Android Versions History

Are you completely aware about how many versions are launched of an Android OS by Google ? If yes, then are you aware the features of these versions ? In no, Then  i am going to show you the complete history of android versions and their features.

Android Versions History

Android versions history involves the versions updates from 1.0 till date. We will detail you about all the versions one by one.

 1. Android 1.0

• Release Date: September 23, 2008

• Launch Device: HTC Dream (G1)

 Android 1.0 was launched with general design for the OS which remained constant with each major iteration release thereafter till pre-Honeycomb. The launcher and icon layout is also familiar to almost every Android user.

The most noticeable feature which came with Android 1.0 was the notification bar which pulled down to get a preview of emails, text messages and so on. Android OS also introduced Google Sync which essentially pulled together user’s contact and calendar info from their Google account on their phone.

The multiple home screen format was also new for the users which was launched with this version. This feature also remained constant with every version of OS. Widgets were added that came extremely handy for getting information using single tap. Android Market (now Google Play) was also introduced and made available since the first iteration of Android OS.

2. Android 1.1

• Release Date: February 9, 2009

• Launch Device: T mobile (G1)

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  Android 1.1 was the second major iteration released by Google which was mainly meant for fine tuning of OS. The update resolved certain bugs and added other features. Most of the functions remained same in this iteration except for few of the applications particularly made by Google.
  
  
  3. Android 1.5 Cupcake
  • Release Date: April 30, 2009
  • Launch Device: T-Mobile MyTouch 3G
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  This was the first Android OS version titled after sweets and that too in alphabetical order. In this iteration, copy & paste function was introduced to the browser. Camera functionality was added along with the ability to upload videos to YouTube and photos to Picasa.
  4. Android 1.6 Donut
• Release Date: September 15, 2009
• Launch Device: HTC tattoo

Android 1.6 Donut cleaned up the operating system and the update included numerous new features including support for higher resolution screens. The Google Search Bar was updated giving its users the ability to search for contacts, apps and access internet faster. Android 1.6 SDK included expanded Gesture framework and new Gesture Builder development tool.

5. Android 2.0/2.1 Éclair

• Release Date: October 26, 2009

• Launch Device: Motorola Droid

In Éclair, Google included support for HTML5 and added one of the best features i.e. free turn-by-turn navigation. There was also improvement brought in typing speed and auto-correction by improving OS’s keyboard. The other new features included support for Bluetooth v2.1, new browser interface, new calendar features, Live Wallpapers, enhanced built-in camera functions and so on.

6. Android 2.2 FroYo

• Release Date: May 20, 2010

• Launch Device: HTC Nexus One

Nexus line of Smartphones was introduced with the release of FroYo. Nexus devices were co-created by Google to deliver the utmost clean Android experience. In this iteration, USB tethering, Adobe Falsh support and mobile hotspot was added along with the facility of updating apps directly from Android Market (now Google Play) automatically. Camera features were enhanced by adding digital zoom, scene mode, color effect and macro effect.

In this iteration overall performance of the OS was improved by revamping UI and optimized hardware speed.

7. Android 2.3 Gingerbread

• Release Date: December 6, 2010

• Launch Device: Samsung Nexus S

The second Nexus device brought next iteration of Android OS i.e. Android 2.3 Gingerbread again named after a sweet. The second Nexus device was manufactured by Samsung. In this iteration the major features which were added involved support for NFC, UI refinements for simplicity & speed, new keyboard for faster text input, internet calling and one-touch word selection & copy/paste.

Support for front facing cameras and sophisticated resolution screens were also established in addition to above mentioned enhancements.

8. Android 3.0 Honeycomb

• Release Date: February 22, 2011

• Launch Device: Motorola Xoom

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Honeycomb was the first Android OS version which was specifically designed for tablets. Lack for hardware buttons were adjusted with virtual on-screen buttons. The same feature was carried over to the next version of Android OS.

