evolution of android operating system

Evolution of Android operating system Page No. 1

Android is a mobile operating system (OS) based on the Linux kernel and currently developed by Google. With

a user interface based on direct manipulation, Android is designed primarily for touchscreen mobile devices such as

smartphones and tablet computers, with specialized user interfaces for televisions (Android TV), cars (Android

Auto), and wrist watches (Android Wear). The OS uses touch inputs that loosely correspond to real-world actions,

like swiping, tapping, pinching, and reverse pinching to manipulate on-screen objects, and a virtual keyboard.

Despite being primarily designed for touchscreen input, it also has been used in game consoles, digital cameras,

regular PCs (e.g. the HP Slate 21) and other electronics.

Android is the most widely used mobile OS and, as of 2013, the highest selling OS overall. Android devices sell

more than Windows, bios, and Mac OS X devices combined, with sales in 2012, 2013 and 2014 close to the

installed base of all PCs. As of July 2013 the Google Play store has had over 1 million Android apps published, and

over 50 billion apps downloaded. A developer survey conducted in AprilMay 2013 found that 71% of mobile

developers develop for Android. At Google I/O 2014, the company revealed that there were over 1 billion active

monthly Android users, up from 538 million in June 2013.

Android's source code is released by Google under open source licenses, although most Android devices ultimately

ship with a combination of open source and proprietary software. Initially developed by Android, Inc., which Google

backed financially and later bought in 2005, Android was unveiled in 2007 along with the founding of the Open

Handset Alliancea consortium of hardware, software, and telecommunication companies devoted to

advancing open standards for

Mobile devices.

Android is popular with

technology companies which

require a ready-made, low-

cost and customizable

operating system for high-

tech devices. Android's open

nature has encouraged a

large community of

developers and enthusiasts

to use the open-source code

as a foundation for

community-driven projects,

which add new features for

advanced users or bring

Evolution of Android operating system Page No. 2

Android to devices which were officially, released running other operating systems. The operating system's success

has made it a target for patent litigation as part of the so-called "smartphone wars" between technology companies.

Android, Inc. was founded in Palo Alto, California in October 2003 by Andy Rubin (co-founder of Danger), Rich

Miner(co-founder of Wildfire Communications, Inc.), Nick Sears (once VP at T-Mobile), and Chris White (headed

design and interface development at WebTV) to develop, in Rubin's words, "smarter mobile devices that are more

aware of its owner's location and preferences". The early intentions of the company were to develop an advanced

operating system for digital cameras, when it was realized that the market for the devices was not large enough, and

diverted their efforts to producing a smartphone operating system to rival those of Symbian and Windows Mobile.

Despite the past accomplishments of the founders and early employees, Android Inc. operated secretly, revealing

only that it was working on software for mobile phones. That same year, Rubin ran out of money. Steve Perlman, a

close friend of Rubin, brought him $10,000 in cash in an envelope and refused a stake in the company.

Google acquired Android Inc. on August 17, 2005; key employees of Android Inc., including Rubin, Miner, and

White, stayed at the company after the acquisition. Not much was known about Android Inc. at the time, but many

assumed that Google was planning to enter the mobile phone market with this move. At Google, the team led by

Rubin developed a mobile device platform powered by the Linux kernel. Google marketed the platform to handset

makers and carriers on the promise of providing a flexible, upgradable system. Google had lined up a series of

hardware component and software partners and signaled to carriers that it was open to various degrees of

cooperation on their part.

Speculation about Google's intention to enter the mobile communications market continued to build through

December 2006.An earlier prototype codenamed "Sooner" had a closer resemblance to a BlackBerry phone, with no

touchscreen, and a physical, QWERTY keyboard, but was later re-engineered to support a touchscreen, to compete

Eric Schmidt, Andy Rubin, and Hugo Barra at a press conference for the

Google's Nexus 7 tablet

Evolution of Android operating system Page No. 3

with other announced devices such as the 2006 LG Prada and 2007 Apple iPhone. In September

2007, InformationWeek covered an E value serve study reporting that Google had filed several patent applications

in the area of mobile telephony.

