To prevent any more of Android’s past from being lost to the annals of history, we did what needed to be done. This is 20+ versions of Android, seven devices, and lots and lots of screenshots cobbled together in one space. This is The History of Android, from the very first public builds to the newest version of KitKat.
Very detailed, and a fun read.
That amount of detail is one of the reasons I keep going back to Ars
It’s depressing to see how many versions of Android I’ve never had on any device…I’ve had 1.5, 1.6, 2.0, 2.2, 2.3, and 4.0 on a GB device (not that great). Then I moved to WP8 – maybe it’s time to move back…
Without a doubt, the latest devices shipping with 4.4 are mature, fast, fluid, and versatile. I’m sticking with WP8 myself, but I see the appeal of modern Android devices. I just personally think WP8 works better as a phone OS, and Android works better as a tablet OS.
I defiantly have to agree, I absolutely adore my Nokia 1020 as a phone. Though I have to say I think I also prefer my Nokia 2520 over my Nexus 10. The Nexus 10 is defiantly the best Android experience you could possibly have, I will never, ever own another Android device unless the OS comes directly from Google, i.e. Play Edition, Nexus or an Nvidia reference like the EVGA Note 7 and HP 7 Extreme. TouchWiz for example is so God awful that I shudder to even mention it’s name, even though I would love to have the new Samsung S OMOLED, hopefully a Play Edition will emerge.
On my wife’s LG Eve (first Android device in the family), we ran 1.5, 1.6 (official versions from LG), 2.0, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3 (AOSP versions from OpenEVE and similar projects).
On my Sony Xperia pro (my first Android device), I ran 2.2, 2.3, and 4.0 (wasn’t very stable).
On my LG Optimus G, I ran 4.0, 4.1 (from LG), 4.2 and 4.3 (Rootbox, Carbon, Slim).
On my LG G2, I’ve run 4.2 and 4.4 (Slim and Mahdi).
I think between those devices, we’ve played with every major.minor version of Android released on smartphones. And probably the vast majority of the .revisions as well.
Hard to believe it’s only been 5-ish years since Android showed up in our house.
Love these kind of articles, very thorough and well presented with screen shots and good wording. It’s surprising how quick history can be forgotten or lost in todays information age. As mentioned in the article a lot of the services they wanted to screen shot no longer work.
There is a rapid pace of change, which is equally shadowed by rapid loss.
I found the whole thing shallow, and overly focused on the design of things.
I started reading Ars Technica after discovering their multi-page articles on Linux and CPU internals, and i find this, tho large, lacking in comparison.
The CPU architecture articles are what drew me to arstechnica too… Probably 14 years ago or something!!
That’s a bit like complaining that their CPU architecture series had really shallow coverage of the marketing and packaging. This is a study of the evolution of the user interface – the metaphors, controls, overarching theme choices (or lack of such), and what functionality is and isn’t included by default.
In other words, the “design of things” is the actual subject matter here – no wonder you thought there was a lot of it.
Edited 2014-06-16 23:44 UTC
In other words, more like their pixel counting OSX articles than their CPU articles.
Give me a writeup of the changes in the internals of Android from version to version, and i’ll be happy.
I swear that if you wanted to you could have themed 1.0 to look like 4.4. That is how much value UI design has (at least imo).
Damn it, i keep seeing this design over function attitude spreading all over. On /r/android people as dismissing the very real issues with how Google is handling SD card support because “praise Duarte”.
Edited 2014-06-17 13:07 UTC
Seems the edit window is closed, so i have to reply to myself.
Anyways, if the title had said “the visual history” or “the interface history” i would not complain as loudly. But it says “the history” yet gloss over all the internal changes.
Never mind that it is one more article that conflate ASOP Android and the Google apps suite. Those two are not joined at the hip, as Amazon (and now Nokia/Microsoft) has shown us.
Looking back on this makes me kinda miss my old Gingerbread based phone. Not the terrible battery life, or the painfully slow networking (Sprint I hate you so much). The often large amount of lag between pressing a button and seeing a response wasn’t any fun. Nor do I miss firing up Angry Birds not to play, but merely to hold in my hands to keep them warm (often too warm) in the snow.
But despite the hardware limitations, so much of the interface just seemed to work better back then. Also, it was much more fun. Today’s interfaces take themselves way too seriously.
Android is what I call revolutionary innovation, what a wonderful and forward looking OS!!!
Just take a look to the earlier releases screenshots… It was totally touch-oriented from the beginning. Just incredible, take that Apple!
Thanks Google for gifting us this incredible piece of s… system, system!!
That’s Palm OS you’re thinking of.
You fail at sarcasm.
The fact that you don’t like it doesn’t make it sarcasm or a supposed failed attempt at it.