Other than virtual buttons built-in apps were also improved for large screen; especially Gmail app and multi-tabbed web browser. Multi-tasking feature was also introduced with Honeycomb version. Previous to Honeycomb Android supported quick app switching but with this iteration users were allowed to bring active apps in front with the help of single push of button after which user can directly jump to the desired app.

Support for multi-core processors along with hardware acceleration was added to get better performance response. In the last update 2.3.7 Google Wallet support was added to Gingerbread devices.

9. Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich

• Release Date: October 19, 2011

• Launch Device: Samsung Galaxy Nexus

The latest iteration released by Google is Android 4.0 ICS which completely revamped phone interface. Numerous features which were previously introduced with Honeycomb were added to this iteration. In the same line hardware buttons were completely removed and same on-screen buttons were added just like Honeycomb.

The new features included

• New typeface called Roboto
• New Face unlock feature
• Android Beam – A secure NFC powered content sharing platform
• Re-arrangeable folders, Favorites Tray, Screenshots
• Swipe to dismiss notifications, tasks and browser tabs
• W-Fi Direct
• Manage apps running in background
• Revamped Gmail interface.

Besides this the new Google Music app replaced Android built-in music player. Currently only few devices are running on ICS and soon the update will be rolled out for other ICS supporting devices.

The next version is expected to be named as Jelly Bean but that can only be confirmed when Google releases some news related to next version. So this is the Android version history. We will be updating more when new versions will be released.

10. Android 4.1 Jelly Bean

• Announced Date: June 27, 2012

• Launch Device: Samsung Galaxy Nexus, Asus Nexus 7

The latest addition to Android versions history is Jelly Bean. Recently in Google I/O 2012 conference Jelly Bean was officially announced. Although this version is still in development and still to be confirmed that which all handsets will be getting this update. Galaxy Nexus running on Jelly Bean was provided to those who attended the conference in San Francisco. As per the changelog following major improvements have been brought in this iteration:

• User interface has been made faster and smoother under Project Butter.
• Notification center has been improved with expandable and actionable notifications
• Offline voice recognition and typing facility.
• Better Google Voice Search.
• Support for external Braille input in enhanced Accessibility options.
• Android Beam with enhanced option to transfer photos and videos.
• Google Now
• App encryption and Smart App updates.

Many of the versions are available with Jelly Bean are as follows :

Android 4.1.1 ( 2012 Jul 23 )
Android 4.1.2 ( 2012 Oct 9 )    
Android 4.2    ( 2012 Nov 13 )
Android 4.2.1  ( 2012 Nov 27 )
Android 4.2.2 ( 2013 Feb 23 )
Android 4.3 

Android 5.0 official name is KeyLime Pie And API level is 18. Launched Device is Nexus 7 2

Android Biography

Are you crazy for Smart Phones having android as an Operating System. Firstly, You have to know about what are smart phones.

Smart Phones In general, a smartphone will be based on an operating system that allows it to run applications. Apple's iPhone runs the iPhone OS, and BlackBerry smartphones run the BlackBerry OS. Other devices run Google's Android OS, HP's web OS, and Microsoft's Windows Phone.

A smartphone, or smart phone, is a mobile phone built on a mobile operating system, with more advanced computing capability and connectivity than a feature phone.

Devices that combined telephony and computing were conceptualized as early as 1973, and were offered for sale beginning in 1994. The term "smartphone," however, did not appear until 1997, when Ericsson described its GS 88 "Penelope" concept as a Smart Phone.

What is Android OS  ??



Android is a mobile operating  system running on the Linux kernel. It was initially developed by Android Inc., a firm later purchased by Google, and lately by the Open Handset Alliance. It allows developers to write managed code in the Java language, controlling the device via Google-developed Java libraries. The unveiling of the Android distribution on 5 November 2007 was announced with the founding of the OpenHandset Alliance, a consortium of 47 hardware, software and telecom companies devoted to advancing open standards for mobile devices. Google released most of the Android code under the Apache License, a free software and open source license. Android was first released with the new launch of HTC Hero.

