The changing innovations of Google’s Android OS

1
The changing innovations of Googles Android OS
How did Android come into existence? Android Inc.
was founded jointly by Andy Rubin, Rich Miner,
Nick Sears and Chris White in Palo Alto,
California, USA in October 2003 with a motive to
develop an advanced OS for digital cameras. They
aimed to turn digital cameras into smart
devices. But, by the declining market interest in
digital cameras, Android Inc. shifted its focus
from developing OS for cameras to developing OS
for handsets and mobiles to stand against their
rival Symbian and Microsoft Windows
Mobile. Takeover by Google The real story for
Android Inc. starts in August 2005 when Google
acquired it. The founders continued developing
new Operating System (OS) under the new owners
in Google by using Linux as the foundation of the
Android OS launched in November, 2007. The
robotic android logo was designed in 2007 by
Googles graphic designer Irina Blok. The robot
resembles a combination of a human and a green
bug.
2
Now, we shall dive deeper into exploring the
evolution of Android through its version
timelines which kept updating day in and day out
over the years. Android Over the years The
journey of Android has been quite fascinating
over the years. Starting from the launch of the
first android based smartphone the OS has
completely revolutionized the mobile app
development world which has now reached to new
heights of custom app development developed by
private developers. Android development is open
to everyone app developers, smartphone and
tablet makers and web designers to create,
launch, test, and dream about groundbreaking
mobile apps. Some of the major Android updates
are as below. Android 1.0 Astro Boy (launched
in 2008) Launched in September 2008 this was the
very first commercial version of Android. It
unveiled some basic services like an internet
browser, mobile camera, Google apps and an
online calendar. The phone had integrated GPS
and Bluetooth services. With no paid applications
Android Market a centralized store for all
android mobile applications began with 35 mobile
applications.
3
Android 1.5 Cupcake (launched in 2009)
The next version after Astro Boy was Cupcake
launched in February 2009. It is the version in
which Google launched its first On-Screen
Keyboard. Other features like autorotations,
animated skin transitions were also added.
4
Android 1.6 Donut (launched in 2009)
The Donut update is believed to have bought
Android to millions having launched in September
2009. It was able to run on multiple screen
resolutions, had an advanced battery usage
indicator and provided fast access to gallery
and camera alongwith some major bug fixes.
5
Android 2.0 Éclair (launched in 2009)
Androids second major release was the Éclair
version launched in October 2009. This version
had a collection of animated home screen
background images and live wallpapers alongwith
enhanced browser support and multiple accounts
email and contacts synchronization. Android 2.2
Froyo (launched in 2010) Launched in May 2010
Froyo was the next major release after Éclair.
Froyo came in with enhanced speed and
performance, support for Adobe Flash Player, and
many other USB Tethering and Wifi hotspot
functionalities.
6
Android 2.3 Gingerbread (launched in 2010)
This update was launched in the final month of
2010 i.e. December. This update came with a new
brand User Interface (UI) which focused more on
the user convenience rather than speed. Features
like a new keyboard for faster text input,
one-touch word selection, copy and pasting of
content, internet calling, Near Field
Communication (NFC) and many more were introduced.
7
Android 3.0 Honeycomb (launched in 2011)
As, Androids first tablet-oriented update,
Honeycomb was launched in February 2011.
Specially optimized for smart devices with larger
screen sizes it incorporated holographic UI
technology. With multicore processors integrated
to Android, this update laid the path for intense
Android devices for the future. This version was
further released in May 2011 and brought USB
connectivity and widgets on the home screen. The
version after this Android 3.2 provided special
support to Google TV.
8
Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich (launched in 2011)
Floated in October 2011 this update made Roboto
the default font for Android. Moreover, Face
Unlock a feature that we see in devices these
days was bought in the front through this
update. Android 4.1 Jelly Bean (launched in
2012) After Ice Cream Sandwich, Androids
Jelly Bean update was launched in July 2012.
It had a faster, smoother and responsive UI
vision which reunited smartphones and tablets.
This launch was succeeded by Android 4.2 and 4.3
in October 2012 and July 2013. Android 4.4
KitKat (launched in 2013) The KitKat OS was
launched in October 2013 after seeking permission
from Nestle to use their chocolate bars name
for this update. KitKat did not have many
features in number but it could run on
smartphones even with 512 MB of RAM.
Additionally, it bought new versions of Google
Hangouts and supported SMS/MMS
messaging. Android 5.0 Lollipop (launched in
2014) Based on the idea of a minimalistic
theme and material design, Android Lollipop
proved to be a gamechanger which changed the
overall look and design of the operating system,
launched in November 2014. Also, this update
9
changed how we see notifications on our phone by
enabling them even in off-screen mode. Following
that, the 5.1 update made many smaller changes
like dual sim support on devices, device
protection and HD quality voice calls to support
the users. Googles Nexus 6 smartphones and
Nexus 9 tablets were the first to have
Lollipop. Android 6.0 Marshmallow (launched in
2015)
The name Macademia Nut Cookie was used before
Marshmallow for this update launched in
October 2015. Now on Tap feature was considered
to be the most attractive feature alongside the
making Android truly secure by introducing a
biometric Fingerprint Authentication which is
popularly known as Touch ID or Fingerprint
Unlock these days. Android 7.0 Nougat (launched
in 2016) With Beta version launched in March 2016
and formal version launched in August 2016,
Nougat had very limited features updated like
replying messages in notifications alongwith a
split-screen mode for Android devices launched
for the very first time to enable fast
switching between apps.
10
Android 8.0 Oreo (launched in 2017)
The update was declared in March 2017, but the
name Oreo was confirmed in August 2017 upon its
official launch. Google Oreo provided the user
with more control over notifications by giving
them the ability to turn them on and off. Many
visual changes like support for picture in
picture mode, autofill APIs and snoozing
notifications had also been implemented. Android
9.0 Pie (launched in 2018) With the developer
preview version launched in March 2018, Android
9.0 got its official name in August, 2018 when
it was launched. This was the 10th-anniversary
Android-based smartphones. Traditional navigation
buttons were replaced with a single home button,
Shush a feature which puts your phone on Do
Not Disturb mode when you put your phone screen
down on a flat surface, and Digital Wellbeing
which tells you how much do you use your phone
are some of the notable features of this update.
11
Android 10 (launched in 2019) This version marked
the real shift in Googles Android version naming
habits by its launch in September 2019. It is the
first Android version launched without a
chocolaty dessert theme named but is known by
simply a number the reason for this according to
Google is it makes it easy to remember. This
update includes a wide dark theme to limit
distractions, making the theme easier and
reducing battery life. The Dark Mode we see on
all devices today was launched in this update.
Android 11 (launched in 2020)
This is the latest version of Android launched in
September 2020. It includes smart home control
toggles, a separate conversation section for
notifications, brands new screen recording
feature with audio recording enabled, updated
privacy features which prevent apps from
constantly accessing your data and effortlessly
controlled audio and media output for your
smartphone and tablet device as its new and
updated features.
12
Future of Android With custom android app
development becoming the talk of the town
the future of Android seems optimistic with its
75 market share worldwide in the mobile app
industry. We hope that this article helped you
understand the history and evolution of the
android technology. For, more updates sign up!
Reference Link https//softwaredevelopmentforhea
lthcare.wordpress.com/2021/02/15/the-changing-inno
vatio ns-of-googles-android-os/