What is Android: Features, Android Versions and History

What is Android: Features, Android Versions and History 

Hello friends, Android, I know you have heard this word too many times before, you would also use android in your Smartphone but do you know what is Android and how does it work? if you do not know about Android then read this full post, because here we will know that what Android is? And apart from this, we will also understand why Android is different from other operating systems and why it is used so much? After this we will also learn some of its special tips and trick. So let's first know what is Android?

What is Android?

Friends, first of all, let me tell you that Android is not a mobile phone but an operating system that is owned by google. Android operatig system is a linux based operating system or you can also, Android is another form or version of Linux Operating System and that is designed with little customization of Linux. Let’s say it in detail, Linux is an open Operating System and Kernel is very important part of Linux and Android is made with the lots of help from Kernel. Android is built primarily by keeping mobile devices in mind, so that we can do a lot of things in our own mobile just like our computer.

Android fact: the word Android means a human with male robot appearance. 

The way we use windows mostly in desktop or laptop or computers, as the same way Android comes for mobile devices and most of the mobile is using Android as its operating system. Android was launched only for mobile phones or smart phones in the beginning but as its market grew, Google started launching Android on other devices such as TV, Auto, Smart Watch etc. but now we see Android in most of the mobile phone and its market is growing day by day, the main thing is that it is a free and open-source operating system i.e. we do not have to pay for it separately; it comes with our mobile and anyone can see its source code.

What is open-source?

Mainly open source word is used for Software company. Those software is called an open source software whose source code is available for everybody and anyone can modify this source code according to their usages and comfort. If I give you an example, than you have heard about Xiaomi’s MIUI, this is the user interface of Xiaomi and it has been made from the source code of android after modifying it.

What is Linux kernel?

kernel Is the main part of Operating System and this is the part of Operating System which interacts a lot with hardware. Kernel has a special system for each hardware, which is called Driver. As the same way, Linux kernel is that part of Android which directly interact with hardware and in it has drivers for every hardware like Wi-Fi, Blue tooth, USB etc

Android operating system history

Android was first released in November 2007 by Android Inc. In 2003, Andy Rubin was the person who established Android inc. which was purchased by Google in 2005 and Andy Rubin was the head of Android and Google found the idea of ​​Andy Rubin very interesting so Google continued this idea to move forward, however, after Android became popular, Andy Rubin left Google for any of his

projects in 2013, After this, Sundar Pichai was appointed head of Android. Who contributed significantly to take Android to the next.

History of Android Versions

you must heard word like Android Lollipop, Android Kitkat, Android Naugat etc. If you do not know what this is, then let me tell you that all these are different versions of Android which were launched in different time with some improvements and that is how we are able to use this advance versions of Android phones now. Here are the lists of all the versions of Android Operating System,

• Android Alpha (1.0)
• Android Beta (1.1)
• Android Cupcake (1.5
• Android Donut (1.6)
• Android Eclair (2.0, 2.1)
• Android Froyo (2.2)
• Android Gingerbread (2.3)
• Android Honeycomb (3.0, 3.1, 3.2)
• Android Ice Cream Sandwich (4.0)
• Android Jellybean (4.1, 4.2, 4.3)
• Android Kitkat (4.4)
• Android Lollipop (5.0, 5.1)
• Android Marshmellow (6.0)
• Android Naugat (7.0, 7.1)
• Android Oreo (8.0, 8.1)
• Android Pie (9.0)

As you can see above, Google gives unique name to all its new version, which is named after a sweet or chocolate and Google gives all the names in an alphabetic order.

Let us know some of the special features of all the Android versions one by one.

Android Versions 

Android 1.0 alpha

Android 1.0 alpha was the first version of Android, it was launched in November 2007 and on 23 September 2008, HTC was the first company who launched the first Smartphone with android operating system and the name of that phone was HTC Dream.

Android 1.1

In this version of Android you were given features like message attachment save and long in-call screen off time out. This version was launched in February 2009.

Android 1.5

Many versions were added in this version of Android and the series of name based on some chocolate or desert were started from here. In this version we can see many features like the videos on youtube and the option to upload photos to Picasa etc. Also in this version, another new concept came and that was the animated wallpapers, which is often called as live wallpaper.

Android 1.6

In this we got to see many new features such as Gallery, Camcorder, and many hardware support such as WVGA screen resolution and better camera resolution etc. It was launched in September 2009.

