Android Lollipop

Android 5.X Lollipop:

Android 5 is called Lollipop, and it featured a brand new runtime called ART that no longer relies on the older DALVIK runtime(which is somewhat based on Sun/Oracle specs). Lollipop also contains other UI inmrovements and has an excellent battery life on some devices.
One of the most prominent changes in the lollipop is redesigned user interface built around a design language known as "Material Design". Other changes includes the improvement in notifications , which can be accessed from the lockscreen and displayed within the applications as top of the screen banner. Google also made internal changes to the platform, with Android runtime officially replacing Dalvik for improved application performance, and with changes intended to improve and optimize battery usage.
Lollipop also contains major new platform features for developers , with over 5000 new APLs added for use only applications. for example there is a scope of saving the images in raw image formate. Additionally the Dalvik virtual machine was replaced by the Android runtime.which is new runtime environment that was introduced as advancement to the KitKat.

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Android KitKat

Android 4.4 KitKat:

Google announced that Android 4.4 would be named KitKat on sep 3,2013. KitKat's parent company, Nestle, was fully on board with the naming of operating system and launched ac advertising campaign during KitKat's release. As part of the campaign, specially marked packages of KitKat with Andy the Green Android on the package each contained a sweepstakes code that could win a new Nexus 7 Android tablet or Google Play store credit.
KitKat took the Google Now feature and took it a steo further with "Ok Google" Ok Google allows people to access Google Now without even touching their phones just verbally saying the phrases opens up the artificial intelligence assistant. KitKat also introduced Emoji to Google's Keyboard.
Counting on from the focus on improving visual performance and responsiveness on Android 4.1 "Jellybean", the main objective of Android 4.4 was to optimize the platform for better performance on low end devices, without compressing its overall capabalities and functionality. the initiative was condenamed "project Svelte", which Android head of engineering Dave Burke joked was a weight loss plan after Jellybean's "project Butter" added "weight" to OS. To simulate lower spec devices, Android developers used Nexus 4 devices underclocked to run at a reduced CPU speed with only two cores active, 512 MB memory, and at qHD resolution spoecifications meant to represent a "sweet spot" for entry level devices.

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Android Jelly Bean

Android 4.1 JellyBean:

Jelly Bean came out in 2012. Biggest changes included"Google Now", an AI assistant antipates your needs and better, more intractive notifications. Jelly Bean also allows "voice typing", a built-in speech-to-text engine that does not rely on Internet or data.

For jelly bean , work was made on optimizing the operating system's visual performance and responsiveness through a series of changes reffered to as "project butter". graphical output is now triple buffered, vsync is used across all drawing operations, and the CPU is brought to full power when touch input is detected preventing the lag associated with inputs made while the processor is in a low power stste. these changes allow the operating system to run at a full 60 frames per second on capable hardware.
Following 4.1. two more Android releases were made under the Jelly Bean codename; both of these releases focused primarily on performance improvements and changes to Android platform itself, and contained relatively few user facing changes. Along Android 4.1, Google also began to decouple APLs for its services on ANdroid into a new system level component known as Google Play services , served through Google Play Store. This allows the addition of certain forms of functionality without having to distribute an upgrade to the operating system itself addressing the infamous "fragmentation" problems experienced by the Android ecosystem.

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Android Icecream Sandwich

Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich:

Ice Cream Sandwich was Google's attempt to synthesize Honeycomb, it's tablet-only platform, with it's mobile platform. Released in Oct 2011, it featured a new design and default font, as well as the ability to monitor and limit mobile data usage and other upgrades. Many devices were slow to adopt Ice Cream Sandwich. Three months after Ice Cream Sandwich only one phone (Samsung Galaxy Nexus) had been released to run it.
In real life, an ice cream sandwich is a layer of ice cream, usually vanilla, sandwiched between two cookies, usually chocolate. They are often rectangular in shape.
Android 4.0 also introduced a number of other new features, including a refreshed home screen, near field communication support and the ability to "beam" content to another user using the technology, an updated web browser, a new contacts manager with social network integration, the ability to acess the camera and control music playback from the lock screen, visual voicemail support, face recognition for device unlocking, the ability to monitor and limit mobile data usage, and other internal improvements.
Android 4.0 received positive reviews by critics, who praised the cleaner, revamped apperance of the operating system in comparision to previous versions, along with its improved performance and functionality. However , critics still felt that come of Android 4.0's stocl apps were still lacking in quality and functionality in comparision to third party equivalents, and regarded some of the operating system's new features, particularly the "face Unlock" feature, as being gimmicks.