Eric Schmidt, Andy Rubin, and Hugo Barra at a press conference for the Google's Nexus 7 tablet

On November 5, 2007, the Open Handset Alliance, a consortium of technology companies including Google, device

manufacturers such as HTC, Sony and Samsung, wireless carriers such as Sprint Nextel and T-Mobile, and chipset

makers such as Qualcomm and Texas Instruments, unveiled itself, with a goal to develop open standards for mobile

devices. That day, Android was unveiled as its first product, a mobile device platform built on the Linux

kernel version 2.6.25.The first commercially available smartphone running Android was the HTC Dream, released

on October 22, 2008.

In 2010, Google launched its Nexus series of devices a line of smartphones and tablets running the Android

operating system, and built by manufacturing partners. HTC collaborated with Google to release the first Nexus

smartphone, the Nexus One. Google has since updated the series with newer devices, such as the Nexus 5 phone

(made by LG) and the Nexus 7 tablet (made by Asus). Google releases the Nexus phones and tablets to act as

their flagship Android devices, demonstrating Android's latest software and hardware features. On March 13,

2013 Larry Page announced in a blog post that Andy Rubin had moved from the Android division to take on new

projects at Google. He was replaced by Sundar Pichai , who also continues his role as the head of Google's

Chrome division, which develops Chrome OS.

Since 2008, Android has seen numerous updates which have incrementally improved the operating system, adding

new features and fixing bugs in previous releases. Each major release is named in alphabetical order after a dessert

or sugary treat; for example, version 1.5 Cupcake was followed by 1.6 Donut. Version 4.4.4 KitKat appeared as a

security-only update; it was released on June 19, 2014, shortly after 4.4.3 was released. As of November 2014, the

newest version of the Android operating system, Android 5.0 "Lollipop", is available for selected devices.

From 2010 to 2013, Hugo Barra served as product spokesperson for the Android team, representing Android at both

press conferences and Google I/O, Googles annual developer-focused conference. Barras product involvement

included the entire Android ecosystem of software and hardware, including Honeycomb, Ice Cream Sandwich, Jelly

Bean and KitKat operating system launches, the Nexus 4 and Nexus 5 smartphones, the Nexus 7 and Nexus

10 tablets, and other related products such as Google Now and Google Voice Search, Googles speech recognition

product comparable to Apples Siri. In 2013 Barra left the Android team for Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi.

Android Inc. was founded by Andy Rubin, Rich Miner, Nick Sears and Chris White

in Palo Alto, California in October 2003. Its a Linux based open source mobile Operating System. At first, it was designed for smart phones but later Google Inc. bought

Android at 2005. Then, Google Inc. unveiled Android Operating System in 2007.

Google releases all versions and codes of Android OS under Apace License. As it is open

source anybody can modify the codes of Android Operating System.

Evolution of Android operating system Page No. 4

Android Operating System codes are written in a Java programming language customized

version.

Google Android versions are generally named after sugary products and those names are

kept in Alphabetical order. Lets go through those in short:

Android OS 1.0, 1.1 Android version 1.0 release date was September 2008 and it was the first version which is

launched with the device HTC Hero. It had remarkable feedback from the users. In February of 2009, the version 1.1 was released.

Android OS 1.5 - Cupcake Android version 1.5 release date was April 2009. For the first time an Android is given a

name which is Cupcake. Cupcake version brought the features of:

Text prediction

Video uploading

Wireless Music streaming

Android OS 1.1

Evolution of Android operating system Page No. 5

Android OS 1.6 - Donut Android version 1.6 release date was September 2009. Donut version brought the

features of:

Integrated Google Maps

Solved OS reboot errors

Enhanced photo and video capabilities

Android OS 2.0 - Eclair Android version 2.0 releas