Android-08!
- 07-10-2017
- android
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More than 70% of world's smartphones use the Android operating system. The coolest thing about android is that it is completely free thanks to Google Inc for their continous support and full development of the system.
This is the reason why android smart phones are so much affordable. Unlike apple.co and microsoft.co the company which provides the android smart phones does not have to shed their money in the core development of the operating system for different chipset and maintainance.
This post is a quick overview of the operating system and little bit of the history behind it.
Android Inc. was founded in Palo Alto, California in October 2003 by Andy Rubin, Rich Miner, Nick Sears, and Chris White. During that time the main goal of the company and the team behind it was developing an operating system for digital cameras. But they soon realised that the market for cameras on that time was not large and after five months they focused their goal on developing an operating system for hand held mobile phones. Rubin had difficulty attracting investors early on, and Android was facing eviction from its office space. Steve Perlman, a close friend of Rubin, brought him $10,000 in cash in an envelope, and shortly thereafter wired an undisclosed amount as seed funding. Perlman refused a stake in the company, and has stated "I did it because I believed in the thing, and I wanted to help Andy." In July 2005, Google acquired Android Inc. for at least $50 million.Its key employees, including Rubin, Miner and White, joined Google as part of the acquisition.
Android kernel or the core of android is based on Linux Kernel;s (LTS) branches. As now they uses the version 3.18 or 4.4 of the Linux Kernel.
Here is a snapshot of the versions of Android from 2011 to 2017.
| Version | Code Name | Release Date | First device to run. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 8.0 | Oreo | 21 Aug, 2017 | N/A |
| 7.1 | Nougat | 4 Oct, 2016 | Pixel, Pixel XL |
| 7.0 | Nougat | 22 Aug, 2016 | Nexus 5X, Nexus 6P |
| 6.0 | Marshmallow | 5 Oct, 2015 | Nexus 5X, Nexus 6P |
| 5.1 | Lollipop | 9 Mar, 2015 | Android One |
| 5.0 | Lolipop | 3 Nov, 2014 | Nexus 6, Nexus 9 |
| 4.4 | Kitkat | 31 Oct, 2013 | Nexus 5 |
| 4.3 | Jelly Bean | 24 Jul, 2013 | Nexus 7 2013 |
| 4.2 | Jelly Bean | 13 Nov, 2012 | Nexus 4, Nexus 10 |
| 4.1 | Jelly Bean | 9 Jul, 2012 | Nexus 7 |
| 4.0 | Ice Cream Sandwich | 19 Oct, 2011 | Galaxy Nexus |
| 2.3 | Gingerbread | 9 Feb, 2011 | Nexus S |
The new versions of Android is released by Google.co almost every year or twice a year. The Nexus and Pixel devices gets it on the same time but for other devices the manufacturer company have to make some changes and then tey release the version for update for selected devices. The Nexus and Pixel along with Moto and few other phones uses the same version launched by Google without making much changese and that's what we call stock android. While other companies makes severe changes to the looks and User Interface.
The latest version right now is Oreo or 8.0 which is really awesome and improves the User Interface of the stock android and also many security and bug fixes.