October 2003 Android Inc. was founded in Palo Alto, California by Andy Rubin, Rich Miner, Nick Sears, and Chris White.
First Android Device was launched in 23 September 2008. 

Do u know how many companies in the world are providing Android just look this on a single picture.

Why use Android  ??
Due to various types of special features android becomes so powerful. Android has various types of features in it. There are some of the features we are going to describe are : 

1... Its Architecture
Android relies on Linux version 2.6 for core system services such as security, memory     management, process management, network stack, and driver model. The kernel also acts as an abstraction layer between the hardware and the rest of the software stack

I will explain all of the captions later in detail which are showing in this image.
SEE Android Architecture full description. 

2... System Libraries
Android includes a set of C/C++ libraries used by various components of the Android system. These capabilities are exposed to developers through the Android application framework. Some of the core libraries are listed below:

• System C library - a BSD-derived implementation of the standard C system library (libc), tuned for embedded Linux-based devices.

• Media Libraries - based on PacketVideo's OpenCORE; the libraries support playback and recording of many popular audio and video formats, as well as static image files,

including MPEG4, H.264, MP3, AAC, AMR, JPG, and PNG.

• Surface Manager - manages access to the display subsystem and seamlessly composites 2D and 3D graphic layers from multiple applications.

• LibWebCore - a modern web browser engine which powers both the Android browser and an                     embeddable web view.

3... Security features

Mobile operating systems pre-installed on all currently sold smart phones need to meet different criteria than desktop and server operating systems, both in functionality and security. Mobile platforms often contain strongly interconnected, small and less-well controlled applications from various single developers, whereas desktop and server platforms obtain largely independent software from trusted sources. Also, users typically have full access to administrative functions on non-mobile platforms. Mobile platforms, however, restrict administrative control through users. As a consequence, different approaches are deployed by the Android platform to maintain security.

3.1 App Permissions

Every app that you install on your device needs to specifically ask you for permission to perform certain tasks. This is done when you install the app. What this means in practical terms is that apps have limited abilities. Unless an app has asked for permission to send an SMS, for example, it can’t.Many apps which contain malware ask for permission to send SMS messages. The app is asking as it wants to send a text message to a premium rate number. Android has these permissions built-in but it is up to the user to notice what permissions an app wants and grant them if the app can be trusted.

3.2 Android makes malware less potent

In addition to using new services to help prevent malware, we designed Android from the beginning to make mobile malware less disruptive. In the PC model, malware has more potential to misuse your information. We learned from this approach, designing Android for Internet-connected devices. Some of Android’s core security features are:

·         Sandboxing: The Android platform uses a technique called “sandboxing” to put virtual walls between applications and other software on the device. So, if you download a malicious application, it can't access data on other parts of your phone and its potential harm is drastically limited.

·         Permissions: Android provides a permission system to help you understand the capabilities of the apps you install, and manage your own preferences. That way, if you see a game unnecessarily requests permission to send SMS, for example, you don’t need to install it.

·         Malware removal: Android is designed to prevent malware from modifying the platform or hiding from you, so it can be easily removed if your device is affected. Android Market also has the capability of remotely removing malware from your phone or tablet, if required.

3.3 Android API Permission Model and Manifest File

On installation, the user is presented with a dialog listing all permissions requested by the app to be installed. These permission requests are defined in the Manifest File AndroidManifest.xml, which is obligatory for shipping with every Android app.

  

4... SQLite

A powerful and lightweight relational database engine available to all applications.

5... Graphics

• SGL - the underlying 2D graphics engine

• 3D libraries - an implementation based on OpenGL ES 1.0 APIs; the libraries use either hardware 3D acceleration (where available) or the included, highly optimized 3D software rasterizer.

• FreeType - bitmap and vector font rendering