iv.0: Ice Cream Sandwich
With Honeycomb acting as the bridge from sometime to new, Water ice Cream Sandwich — likewise released in 2011 — served as the platform's official entry into the era of modern pattern. The release refined the visual concepts introduced with Honeycomb and reunited tablets and phones with a single, unified UI vision.
ICS dropped much of Honeycomb'southward "holographic" appearance but kept its use of blue as a system-broad highlight. And information technology carried over core system elements like on-screen buttons and a card-similar appearance for app-switching.
JR Raphael / IDG The ICS abode screen and app-switching interface.
Android 4.0 also made swiping a more integral method of getting around the operating system, with the and so-revolutionary-feeling ability to swipe away things like notifications and contempo apps. And information technology started the slow procedure of bringing a standardized blueprint framework — known as "Holo" — all throughout the OS and into Android'south app ecosystem.
Android versions 4.1 to 4.3: Jelly Bean
Spread beyond three impactful Android versions, 2012 and 2013's Jelly Bean releases took ICS's fresh foundation and made meaningful strides in fine-tuning and building upon it. The releases added plenty of poise and polish into the operating arrangement and went a long manner in making Android more inviting for the boilerplate user.
Visuals aside, Jelly Bean brought nigh our outset taste of Google Now — the spectacular predictive-intelligence utility that's sadly since devolved into a glorified news feed. It gave us expandable and interactive notifications, an expanded voice search system, and a more advanced system for displaying search results in general, with a focus on card-based results that attempted to respond questions straight.
Multiuser support also came into play, albeit on tablets only at this point, and an early version of Android's Quick Settings panel made its first appearance. Jelly Bean ushered in a heavily hyped system for placing widgets on your lock screen, too — one that, similar so many Android features over the years, quietly disappeared a couple years after.
JR Raphael / IDG Jelly Edible bean's Quick Settings console and short-lived lock screen widget feature.
Android version iv.four: KitKat
Late-2013's KitKat release marked the terminate of Android's night era, every bit the blacks of Gingerbread and the dejection of Honeycomb finally made their way out of the operating system. Lighter backgrounds and more neutral highlights took their places, with a transparent status bar and white icons giving the Bone a more contemporary appearance.
Android 4.4 as well saw the outset version of "OK, Google" support — just in KitKat, the hands-costless activation prompt worked only when your screen was already on and you lot were either at your dwelling house screen or inside the Google app.
The release was Google's first foray into claiming a total panel of the home screen for its services, too — at least, for users of its own Nexus phones and those who chose to download its showtime-e'er standalone launcher.
JR Raphael / IDG The lightened KitKat home screen and its dedicated Google At present panel.
Android versions v.0 and 5.one: Lollipop
Google substantially reinvented Android — again — with its Android 5.0 Lollipop release in the fall of 2014. Lollipop launched the notwithstanding-nowadays-today Textile Pattern standard, which brought a whole new look that extended across all of Android, its apps and fifty-fifty other Google products.
The carte-based concept that had been scattered throughout Android became a core UI blueprint — i that would guide the appearance of everything from notifications, which now showed upwardly on the lock screen for at-a-glance access, to the Contempo Apps list, which took on an unabashedly card-based appearance.
JR Raphael / IDG Lollipop and the onset of Material Pattern.
Lollipop introduced a slew of new features into Android, including truly hands-free phonation control via the "OK, Google" command, support for multiple users on phones and a priority mode for better notification direction. It changed then much, unfortunately, that it also introduced a bunch of troubling bugs, many of which wouldn't be fully ironed out until the post-obit twelvemonth'due south 5.1 release.
Source: https://www.computerworld.com/article/3235946/android-versions-a-living-history-from-1-0-to-today.html
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