Smartphone Guide 2) Android Overview

This is a continuation of a post done 2 days ago, the Smartphone Guide 1) Operating Systems. This post is specifically going into detail about android as a whole - yes, I will talk about specific phones eventually, but not today.

While some would argue Android is a "stolen product", it does everything considerably different than any other mobile OS out there, and is my personal favorite. I realize it isn't for everyone, but by reading this you should get a better idea if it's for you or not.

Extremely brief history:
- Developed by Android Inc (2003)
- Google bought Android Inc (2005)
- Unveiled (2007)
- first android released (HTC Dream, Oct 2008)

Now that the history is out of the way, let's talk about where android is today. Currently, over half of android phones are running software that is 2 years old... Sorry guys, let's go back to the history books.

Somewhat less brief history

(Stock) Android Software Release
- Beta (Nov 2007)
- 1.0 (Sept 2008)
- 1.1 (Feb 2009)
- 1.5/Cupcake (April 2009)
- 1.6/Doughnut (Sept 2009)
- 2.0/2.1/Elcair (October 2009)
- 2.2/Froyo (May 2010)
- 2.3/Gingerbdead (Dec 2010)
- 3.0/Honeycomb (tablet only, Feb 2011)
- 4.0/Ice Cream Sandwich (Oct 2011)
- 4.1/4.2 Jelly Bean (June 2012)

For the remainder of this article, I will only mention 2.3 and above, as the older versions a) have insignificant market share and b) don't reflect on the android of today.

Gingerbread was the first version of android to offer support for front facing cameras, but also offered noticeably improved battery management and user interface.

Honeycomb was the first (and only) UI meant just for tablets. It wasn't generally accepted, and in Ice cream Sandwich they merged the tablet UI with the phone UI.

Ice Cream Sandwich looked similar to Honeycomb, but with obvious enhancements. It had an overhaul of the UI, and is considered the biggest jump in UI for android. Android became more refined, looking sleeker, and this is when the "Holo" theme became prevalent.

Jelly Bean adds more features to ICS, and makes everything run much smoother (codenamed project butter). It also adds Google Now, Gesture typing, quick settings notifications, locks creek widgets and more.

So over 50% of android users have their device on Gingerbread, which is 2 years old. They've been missing major feature and usability upgrades not once, but twice. Why?

Android is open source, and it's manufacturers put their own custom UI on their phones. So when Google makes an update, the manufacturers take their time fitting it to all their phones.

Strong points, weak points
Strong: Customization options are everywhere, you have a massive choice in hardware, there is a handset that fits every budget, everything (including 3rd party apps) work together great, app selection

Weak: Updates, has a steeper learning curve than other OSs, different custom UIs mean different experiences, only the most expensive phones are really worth getting (low range phones especially have a generally poor user experience).