How It All Began?
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.
Which of the following is not a code name for an Android version?
Select the right answer
A. Pie
B. Nutcracker
C. Marshmallow
D. Lollipop
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: A unique status bar that could be dragged downward to reveal every notification in a single list.
• Home screen widgets: Google had big plans for widgets from the very beginning. This was evident in the first release, as well.
• Better integration of Gmail: By the time the G1 released, the Gmail integration protocols available were not suitable for supporting some of its more unique features like archival and labeling. Android 1.0 fixed that in a big way.
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.
In Android 1.0, which of the following features were offered for the first time?
Select the right answer
A. Notifications
B. Home screen as real estate for apps
C. Gmail integration
D. Updates
The Sweet Beginnings
Starting with Android 1.5, Google started using its “sweet” naming convention.
First came Cupcake (Android 1.5). Then, Donut. Followed by Éclair.
Across these subsequent updates, several refinements were made in the UI. Some functionalities were added as well such as YouTube and Picasa upload features and the enticing live wallpapers.
CDMA Support introduced in Donut (Android 1.6) opened up possibilities of supporting a variety of screen resolutions and aspect ratios.
DMA Support was introduced in which version of Android?
Select the right answer
A. Cupcake
B. Android 1.1
C. Android 2.0
D. Donut
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 previewed 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.
• A 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 Improved 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 colorful emoji characters
Which of these features was introduced with Android Honeycomb?
Select the right answer
A. Android beam
B. Emojis
C. Google Now
D. Virtual Buttons
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.
Dunk 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, 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.
App permissions offer control to:
Select the right answer
A. App users
B. App developers
C. Android developers
D. None of the options
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 the 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.