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Android 3.0,3.1 & 3.2 Honeycomb:

Honeycomb was released in Feb 2011, and was rapidly followed by 3.1 & 3.2 in july and august of 2011. Google posted a lot of previews and highlights on Honeycomb.
Honeycomb was made for tablets, which inplied that Android OS 2.X was not. That did not stop Samsung and a slew of smaller manufacturers from putting out an army of Android 2.X tablets of various sizes before the end of 2010 as they tried to ride the wave of iPad's success in time for the Christmas shopping season.
Motrola Xoom was the first Android 3.X tablet to be released. It has since been followed by many others.
Dessert-wise , honeycomb is a sheet of hexagonal cells bees build out of wax and fill with honey. Fresh honeycomb can be consumed as dessert some people chew or even consume the wax with the honey.
Injitally developed by Android , Inc., which Google bought in 2005, Android was unveiled in 2007, along with the founding of the open Handset Alliance a consoritum of hardware, software, and telecommunication companies devoted to advancing open standards for mobile devices. As of July 2013, the Google Play store has had over one million Android applications published, and over 50 billion applications downloaded. An April- May 2013 survey of mobile application developers found that 71% of developers vreat applications for Android, and a 2015 survey found that 40% of full time professional developers see Android as their priority target platform, which is comparable to Apple's iOS and 37% with both platforms far above others. At Google I/O 2014 , the company revealed that there were over one billion active monthly Android users, up from 538 million in june 2013.
Android source code is released by Google under open soucelicenses, although most Android devices ultimately ship with a combination of open source and proprientary software, including proprietary software required for accessing Google services. Android is popular with technology ampanies that require a ready made, low cost and customizable operating system for high tech devices.

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Ginger Bread

Android 2.3,2.4 Gingerbread:

Gingerbread was officially released in December 2010.
On December 6th, 2010, Google officially announced the first phone with Android OS 2.3 Gingerbread. The phone was Nexus S, which Google co-developed with Samsung. The phone was originally only available for T-Mobile, but was later made for Sprint and AT&T as well.
Gingerbread supports SIP internet calling, NFC wireless transaction capability(if hardware is present), more than one cameers, and gyroscopes and other sensors (barometers, gravitymeters, and other are possible). It also features a download manager, some tweaks to allow usage on tablets, and other system level tweaks for programmers.
As a dessert, gingerbread is basically a ginger-flavoured cookie. It is often made to celebrate end of year holidays in the US. The cookies are cut into festive shapes often the shape of man and decorated with icing and candy.
The user interface is refined in many ways across the system, making it easier to learn, faster to use, and more power efficient. A simplified visual theme of colours against black brings vividness and contrast to the notification bar, menus and other parts of the UI. Changes in menu and the settings make it easier for the user to navigate and control the features of the system and device.
The Android soft keyboard is redesigned and optimized for faster text input and editing. The keys themselves are reshaped and repositioned for improved targeting, making them easier to see and press accurately, even at high speeds. The keyboard also displays the current character and dictonary suggestions in larger , more vivid style that is easier to read.
The keyboard adds the capability to correct entered words from suggestions in dictonary. As the user selects a word already entered, the keyboard displays suggestions that the user can choose from, to replace the selection. The user can also switch to voice input mode to replace the selection. Smart suggestions let the user accept a suggestion and then return to correct it later, if needed from the original set of suggestions.

