Android : Evolution, Features, and Advantages

May 2
08:44

2016

Arush Capoor

Arush Capoor

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This article is about the features and advantages of android. Read this article and I am sure that you will find useful content.

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8 years back we were used to the rock-strong and sturdy Nokia phones. They repealed from the lid,Android : Evolution, Features, and Advantages  Articles about any idea of a smartphone with a proper operating system.

 

Apple must be given the credit of revolutionizing the touch-screen phone industry. It first introduced us to a thing called mobile apps with first I-phone launched in mid-2007.

 

Then slowly various other operating systems emerged on the scenario including Android, Windows Blackberry OS, Asha OS, Bada OS etc. Out of these android emerged as the most successful one.

Evolution of Android and Features:

 

Android is the operating system with most number of smart-phones users on planet Earth. It is Linux-based and open-source. Its much more user customizable than the iOS. Android has reached a huge height of 1.6 million apps in almost negligible time.

 

Google purchased Android Inc in 2005 and opened its mobile division.

First phone based with Android was launched in the form of HTC Dream in late 2008. Source code of Android was available to all after a month.

 

Time-line of various android OS versions and features introduced in each one of them ]:

 

Version

Name

Time

Prominent New Features

Android 1.5

Cupcake

April 2009

Google Play

Android 1.6

Donut

September 2009

System wide search enabled

Android 2.0

Éclair

October 2009

Google Maps 3.1.2

Android 2.2

Froyo

May 2010

Wi-Fi Hotspot, 720p display support

Android 2.3

Gingerbread

December 2010

Google Talk

Android 3.0

Honeycomb

February 2011

OS optimized for tablet

Android 4.0

Ice Cream Sandwich

October 2011

USB support, SD card functionality

Android 4.1

Jelly Bean

July 2012

Smoother response to inputs , Google Now

Android 4.4

Kit Kat

October 2013

Support for wireless printing, Better Lock screen

Android 5.0

Lollipop

November 2014

Multiple user profiles, Material Design

Android 6.0

Marsh Mallow

October 2015

Fingerprint enabled, Now on Tap, Doze Mode to improve battery, RAM Manager, Home screen rotation

 

What is Android One

 

Android One was started with keeping developing markets in mind like India.

 

Before installing android in their smart-phones, every company layers it with their own UI. Sometimes it becomes very handy to the overall operating system and adds value to it.

In smartphones of budget category it becomes a headache. Buggy per-installed apps took up, the already low internal memory/RAM. It makes the whole system quite slow.

For this problem Google started the Android One project with nine major companies.

Under Android One, Google was the only provider of operating system for the smartphones of budget category. It was solely responsible for all kinds of software updates.

So in Google One phones, purest form of android was installed barring any modifications. Stock android runs much more smooth and lag-free on these phones as compared to UI ones.

Thus it enabled good android experience to the economically backward and increased the overall android reach.

 

Some Significant Applications:

 

Google play is available in 135 countries across the world. As we all know Whatsapp, Facebook and all kinds of Google's basic apps are most downloaded applications in the world. Each of them have crossed a billion downloads. Some of the other apps/games with more than 10 crore download are:

 

Angry Birds Netflix

Skype Subway surfers

Temple Run 1 & 2 Amazon Kindle

 

Advantages of Android over iOS :

Storage Capacity: Android smartphones have much more storage capacity than I-phones, in the comparable price range

Screen Resolution: Android screen resolution is generally much higher than I-phone

Customization: Android is more easily modifiable for widgets, skin and launchers.

Easy Transportation: No need to install i tunes for file transfer to PC, unlike I-phone

Back button included : In I-phone there is no back button. You can only use the home button to end up back on the home screen again.

Multi-window Support: Android provides complete multi-window support whereas in i-phone it is not yet built to the core. It can only be used using a system app.

Android is the pioneer across the globe for providing best user experience for your smart-phones. Apps are like backbone to it. There are multitude of companies across the world, dealing with app development. Mobile app development companies in India are not far behind. Many premium apps are built in India like Hike and Deck. So get an android phone from your nearest store and Get! Set! Go!!.