Come to Know the Android OS a Little Better

The Android OS, as you know it today, didn’t start out as this outrageously popular from its conception. It had its fair share of ups and downs; however, just less than six years after, it has become the dominant operating system, accounting to more than 80 percent share in the global mobile platform market. Thanks to the benevolent support of Google, it had reached this far and wide, being available to various handsets from different smartphone manufacturers across the globe.

September 3, 2013 was marked as the day Android has reached its 1^st billionth activated device with the said OS. This is but a proof that more and more people are getting into the Android culture. So, why don’t we get to know the green fellow we all love a little better? Take a look at this infographic brought to you by SocialCubix, and take a dip into the Android story.

ANDROID 1.0

1^st Android Device: The HTC Dream (G1) / 23^rd September 2008

Integration with Google services

Web browser to show, zoom and pan full HTML and XHTML web pages, multiple pages show as windows

Android market app downloads and updates

Multi-tasking, instant messaging, WiFi and Bluetooth

ANDROID 1.5 Cupcake

Based on Linux Kernel 2.6.27 / 30^th April 2009

Faster Camera start-up and image capture

Much faster acquisition of GPS location (powered by SUPL AGPS)

On-screen soft keyboard

Directly upload videos to YouTube and Picassa

ANDROID 1.6 Donut

Based on Linux Kernel 2.6.29 / 15^th September 2009

Quick Search Box and Voice Search

Integrated Camera, Camcorder, Gallery and toggle between still and video capture modes

Battery usage indicator

CDMA Support

Multi-lingual text-to-speech function

ANDROID 2.0 Eclair

Based on Linux Kernel 2.6.29 / 26^th October 2009

Multiple accounts for email and contact synchronization

Microsoft Exchange Support for syncing of e-mail

Bluetooth 2.1 support

New Browser User Interface and support for HTML5

New Calendar Features

ANDROID 2.2 Froyo

Based on Linux Kernel 2.6.32 / 20^th May 2010

New tips widget for Homescreen & Improved Exchange support

Hotspot Support

Multiple Keyboard Languages

Adobe Flash 10.1

ANDROID 2.3 Gingerbread

6^th December 2010

UI refinements for simplicity and speed

New Keyboard for faster text input

One-touch word selection and copy/paste

Near Field Communication (NFC)

Internet Calling

ANDROID 3.0 Honeycomb

3.1 SDK / 10^th May 2011

Specifically optimized for tablets and devices with larger screen sizes

Refined multi-tasking, rich notifications, homescreen customization, widgets

Bluetooth tethering

Built-in Support for Media/Picture Transfer Protocol

ANDROID 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich

Faster, smoother, more responsive

Refined, refreshed UI

New ways to engage users

External display support

Enhancements for International Languages

New built-in developer options

ANDROID 4.3 Jelly Bean

3.2 SDK / 18^th July 2011

Simple, beautiful and beyond smart

OpenGL ES 3.0 for high-performance graphics

Enhanced Bluetooth connectivity

Support for restricted profiles

Optimized location and sensor capabilities

Support for International Users

New media capabilities and ways to analyze performance

ANDROID 4.4 KitKat

Printing framework

NFC Host Card Emulation for emulating smart cards

Web-Views based on Chromium (feature parity with Chrome for Android 30)

New framework for UI transitions

Storage access framework for retrieving content and documents from other sources

Sensor Batching, Step Detector and Counter APIs

Native infrared blaster API

Nokia Joins the Android Line-up with the Normandy

The tech giant Nokia has manufactured quite a number of mobile phones ever since it has ventured into the telecommunications industry. It had pioneered a multitude of innovations that paved a way to make advanced mobile computing a reality. However, Nokia wasn’t able to maintain the momentum and keep up with the standards of the growing industry; to no avail, it resorted in selling its mobile division to Microsoft in order to prevent further losses and restore the empire it had once built.

In the light of the purchase agreement between the two, many Android fans have had their spirits broken, thinking that there will never be a way for Nokia to release a smartphone powered by Google’s open-source OS Android. Once the sale has been realized, it’s but expected that all handheld devices that will be coming out the works carrying the Nokia brand will have Windows Phone as their mobile platform.

Let’s not shut the doors of possibilities just yet; for as long as the merger isn’t yet legally acknowledged, Nokia still has absolute control over its handset business. In fact, speculations from multiple sources have sprouted like mushrooms that the Finnish smartphone manufacturer is planning on releasing its first-ever Android-powered mobile phone, and the said device will be codenamed as “Normandy.”

