Gadgetory

in the past six years Google's operating system has matured and developed greatly since its initial conception and in that time the concept of mobile has blasted past the idea of a simple cell phone and into the world tomorrow Android 5.0 lollipop has brought Andy Rubens beautiful brainchild beyond the phone and tablet into living rooms and cars not to wrists but how exactly to Google's bountiful buffet of desert themed operating systems get to this point the Android era officially began on October 22nd 2008 when t-mobile g1 lodged the United States the first version of Android which the public saw has 1.5 cupcake was by no means a perfect system but it laid the groundwork for what the operating system would become home screen widgets deep Gmail integration in the pulldown notification window all made their debut in Google's first version of Android it also where users would first experience the Android Market in fact it was one of the first mobile platforms with a centralized App Store Google was quick to release 1.6 donut which included a couple usability updates before moving on to its first major overhaul Eclair Android 2.0 Eclair launched roughly one year after G one's debut big would be in an accurate description all around it was a big deal he made big promises and it was deployed on big phones offered by big carriers it also added Google Maps Navigation free turn-by-turn voice guided navigation and obviate the need to ever buy a GPS unit ever again 2.0 was initially offered exclusively on Verizon on the Motorola Droid the phone that kicked off one of the most successful mobile franchises in history it was only a few months later that Google would release Android 2.1 notate that wouldn't have been significant before one thing the Nexus 1 the first flagship device designed by Google itself a phone that would showcase the purest form of Android without carrier manufacturer with 2.2 Froyo google had plenty to showcase including a redesigned homescreen a gallery app with some 3d quirks and mobile hotspot support the end of 2010 saw the debut of 2.3 Gingerbread which in many ways was relatively minor release with several aesthetic tweaks better battery and app management tools and support for front-facing cameras it debuted on Samsung's Nexus S ii phone in the Nexus line Android 3.0 honeycomb was to say the least in oddity it was designed exclusive for the tablet had a strikingly different visual look and perhaps more telling honeycomb debuted on screen virtual keys were home back menu and search but it would take a few more years before Google figure out Android and tablets in any meaningful way eager to put honeycomb in the zoom behind it Google released Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich in the fall of 2011 it was without question the biggest change for Android on phones yet many of ice cream sandwiches new features and design elements got their start in honeycomb including virtual buttons a blue tron light motif improve the widget support better multitasking and action bars within the applications Ice Cream Sandwich also introduced Roboto Google's typeface from Android side for high resolution displays Ice Cream Sandwich launched on the Galaxy Nexus one of the first smartphones with a 720p HD display ok by now you realize the numerical increments don't really indicate the importance of an update take 4.1 jellybean for instance which is for all intents and purposes our rebooted Google's flagging tablet strategy a debut in the Nexus 7 a tablet that was the right size and the right price when a debuted in the middle of 2012 jellybean included some major performance enhancements and interface tweaks but its headline feature was Google now an entirely new predictive computing platform Google now predicted what you wanted and responded intelligently to voice commands the next point one iterations all made improvements on that baseline introduced new hardware with 4.2 there was the LG produced Nexus 4 and Samsung's Nexus 10 tablet along with debut of multiple users for tablets in a second generation of the Nexus 7 for Android 4.3 then in October 2013 Google partner with Nestle 2 introduced Android 4.4 KitKat the first sponsored version of the platform even made a special edition candy bar for the occasional KitKat brought a visual revamp with the jellybean aesthetic and debuted with a Nexus 5 smartphone much of that tron-like element disappeared by KitKat with more visually pleasing white interface elements replacing the electronic blue that preceded them a refined condensed version of Roboto font a new app drawer most importantly Google now integrated directly into the homescreen Google also committed to making KitKat work better with lower spec devices all that brings us to Android 5.0 lollipop released in the fall 2014 multitasking was redefined notifications were smarter and more interactive most importantly we once again saw a huge visual overhaul which Google dubbed material design it wasn't just for Android but for all of googles apps and services colorful interfaces playful transitions and animations straight out of Disney's playbook if KitKat was about getting more Android phones up to date Android lollipop was about blending Android everywhere else it became the tide that bitin Android across phones tablets cars wearables TVs and everything else moving Android from the software that runs on your own the software that runs on everything in your life