If you’re alive and breathing, then there is no
reason why you won’t recognize it. So, it is your beloved smartphone….
Around the World, most smartphones and, now, many
other devices run on a neat little software platform called Android, which is
the heart and soul of these devices. Android is a Linux-based operating system
but Android did start out as a mobile operating system, and it is far beyond
mobile now. These days, the smart feature appears in the television, watches,
and tablets. Android has been widely accepted by almost all manufacturers of
mobiles, tablets, televisions, smartwatches, etc. This is mainly because Android
is very compatible and has an easy-to-use and recognizable user interface,
i.e., similar placement and function of buttons.
It’s a Baby Android!
Android
Inc was founded in 2003 by Andy Rubin, Rich Miner, Nick Sears and Chris White
with an intent to develop an advanced User Interface (UI) for digital cameras.
In August 2005, Google acquired Android Incorporation, and the brains behind
Android’s inception continued to play a crucial role in its development. After
the acquisition by Google, Android’s progress reached its peak and grew multi fold
through the successive version releases in the market. As mobile manufacturers
increasingly started shifting to Android OS, its user base grew rapidly.
Android’s Success
No consumer technology in history has evolved
as smartphones have, and Android has been at the very center of that evolution.
Today, Android is on nearly every device that isn’t Apple, edging out
competitors along the way. The OS has undergone a pretty incredible
transformation since its debut to achieve this position. Let’s take a look at
its sweet journey to success.
The
Android version list runs from A to P, with code names ranging from the earlier
Aestro, Blender, Cupcake, etc. to the more recent ones such as Nougat, Oreo,
and Pie.
The
reason behind using names of sweets for versions is the vision of the Android
founders, which is to make the user’s experience sweeter.
The Earliest Release
The
Android era officially began in 2008, when T-Mobile G1 was launched in the
United States.
The
Android 1.0 didn’t have all the amazing features of Android that it is known
for today. There were no on-screen keyboard, multi touch capability, or paid
apps.
But
the foundation was in place and a few lasting trademarks of the platform
debuted on those very first G1s.
The Trademark Features
These initial, yet trademark features, which
are still present and loved today, include the pull-down notification window,
Home screen widgets, better integration of Gmail.
The Initial Upgrades
The
first upgrade to the Android platform came in February 2009, a little over
three months after the launch of the G1. Version 1.1 wasn’t a revolution by any
stretch of the imagination, but it validated Android’s ability to roll out
updates over the air and make them nearly effortless for users to install.
The Sweet Beginnings
CDMA
Support introduced in Donut (Android 1.6) opened up possibilities of supporting
a variety of screen resolutions and aspect ratios.
Honey…...It’s Comb
Honeycomb
was, to say the least, an oddity. Google teamed-up with Motorola to showcase a
variant of Android, targeted exclusively at tablets on a device called Xoom.
Though Honeycomb hasn’t seen the levels of market traction that Google was
probably aiming for, it previewing a fundamental redesign of Android’s user
interface that would be more thoroughly built out in Android 4.0. This included
a move from green to blue accents in Android Branding, Redesigned home screen
and widget placement showing users a zoomed-out preview of all five panels, on
a Honeycomb tablet, there was no need for dedicated physical buttons for Back,
Home, Menu, and Search recent apps virtual button at the bottom of the screen
producing a list of apps that were recently used. This helped users in
multitasking., a permanent “action bar” placed at the top of each app that
developers could use to show frequently accessed options, context menus, and so
on.
Further Sweet Steps
Over
the next few updates, Ice-Cream Sandwich, jelly Bean, and KitKat, some more
revolutionary changes were made such as further UI Updates such as Improves
font and resolution, and removable notifications, user friendly features such
as google now, and predictive text, quirky features such as face recognition
screen unlock, Android Beam, and built-in colourful emoji characters.
Lollipop Is Popped
Lollipop
was introduced 3 years after the release of 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. It was the
first version to introduce a new design language called Material Design that
changed the look and feel of apps across Android, including Gmail, YouTube,
Google Maps, and even stock apps like Dialer and Calendar. This update also brought
on Google’s ambitions to expand outside of mobile devices and into wearables,
televisions, and even automobiles. The other key development to accompany this
version was in extending battery life and letting the user view category-wise
battery usage by different apps and tasks.
Chew-On the Nougat
Android
7.0 Nougat, released on August 22nd, 2016, introduced big changes
for big phones. The most significant among them was split-screen multitasking,
which helped get two apps running on-screen at once.
Nougat
also allowed developers to add quick replies directly to their app’s
notifications, letting users respond to messages without having to switch
between apps. Android Nougat extended the battery-saving doze optimizations of
Marshmallow. Now the device was put to deep sleep whenever the screen was
turned off, extending the phone’s charge.
Drunk It!.........Oreo
Oreo
was Google’s second partnership to name its next version of Android after a
branded snack. This version helped Google Assistant essentially replace Google
Now as the default Virtual Assistant. Visually, Oreo also brought one of its
most controversial moves yet: the death of the blob emoji. Now, notifications
were prioritized by Android, such as a pinned music player, such as a pinned
music player, followed by “people to people” alerts, followed by other
notifications like news alerts or app updates. Also, notifications could be
snoozed now. Project Treble separated the Android OS framework from the
firmware and other low-level implementations installed by device makers such as
Samsung. This made it easier for companies to move to newer versions of Android
faster and more efficiently.
Pie On
Android
Pie became the first release that could be tested on non-Google smartphones
since the platform first launched and became a turning point for mobile OS. By
the time of its release, Google Assist had already rocked the market in the
version Oreo.
It
now has new gesture-based navigation and a dashboard to monitor and limit your
“digital wellbeing” or app usage. It also incorporates AI more than ever, using
it to drive Android’s UI in the form of Actions and Slices, which predicts the
tasks you might want in a certain app then offers an immediate shortcut.
Smaller but still more useful updates like an improved Do Not Disturb mode,
screenshot editing, an early attempt at a “dark mode”, and a Lockdown feature
designed to help protect your personal data in case you’re under duress round
out version 9’s enhancements.
Thank You!
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