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Android Version History – Every OS from Cupcake to Lollipop

Rachit
Android version history

All versions

It doesn’t seem long since the first version of the android debuted on the T-Mobile G1. Google’s Android underwent pretty drastic changes since the past six years or so. One can rightly  say that  no technology has underwent as quick and as drastic changes as the android operating systems powered by google.

With the recent announcement of the most-awaited Android “L”, we at Tenocation bring to you a brief history of various devices which were penetrated by the android operating system right since the beginning. Without any further ado, let us begin.

Android Version History


Dividing them by the versions in which they were released and upgraded as per their API history(Application programming interface), the features they brought with them as well as their release date, we begin with :-

Android 1.0

It was practically the first version released by the company. This software was released in september, 2008. For the first time, it was made commercially available to the wide consumer-base via. the HTC dream.

Features – Android Market, a web browser(with XHTML web pages, multiple pages shown as cards), Camera(although can’t change the resolution), access to web email servers, supporting POP3, IMAP4 and Simple mail transfer protocol). These features when first hit the market, were truly remarkable and garnered a large consumer base.

Additional features – GMAIL synchronization was definitely a big plus where as the Calendar and the contacts sync formed the fundamental base of this new version. Google Maps, Google Talk as well as an impressive bluetooth support were all welcomed.

Thus, the android 1.0 laid a strong foundation for the versions ahead.

Android 1.1 (API level 2)

Released in the month of february in 2009, this version was released initially exclusively for HTC dream. The android 1.1 resolved a lot of bugs and brought in fixes to the glitches in the previous version, namely Android 1.0.

More specifically, the android 1.1 brought with it many other features, namely :

Android 1.5 Cupcake (API level 3)

Then in the same year came the first version to officially use a code-name, ‘cupcake’. This was released in the month of April, 2009 and was based on Linux Kernel. The code-name was based on a dessert.

From here on, it was finalized that all the codenames to the forth-coming versions would be based on desserts. The additional features it integrated included :

Android 1.6 Donut (API level 4)

Released in the same year as it’s predecessor, this version was based on the Linux kernel 2.6.29 and had many additional features :-

Android 2.0 Eclair (API level 5)

The additional features encompassed in this version of android included :

Then there were various upgrades to this Eclair version namely 2.0.1 and 2.1 eclair which had pretty minor upgrades.

The next big installment in the android franchise was the —

Android 2.2 – 2.2.3 Froyo at API level 8

Froyo, short for frozen yoghurt was the next version of the android operating system.

Android 2.3 – 2.3.2 Gingerbread (API level 9)

This benchmark version was released on 6th December, 2010 and was based on Linux kernel 2.6.35.  The features supported by this version are numerous including : –

Android 3.0 Honeycomb (API level 11)

Released on 22nd February, 2011 this SDK was the first tablet-only upgrade based on Linux kernel 2.6.36. Motorola Xoom tablet was the first device using this SDK. The features included :-

API LEVEL 12 and 13 or honeycomb 3.1 and 3.2 – 3.6 had very similar features with very little upgrades.

Android 4.0 – 4.0.3 Ice Cream Sandwich (API level 14)

Based on Linux 3.0.1, this was released in October, 2011. This was the last version to officially support Adobe’s Flash Player. New features included :

The succeeding updates included additional features which weren’t of much significance.

Android Jelly Bean 4.1-4.1.2 (API level 16)

This was announced at the google I/O extended events at the conference IN 2012. This is based on Linux kernel 3.0.31 and this was a benchmark update.

Project butter was behind this version which used touch anticipation and triple buffering as well as extended vsync timing to create a smooth UI. Thus, the features included :

API levels 17 and 18 didn’t release much significant updates.

Android 4.4-4.4.4 KitKat (API level 19)

This version hit the android market in 2013. Initially, they had the code name Key Lime Kie(“KLP”), the name was changed to kit-kat because very few people were aware of the real taste of key lime pie.

This version debuted on Google’s nexus 5 and was then later released on a wide variety of devices. Improvements in this project were referred to as Project Svelte internally by google.

Minimum RAM requirement was 340 MB and all devices under 512MB were reported as low RAM devices.

The new features include :

The subsequent updates were merely bug fixes or glitch-fixes.

Android 5.0 – 5.0.2 Lollipop (API level 21)

This was released with the codename “Android L” in 2014 during Google I/O. It was distributed as OTA, over-the-air updates for selected devices which ran on services by google, namely, nexus and google play edition devices.

Featuring a materialistic design and a responsive language, this is the kind of phone one must really wish to have. Android Runtime officially replaced Dalvik for improved app. performance, this was referred to as Project Volta.

This was  a downright history of the android operating system. As google announces the next, android Marshmallow, all eyes are set on how they deliver the upcoming version.

Stay tuned for more updates!

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