Given below is the list of all android version since its inception and its features along with its logo, pros and cons which will help you decide the best android version for your phone or tablet.
1) ANDROID 1.0
It was the first commercial version of Android launched on 23 September 2008. The phone had many features new to the users. Android market app was available and updation of applications through the app. Also the option of contact synchronization was added where users can save their contacts to gmail or phone backup. Also the features added were Instant messaging from Google Talk and other messaging mediums were also available. The first mobile to incorporate Android 1.0 also had the wifi and Bluetooth option.
2) ANDROID 1.5 CUPCAKE
This version of Android was launched in April 2009 and had some new and updated features from its predecessor Android 1.0 Among the new features were that it had a soft on screen keyboard which can be used in both landscape and portrait view. The dictionary also had a custom dictionary option where users could add their own words. Widgets were added in the home screen and also the feature of the live folders was new to the users. For the first time, MPEG 4 and 3GP videos can be played in the phone and copy and paste was also introduced in the browser.
3) ANDROID 2.0 ECLAIR
Android 2.0 was released in October 2009 with a huge bug fix in December 2009. There were no very new updates or new introduction but the introduced version 2.1 that released in January 2010 include Bluetooth 2.1 support, flash and digital zoom for the camera, multi-touch support, live wallpapers and more.
4) ANDROID 2.2 FROYO
Android 2.2 was released on June 2010 and has introduced many new features and updates from its previous version of Android 2.2 Froyo. Security of the phones were improved and the power to customize widgets was also added. Factory data reset feature, too was added and remote wipe feature was added so that the lost data can be recovered. The feature of portable hotspot was added to some device such that some devices would become portable wifi hotspot if turned on. These phones were also used as a 3G device which can be connected to computer to run the internet on them. One of the best feature of this version was that voice dialling over bluetooth was introduced.
5) ANDROID 2.3.7 GINGERBREAD
Android 2.3.7 Gingerbread was released on Christmas 2010. It introduced a one touch word selection copy paste system and the power management was improved. Users can now see which app is still awake and draining battery and can kill it. Also the shortcut to applications was added where the users can add the shortcut icon of the application to the desktop so that they can have a better customization of their desktop. Internet calling was also added to this Android version and download management app was launched so that the users can see which content have they downloaded.
6) ANDROID 3.2 HONEYCOMB
Android 3.2 Honeycomb introduced screen compatibility mode for applications explicitly declaring that they do not support screens as large as the one on which they are running. This new “zoom” mode is a pixel-scaled — it renders the application in a smaller screen area and then scales the pixels to fill the current screen. Also To meet the needs of applications running on 720p televisions or similar with moderate density screens, Android 3.2 introduces a new generalized density, tvdpi, with an approximate dpi of 213. Applications can query for the new density in densityDpi and can use the new tvdpi qualifier to tag resources for televisions and similar devices.
7) ANDROID 4.0.4 ICECREAM SANDWICH
Android 4.0.4 IceCream Sandwich was the revolution in the android market. Multitasking is a key strength of Android and it’s made even easier and more visual on Android 4.0. The Recent Apps button lets users jump instantly from one task to another using the list in the System Bar. The list pops up to show thumbnail images of apps used recently — tapping a thumbnail switches to the app. New home screen folders offer a new way for users to group their apps and shortcuts logically, just by dragging one onto another. Also, in All Apps launcher, users can now simply drag an app to get information about it or immediately uninstall it, or disable a pre-installed app. The lock screens now let users do more without unlocking. From the slide lock screen, users can jump directly to the camera for a picture or pull down the notifications window to check for messages. When listening to music, users can even manage music tracks and see album art. Android has always been cloud-connected, letting users browse the web and sync photos, apps, games, email, and contacts — wherever they are and across all of their devices. Android 4.0 adds new browsing and email capabilities to let users take even more with them and keep communication organized.
8) ANDROID 4.3 JELLY BEAN
Android 4.3 includes performance optimizations and great new features for users and developers. This document provides a glimpse of what’s new for developers. Android 4.3 builds on the performance improvements already included in Jelly Bean — vsync timing, triple buffering, reduced touch latency, CPU input boost, and hardware-accelerated 2D rendering — and adds new optimizations that make Android even faster.For a graphics performance boost, the hardware-accelerated 2D renderer now optimizes the stream of drawing commands, transforming it into a more efficient GPU format by rearranging and merging draw operations. For multithreaded processing, the renderer can also now use multithreading across multiple CPU cores to perform certain tasks.
Android 4.3 also improves rendering for shapes and text. Shapes such as circles and rounded rectangles are now rendered at higher quality in a more efficient manner. Optimizations for text include increased performance when using multiple fonts or complex glyph sets (CJK), higher rendering quality when scaling text, and faster rendering of drop shadows.Improved window buffer allocation results in a faster image buffer allocation for your apps, reducing the time taken to start rendering when you create a window.For highest-performance graphics, Android 4.3 introduces support for OpenGL ES 3.0 and makes it accessible to apps through both framework and native APIs. On supported devices, the hardware accelerated 2D rendering engine takes advantage of OpenGL ES 3.0 to optimize texture management and increase gradient rendering fidelity.
9) ANDROID 4.4 KITKAT
Android 4.4 kitkat is designed to run fast, smooth, and responsively on a much broader range of devices than ever before — including on millions of entry-level devices around the world that have as little as 512MB RAM.
Android 4.4 KitKat streamlines every major component to reduce memory use and introduces new APIs and tools to help you create innovative, responsive, memory-efficient applications.
In Android itself, changes across the system improve memory management and reduce memory footprint. Core system processes are trimmed to use less heap, and they now more aggressively protect system memory from apps consuming large amounts of RAM. When multiple services start at once — such as when network connectivity changes — Android now launches the services serially, in small groups, to avoid peak memory demands.
For developers, Android 4.4 helps you deliver apps that are efficient and responsive on all devices. A new API, Activity Manager is Low Ram Device(), lets you tune your app’s behavior to match the device’s memory configuration. You can modify or disable large-memory features as needed, depending on the use-cases you want to support on entry-level devices. An on-device view is also available as a new developer option. The meminfo tool is enhanced to make it easier to spot memory trends and issues, and it reveals additional memory overhead that hasn’t previously been visible.
10) Android 5.0 – 5.1 Lollipop
Android 5.0 – 5.1 Lollipop is designed on the Material design language that is designed for the ultimate features for the android users. The Android 5.0 was unveiled on 25 June 2014. This version of Android is focused on the variety of Android-oriented platforms or devices like including Android TV, in-car platform Android Auto, wearable computing platform Android Wear, and health tracking platform Google Fit.