Android 2.0, 2.1

It included the support of the new Bluetooth 2.1 and the support of Microsoft Exchange, as well as the support of HTML 5 in the browser, so that it can easily run the future website or web apps(at that time), besides adding several features to it. It was launched on October 26, 2009.

Android 2.2

There were some minor improvements in the browser and Chrome's V8 javascript support engine was added to the Chrome browser, which would make the website load more optimized. Apart from this, USB tethering and WIFI hotspot support were also added.

Android 2.3

Perhaps you have also seen this as it was very popular in India and many big companies had introduced mobile in India after the arrival of this version. The most important thing about this was that the WXGA display Support and it was quite fast compared to the rest of the versions, with many software improvements and hardware support as well as several multimedia support was added. The version was launched on December 6, 2010.

Android 3.0, 3.1, 3.2

Android honeycomb was made especially for tablet devices in mind, so that we did not get much access this for mobile, but there were also many changes like to the support of native UI hardware acceleration and navigation key. This feature was also added for multimedia work. It was launched on May 10, 2011.

Android 4.0

This version also saw significant changes such as the introduction of the new Holo theme for phones. In addition to this, Facial recognition software was also introduced in which you could unlock your device with your face. Apart from this, onscreen navigation buttons were also added to it. It was launched on October 18, 2011.

Android 4.1, 4.2, 4.3

This version of Android featured enhanced graphics as well as new things like boosted CPU performance enhanced accebility and many more, this version was released on July 9, 2012.

Android 4.4

Lots of changes made in Android kitkat, such as Wireless Printing, Bluetooth MAP (Massage Access Profile) support, New Refreshed User Interface and verified boot, and many changes were made for developers as well, such as Screen Recording through ADB, and new APIs etc. Android Kitkat was launched on October 31, 2013.

Android 5.0 and 5.1

Year 2014 was a very special year for Android, because it had a lot of Android 5.0 and 5.1 releases, the most important thing in the update was that the Android UI very special design material was introduced. This design has changed the entire interface of Android, which is still seen in the new updates. Apart from this, many features were added in it such as updated Emoji and smart lock. Android 5.0 lollipop was introduced in 12 November 2014.

Android 6.0

This version also came up with several changes in its own way such as Fingerprint scanner support, Doze mode, USB-C support and more. This version was released in the year of 2015 in the month of October.

Android 7.0 and 7.1

These updates were launched in 2016 with Pixel Phones, and many of the features have been introduced like support for Google Daydream VR, improved Doze Mode, Google support, Ability to screen zoom, Data saver mode, Improved File Browser, Unicode 9.0 emoji support And Quick Settings option This is just an overview, apart from this, many features were introduced in it. Android Nougat were  introduced in 22 August 2016.

Android 8.0, 8.1

Android 8.0 and 8.1 Oreo are one of the recent versions of Android that have seen a lot of new features, some of the special features introduced are:

• Picture-in-picture support
• Multi-Display support
• Google-play protection
• Fast boot time
• Unicode 10 support
• Wifi assistant

It's a few special features, apart from the Android 8.0, there are many features in it that you want to see on the Google developer page or on Wikipedia.

Android 9 Pie

This is the latest version of Android, which has been launched in 2018. In this version of Android, lots of artificial feature has been introduced which gives a next level of feeling for the user and make easy their tasks.

Why Android is so popular?

Android is a great operating system, there are several reasons for this to be excellent, as it is an open-source operating system that is based on Linux kernel. Android has been very effective since the beginning, it has a lot of developer, so that lots of apps and facility are available for the Android user on INTERNET. One of the major reasons for the Android OS being popular is that mobile phones based on this are very cheap and has a good range of feature in it. while its competitor Apple i Phone is much expensive and the second reason for its being popular that it made its reach in the market quite a while, while the Windows Phone was launched quite a bit later, due to which it made a very few reaches.

But it doesn't mean that Android is perfect, There are many flaws in it, as it is an open source operating system so all the companies make customization according to their comfort as a result all the android update can’t able to reach all the device, for this old devices are quite vulnerable and becomes unusable.

Conclusion

As we all know, Google has taken control of all the smartphones through its Android operating system and also started making other things like Smartwatch, smart AR glasses, Self driving cars etc. There is no doubt if it continues in the future, Google will make a lot of reach.

So that was what is Android and why Android is so popular in Smartphone market, if you grabbed some knowledge from here than don't forger to share it with your friends and family.