My summery of Android versions

by

  • 1.0.
    • September of 2008.
  • 1.1.
    • February of 2009.
    • General software refinements, which I’ll usually omit below.
  • 1.5 Cupcake.
    • April of 2009.
    • Third party (custom) keyboards are now possible.
    • We got widgets!
    • Bluetooth A2DP and AVRCP profiles (think stereo).
  • 1.6 Donut.
    • September 2009.
    • Voice I/O.
      • Voice input (Speach to Text).
      • Multi-lingual voice output (Text to Speech)
    • Apps can make their data available to search results.
    • Better support for gestures.
  • 2.0 – 2.1 Eclair.
    • 2.0 in October of 2009, 2.0.1 in December of 2009, and 2.1 in January of 2010.
    • Support for multiple accounts in sync.
    • Exchange account support for email.
    • Camera app sucks much less.
  • 2.2 – 2.2.3 Froyo.
    • 2.2 in May of 2010, 2.2.1 and 2.2. in January of 2011, 2.2.3 in November of 2011.
    • Dalvik VM gains Just In Time (JIT) compilation.
    • Exchange support becomes USEFUL.
    • USB and WiFi tethering. (Use your phone as a bridge between your laptop and your data plan.)
    • Now have the option to DISABLE mobile data.
    • Apps can now be installed to external memory (e.g. MicroSD card).
  • 2.3 – 2.3.7 Gingerbread.
    • 2.3 in December of 2010, 2.3.3 in February of 2011, 2.3.4 in ???, 2.5 in July of 2011, 2.3.6 in September of 2011, and 2.3.7 in ???.
    • Native support for SIP VoIP.
    • Selecting text to cut/copy/paste actually works.
    • Text input cursor can now be precisely positioned.
    • Ext4 replaces YAFFS(2) as standard file system.
    • Native support for more sensors; gyroscopes, barometers, etc.
    • NFC support.
  • 3.0 – 3.2.2 Honeycomb
    • 3.0 in February of 2011, 3.1 in May of 2011, 3.2 in July of 2011, 3.2.1 in September of 2011, 3.2.2 in August of 2011.
    • Notification bar moved from top of screen to bottom corner.
    • On screen software buttons (back, home, multi-task, menu, …) and the action bar.
    • View of recent apps can be snap shots (multi-task button) or existing icon view (long press physical home button).
    • Browser UI becomes more like Google Chrome.
    • Browser can now sync bookmarks with Google Chrome.
    • Apps are now commonly multi-pane, e.g. message list and message body on one screen.
    • More hardware acceleration.
    • Support for multi-core CPUs.
    • Encrypting user data.
    • USB devices now work as expected, e.g. flash drives, game pads.
    • Proper support for Bluetooth keyboards, gamepads, etc.
    • Stock launcher now allows widgets to be resized.
    • WiFi performance can be maintained when screen is off (WiFi locking).
    • Apps designed for small screens can be zoomed or stretched to fit.
      • this Android 2.2 feature is a really good thing and makes many reviewer’s complaints about Honeycomb less of a big deal for normal people.
    • Screenshots (or was this just a TF101 thang?).
      • Previously required a custom ROM like Cyanogen Mod.
    • Pasting integrated with 2.3.x selection UI.
  • 4.0.1 – Ice Cream Sandwich.
    • 4.0.1 in October of 2011, 4.0.2 in November of 2011, 4.0.3 in December of 2011.
    • Small screens get traditional (1.0-2.3.x) UI, large screens get tablet style (3.x) UI from Honeycomb.
    • On screen software buttons (from 3.x) now work on phones.
    • Stock launcher catches up to common features of custom launchers.
    • Access apps from lock screen.
      • Previously required custom ROM/UI (e.g. Sense; Cyanogen Mod).
    • Unlock your phone by taking a picture of your face.
    • New Roboto font.
    • Can now monitor data usage without requiring third party apps (or custom ROMs).
    • Camera app sucks less.
    • Basic photo-editing.
    • Much stronger NFC integration, alternative to Bluetooth data transfer.
    • Yet more work on hardware acceleration.
    • WiFi Direct, a form of Ad-hoc WiFi networking and bridging.