Given the fact that this move by Nokia is unprecedented, what reasons could there be for the company to come up with an Android device now that the merger will soon be made official, not to mention when it had always relied on the Windows Phone to run its devices? Apparently, the Normandy aims to target the market of low-end phones as an equivalent of the Asha to further push low cost devices to potential first-time smartphone users. As it turns out, the Asha struggled to achieve widely acclaimed fame for its target consumers allegedly due to its Series 40-powered system. The limited app ecosystem where the Asha is built into was perceived as a major shortcoming; thus, an Android device will be able to address this issue where the Nokia Asha line-up failed to triumph.

However, even if this rumor is true, there is yet no assurance that the project will ever see the light of day. The people behind the Normandy project were informed that the device is planned to be launched on 2014, with one insider describing the efforts on the project as “full steam ahead.” Timing is crucial. If Nokia manages to release the Normandy before the Microsoft acquisition is completed, we will be able to get hold of the first and last Android-powered Nokia device. Otherwise, if the Nokia-Microsoft deal overtakes this project’s release, it may not ever come into fruition, for Android is a conflict of interest for Microsoft over its own Windows Phone operating system. Let’s just cross our fingers and hope for the best.

A Guide on Choosing the Smartphone Right for You: Platform Edition

There are a lot of factors that can influence one’s choice for the operating system of his phone. Aside from apps, services, and responsiveness, aesthetic appeal is a significant indicator as well. The three dominant mobile platforms today are Google’s Android, Apple’s iOS, and Microsoft’s Windows Phone, which are rank-ordered respectively. Android officially comprises 80 percent of the global platform market share in the 3^rd quarter of 2013, while iOS is still second in line with 12.9 percent, down from 14.4 percent a year ago. On the other hand, Windows Phone is slowly but steadily growing in number, being locked in the third spot with 3.6 percent. Given the figures, let’s just focus on the big three of smartphone platforms. So, read on.

Android

The reason for the significantly impressive market share of Android is its availability to the smartphones of multiple manufacturing companies. Its widespread utilization in smartphones of all sorts, three-inchers to 6-inch phablets, makes it the most popular by a wide margin. And why won’t it be? Android features an easily customizable OS that hardware manufacturers and users themselves can drastically change by just a few simple tweaks. If you don’t like the current virtual keyboard, download another from Google’s Play Store. If you want the most recent tweets in your timeline on the homescreen instead of the clock, then customize it. Android lets its users get a more personalized experience with their handheld devices.

And since Android is Google’s very own, it offers Google’s vast number of innovative services, such as Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Contacts, Google+, Google Drive, Google Hangouts, and Google Maps. The most noteworthy drawback of Android is what kept it the leading mobile platform in the first place. Because it’s available to a myriad of smartphone brands, third-party app developers find it labor-intensive to develop apps for Android; as a result, cutting-edge apps make their debut in iOS first because of the said factor. In addition, the quality of apps available in Play Store isn’t always up to the same standards set by in iOS.

iOS

iOS can be solely found on all iDevices. As a matter of fact, its exclusivity makes it more appealing and interesting. However, with that kind of situation, it has to prove itself as something worth having, and that is exactly what Apple has accomplished with iOS.

Among all mobile platforms out there, iOS is branded as the most user-friendly. It is generally the simplest to use and learn. Indeed, even toddlers have been able to master every nook and cranny of the iOS. But with its easy-to-use interface, comes a very stringent limitation for personalization. And talk about apps; it is a tradition that third-party software developers choose to target iOS first because of the ease of releasing an app on only limited types of devices, even though the iOS market share isn’t that much as compared with Android’s. The disadvantage is just is if you’re not much of a fan of the hardware specifics of iDevices like a limited 4-inch screen with its smartphones, then you might want to consider another OS.

Windows Phone

The mobile platform from Microsoft is the youngest of the three. Due to its considerably small share in the global platform market, it’s just but expected that its app ecosystem isn’t rich enough when compared to Google Play and iTunes. This might be the very reason why you yourself may think twice before getting smartphone that runs on Windows Phone. But make no rash decisions just yet, for the devices that run this OS are of good quality. Most of them are Nokia products. And now that the mobile phone division of Nokia has been purchased by Microsoft, we can definitely see more improvements with the upcoming handsets to be produced by Microsoft with the current technology of Nokia.

Choosing the operating system of your next smartphone could be the most important consideration you’ll have to ponder on. The platform is essentially the soul of every device, so think carefully and choose properly.