The Early Days of Android Technology
In 2003, four technology experts joined forces to establish Android Inc. of Palo Alto, CA: Andy Rubin, Rich Miner, Nick Sears and Chris White. The four worked to create an operating system for mobile devices which could be aware of both a user’s location and their personal preferences. At first, the Android team wanted to implement the system into digital camera devices, creating cameras which could access computer services. However, the company recognized that there would be low demand for such a computer camera, so the development activities switched to a focus on cellular phones.
In August 2005, Android very quietly became the property of Google, which purchased the start-up firm for an undisclosed price which is estimated to be about $50 million.
The major milestone in the development of the Android system occurred on November 5th, 2007. On this day, Google unveiled the Open Handset Alliance (OHA), a consortium of technology manufacturers that would work together to create open mobile device standards. As this announcement indicated, Android would be much different the iPhone system in that it wouldn’t be limited to simply one device from one manufacturer; this would be very important as the first Android device developed by Google would not be released for a couple of years yet. In October 2008, the HTC Dream, the first Android smartphone, would be made commercially available.
Tasty Updates to the Android System
Operating systems which power computing devices, from large desktop workstations to pocket-sized smartphones, are targeted by updates at regular intervals which are meant to fix technical glitches or improve upon the digital services offered to users. There are few, if any, operating systems which have received more updates than the Android system. Since its first release on the HTC Dream, the Android operating system has received a total of 19 total updates; for a period of time, Google was updating the Android system once every two-and-a-half months, much quicker than the development cycle of the iOS, which saw a major update to that system about once annually.
The first version of the Android system was 1.0 G1. It offered multitasking functions as well as GPS and some Bluetooth services. It’s amazing to consider that the original version of the Android Market only made 35 apps available to users; as of July 2014, some official statistics put the amount of Android apps available at 1.4 million. Some Web-based services like Gmail and YouTube were available to users but this version didn’t have a virtual keyboard. It’s pretty incredible to imagine the limited use of this first Android device when compared to the robust system that exists just a few years later.
The first update to the Android system was rolled out in April 2009. This system upgrade began a tradition of naming Android updates after desserts, a quirky choice that has helped Android system updates grab a little bit of attention in more mainstream media. The Android 1.5 update was titled Cupcake; since then, we’ve also seen Eclair, Froyo, Honeycomb, Kit Kat and more. Major upgrades in the Cupcake update include an improved software development kit, a universal search box and a toggle mode for the Camera app which enabled a user to switch from taking still images to recording video. Cupcake also established support of third-party virtual keyboard applications, enabling the use of the Android systems on devices which only offered touchscreen inputs.
In May 2010, Android released the 2.2 Froyo upgrade. This update not only increased the speed and performance of the entire system but also established support for WiFi hotspot connectivity to other devices. The very next upgrade, 2.3 Gingerbread, brought native support for electronic components like gyroscopes and barometers, giving Android devices the tools to analyze their angle of orientation as well as the relative humidity of the surrounding atmosphere. This ability of Android devices to collect a great deal of useful data through its various electronic components is another hallmark of this operating system.
In October 2011, Android released 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich to a good amount of fanfare; a major redesign of some essential style elements of the system’s user interface made the release a commercially successful one. However, a greater upgrade to the system’s functionality would be seen with the next major release, 4.1 Jelly Bean, which was officially released in July 2012. With this update, users could turn off notifications for specific applications, resize widgets or enjoy multichannel audio. Jelly Bean also introduced Google Now, a piece of personal assistant software which is becoming more important with the advent of the Android Wear platform for wearable gadgets.
The most recent upgrade to Android was 7.0 Nougat, which was released on March 9, 2016 has some major features such as Night Light, Multi-window support, VR interface and more.
Source
A Brief History of Google’s Android Operating System
Android Info Web 