Time to bust your knowledge with Android!!
Android, the world’s most popular mobile platform,
Android powers hundreds of millions of mobile devices in more than 190 countries around the world. It’s the largest installed base of any mobile platform and growing fast—every day another million users power up their Android devices for the first time and start looking for apps, games, and other digital content.
Android is continuously pushing the boundaries of hardware and software forward, to bring new capabilities to users and developers. For developers, the rapid evolution of Android technology lets you stay in front with powerful, differentiated applications. Android gives you access to the latest technologies and innovations across a multitude of device form-factors, chipset architectures, and price points. From multicore processing and high-performance graphics to state-of-the-art sensors, vibrant touch screens, and emerging mobile technologies.
It took only five years from the release of the first device running Android for the platform to become the most popular mobile operating system on the planet. That rapid adoption rate has been matched by the pace of development on the operating system itself, transforming Google’s OS from an awkward, if interesting, fledgling effort into the refined and feature-packed offering we see today. As Google looks forward to “the next billion users,” let’s take a look back at Android’s evolution.
(1) Android “Marshmallow” is the sixth major version of the Android operating system. First released as a beta build on May 28, 2015, it was officially released on October 5, 2015, with Nexus devices being the first to receive the update. Marshmallow primarily focuses on improving the overall user experience of its predecessor, Lollipop. It introduced a new permissions architecture.
(2) Android “Nougat” is the seventh major version of the Android operating system. First released as a beta build on March 9, 2016, it was officially released on August 22, 2016, with Nexus devices being the first to receive the update, though the LG V20 was the first new Smartphone released with Nougat. Nougat introduces notable changes to the operating system and its development platform, including the ability to display multiple apps on-screen at once in a split-screen view, support for inline replies to notifications, as well as an OpenJDK -based Java environment and support for the Vulcan graphics rendering API, and “seamless” system updates on supported devices.
(3) Android “Lollipop” is a codename for the Android mobile operating system developed by Google, spanning versions between 5.0 and 5.1.1, which are no longer supported. Unveiled on June 25, 2014 at the Google I/O 2014 conference, it became available through official over-the-air (OTA) updates on November 12, 2014, for select devices that run distributions of Android serviced by Google. Its source code was made available on November 3, 2014.
One of the most prominent changes in the Lollipop release is a redesigned user interface built around a design language known as Material Design, which was made to retain a paper-like feel to the interface. Other changes include improvements to the notifications, which can be accessed from the lock screen and displayed within applications as top-of-the-screen banners. Google also made internal changes to the platform, with the Android Runtime (ART) officially replacing Dalvik for improved application performance, and with changes intended to improve and optimize battery usage.
As of November 2016, statistics issued by Google indicate that 34% of all Android devices accessing Google Play run Lollipop.
Lollipop is succeeded by Marshmallow, which was released in October 2015
(4) Android “KitKat” is a codename for the Android mobile operating system developed by Google, spanning versions between 4.4 and 4.4.4, which are no longer supported. Unveiled on September 3, 2013, KitKat focused primarily on optimizing the operating system for improved performance on entry-level devices with limited resources.
(5) Android “Jelly Bean” is the codename given to three major point releases of the Android mobile operating system developed by Google, spanning versions between 4.1 and 4.3.1, which are no longer supported.
The first of these three, 4.1, was unveiled at Google’s I/O developer conference in June 2012, focusing on performance improvements designed to give the operating system a smoother and more responsive feel, improvements to the notification system allowing for “expandable” notifications with action buttons, and other internal changes. Two more releases were made under the Jelly Bean name in October 2012 and July 2013 respectively, including 4.2—which included further optimizations, multi-user support for tablets, lock screen widgets, quick settings, and screen savers, and 4.3—contained further improvements and updates to the underlying Android platform.
(6) Android “Ice Cream Sandwich” is a codename for the Android mobile operating system developed by Google, which is no longer supported. Unveiled on October 19, 2011, Android 4.0 builds upon the significant changes made by the tablet-only release Android Honeycomb, in an effort to create a unified platform for both smart phones and tablets, whilst simplifying and modernizing the overall Android experience around a new set of human interface guidelines. As part of these efforts, Android 4.0 introduced a new visual appearance codenamed “Holo”, which is built around a cleaner, minimalist design, and a new default typeface named Roboto.
(7) Android “Honeycomb” is a codename for the Android platform that was designed for devices with larger screen sizes, particularly tablets. It is no longer supported (newer versions are). Honeycomb debuted with the Motorola Zoom in February 2011. Besides the addition of new features, Honeycomb introduced a new so-called “holographic” user interface theme and an interaction model that built on the main features of Android, such as multitasking, notifications and widgets
(8) Android “Gingerbread” is a codename of the Android mobile operating system developed by Google and released in December 2010, for versions that are no longer supported. The Nexus S Smartphone, released in 2010, was the first phone from the Google Nexus line that ran Gingerbread, and also the first one from the line with built-in NFC functionality.
(9) Android “Froyo” is a codename of the Android mobile operating system developed by Google, spanning versions between 2.2 and 2.2.3. Those versions are no longer supported. It was unveiled on May 20, 2010, during the Google I/O 2010 conference. As of January 9, 2016 statistics issued by Google indicate that less than 0.1% of all Android devices accessing Google Play run Froyo, effectively meaning that this version is no longer in use.
(10) Android “Eclair” is a codename of the Android mobile operating system developed by Google, for the no longer supported versions 2.0 to 2.1. Unveiled on October 26, 2009, Android 2.1 builds upon the significant changes made in Android 1.6 “Donut”
(11) Android 1.6 “Donut” is a version of the open source Android mobile operating system developed by Google, which is no longer supported. Among the more prominent features introduced with this update were added support for CDMA smart phones, additional screen sizes, a battery usage indicator, and a text-to-speech engine.
After the public release of Donut—its official dessert-themed code name, the convention employed by Google to designate major Android versions—carriers were quick to follow with its roll out to customers in the form of an over-the-air (OTA) update for compatible smart phones
Android 1.5 “Cupcake” is the third Android version developed by Google, a major platform release deployable to Android-powered handsets starting in May 2009, which is no longer supported. The release includes new features for users and developers, as well as changes in the Android framework API. For developers, the Android 1.5 platform is available as a downloadable component for the Android SDK.