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Android Froyo

Android 2.2 Froyo:

Android 2.2 mainly improved speed by adopting the Java script "just in time" compiler engine from Google's browser, Chrome. It also improved browser support by adding animated GIF supprot and Flash 10.1 plug in support, along with USB tethering and WIFI Hotspot capability.
Froyo is short for "frozen yogurt" it is a froozen dessert made from yogurt, so it is slightly more sour than soft serve, but also lower in fat.
Since its inital launch on the T-mobile G1 in October of 2008, Google's Android operating system has evolved rapidly perhaps more rapidly than any other operating systems in recent memory to become one of the most important and prolific smartphone platforms in the market today. Its latest incarnation, announced at Google's I/O confference in SAn Francisco, began life as codename "Froyo" to officially become Android 2.2 Don'tbe fooled by the mere 0.1 boost in the version number over 2.1 Eclair , though this is a huge upgrade that represents the most user friendly, compelling, and feature complete version of the little green guy to date.
The first thing you'll notice with Froyo is a slightly modified navigation bar that assimilates shortcuts for both the phone and web browser. The Google search bar has undergone a slight modification, too letting you cater your search specifically to web, apps, or contacts and that's about it for home screen modifications. No extra wallpapers, no additional screens, no nwe shortcuts. As for new widgets, all we've seen are tutorial box and a rotating ad for featured marketlace apps.
Well, What do you know Even seeing the settings sub menu for tethering and portable WiFi hotspot functionality didn't completely convince us, but sure enough, we logged on to AT&T 3G network without any issues. Security options are limited at this point it's WPA2 PSK or bust but that should be more than enough when your DSL goes on the fritz or you're stucked in traffic and needed to do some heavy emailing.

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Android Eclair

Android 2.0 & 2.1 Eclair:

Android 2.0 was released in Oct 2009, with a bugfix verson(2.0.1) coming out in December 2009. Android 2.1 was released Jan 2010. Most people consider them a single release. Added features include Bluetooth 2.1 support, flash and digital zoom for camera, multi touch support, live wallpapers, and more.
Eclairs are usually described as oblong cream puffs. They are baked pastries with cream filling and chocolate coating on top.
The default home screen of Eclair displays a persistent Google Search bar across the top of the screen. The camera app was also redesigned with numerous new camera features, including flash support, digital zoom, scene mode, white balance, colour effect and macro focus. The photo gallery app also contains basic photo editing tools. Addition of live wallpapers, allowing the animation of homescreen background images to show movement.
Android Eclair inherits platform additions from Donut, and also adds support for near field communication, ability to search all saved SMS and MMS messages, improved Google Maps 3.1.2. The operating system also provides improved typing speed on virtual keyboard, along with new accessibility, calender, and virtual private network APIs. For internet browsing, Android Eclair also adds suport for HTML5, refreshed browser UI with bookmark thumnails and double tap zoom.

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Android Donut

Android 1.6 Donut:

DonutAndroid V1.6, codenamed "Donut," was released in Sep 2009. It fixed reboot errors in the OS, revamped photo and video features, and featured better search integration. It also added support for larger screen sices and is the first verson to offer Google's turn by turn navigation feature.

A Donut is a small ring shaped fried cake. The ring is made of rich, light dough and deep fried. Various sweet coatings can be added. Donuts are not to be mistaken for bagels, which are baked, much denser, and usually salty.
Most of the changes centred around the Android Market app store and it's presentation on mobile devices , specifically Google added a number of app catagories to make it easier to find exactly what you're after. Donut introduced top paid , top free, and newly released app catagories and also screenshot capabality , so far the first time you could actually preview what you were about to download.
search functions are improved , both for voice and text. Searchesw are no longer simply a Google search and now incorporate bookmarks, history , contacts, apps ,folders and so on. This is also were the search function started memorising previous search result selections and prioritising them in future searches, as we're now used to in later versions.
Camera and gallery interfaces have been improved and camera usage speed has been made much quicker and more responsive. There's also the ability to select multiple photos in gallery for deletion.
WVGA resolution suport was added for handset display this time round and improved location services brought a free turn by turn navigation feature.
A significant change is the inclusion of a detailed usage screen, showing users exactly how their phone's power is being used. Other enhancements include Virtual Private Network support and more WiFi security options.

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Android Cupcake

Android 1.5 Cupcake:

Cupcake Technically Android 1.5 wasn't first verson, but versions before it don't seem to have recieved any codenames. Stories werw told that it was supposed to be verson 1.2, but Google decided to make it major revision and made it 1.5 instead. Among the many changes with Cupcake, third party keyboard and Widgets were enabled and phone could upload directly to YouTube and Picasa. The company codenamed the version "cupcake," which is how the trend of dessert names began.
A Cupcake is a small, individually sized cake baked in a cup shaped mold. It is usually served with frosting on top.
As well as the arrival of Android's own virtual keyboard , support for third party keyboards, including those with text prediction and user dictonaries, was added to the system. Along side this debut was the first time apperance of live and updatable widgets for the Android platform. sometimes we can't imagine being without now.
By default Android cupcake included five ;ive wedgets an analogue clock, a calendar , a music player, a picture frame and a search function, however the main thing was that the platform would support widgets created by third parties, allowing developers to go nuts.
Video recording and playback also formed a significant step forward in 1.5, featuring support for MPEG4 and 3GP formats. Cupcake added support for uploading to Youtube and Picasa straight from the phone. Video could be also uploaded to share via MMS and email. The neat thing about it was that, regardless of where you were uploading to the upload function was multitask friendly so you could set a video to upload while you got on with other things.
Copy and past functionality was added to the browser , browsing speed was also ramped up through it was still a far cry from the satisfactory smoothness of the version found in the later Honeycomb build. The SquirelFish Javascript engine atleast meant Java intensive website could now be better handled.
In cupcake users were able to see the profile pictures of contacts in their favourites for the forst time. This version also saw the introduction of animated screen transitions.

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Android 1.0 and 1.1

Android 1.0 & 1.1 Unnamed:

There appears to be no codename assigned to versions 1.0 & 1.1 of Android OS.
Google bought a company called Android back in july 2005. Android was headed by several mobile big shots, including the former head of a big carrier, ex- owner of a phone maker, and more. After their buyout, Android went into stealth mode, and rumors apread the Google was working on a mobile phone
The dam finally broke in november 2007, when Google suddenly announced that they were indeed working on a phone. More that that , they were also working on a brand new mobile operating system called Android, based on the Linux Kernel, to be used by the open Handset Alliance, a group of 65 different hardware makers, carries , and other mobile related companies.
HTC was the first phone maker to get a real consumer phone out, the T-Mobile G1, on Oct 2008.
An update of Android, version 1.1, was released in Feb 2009. However, the first significant version of Android OS that reallu showcased the power of the platform was V1.5, codenamed "cupcake."
As Cupcake starts with letter"C", many have suspected that 1.0 had a codename starting with "A" and 1.1 had one starting with "B," but no actual codenames were ever assigned.
The 1.1 update was only available on HTC Dream , otherwise known as the T-mobile G-1. Released in Feb 2009, version 1.1 resolved a number of issues encountered in the 1.0 build as well as implementing some API changes.
The Maps app was improved to enable the display of details and reviews for venues and locations. Added functionality allowed users to click on business to view detailed information.
The dialer interface was also tweaked with a show/hide dialpad toggle and a save attachment function was added to messaging.
That pretty much wraps things up for 1.1, a relative blip on the Android landscape, so we're going to carryon our guide with the next and more significant update, Android 1.5 Cupcake.

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Android Versions

Android 1.5:

Each version of Android since 1.5 has been developed with a specific codename. These codenames are chosen alphabetically, and have thus far all been dessert items (or, generically, sweet/sugary foods). Some codenames are associated with more than one version number, while others are limited to only a specific one, and the reason for this inconsistency is not currently known. The naming typically appears to correspond to changes in the developer API levels, but this is not always true (example: 3.0 and 3.1 are both "Honeycomb" but they have different API levels).

The following names are used for the currently existing Android releases. Note that versions 1.0 and 1.1 were not publicly named. However, Android 1.1 was internally referred to as "Petit-Four"

Cupcake:

Android 1.5

Donut:

Android 1.6

Eclair:

Android 2.0

Android 2.1

Froyo: (short for "frozen yogurt")

Android 2.2

Gingerbread:

Android 2.3

Honeycomb:

Android 3.0

Android 3.1

Android 3.2

Ice Cream Sandwich:

Android 4.0

Jelly Bean:

Android 4.1

Android 4.2

Android 4.3

KitKat:

Android 4.4

Lollipop:

Android 5.0

Android 5.1

Marshmallow:

Android 6.0

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