History of android platform

Android Incorporation was founded in Palo Alto, California, United States in October, 2003 by Andy Rubin : co-founder of Danger (Danger Incorporation was a company exclusively in platforms, software, design, and services for mobile computing devices), Rich Miner : co-founder of Wildfire Communications, Incorporation, Nick Sears : once VP at T-Mobile, and Chris White : headed design and interface development at Web TV. From starting Android Incorporation operated secretly, expose only that it was working on mobile software’s. On that same year, Rubin had some sort of financial problems and Steve Perlman gave him $10,000 cash in an envelope and refused a stake in Android Incorporation.
Google took over Android Incorporation in August 2005, making Android Incorporation a entire owned property of Google Incorporation main employees of Android Incorporation, including Andy Rubin, Rich Miner and Chris White, stayed at the company after the possession of Google. Not much was known about Android Incorporation at the time of the acquisition, but people conclude that Google was planning to penetrate the mobile phone market with their weapon i.e Android.

After that on 12, November 2007 Android beta SDK was released. Many of you thinking what is SDK? its a Software Development Kit which gives you platform to make new applications, games and other softwares. With proper knowledge you can make any application according to your will.
On 23 September, 2008 the first Android device is launched, that is HTC Dream G1 which operates Android 1.0,and after that android shows 1.1 update which was released for T-Mobile G1 only.
On November 5, 2007, the Open Handset Alliance, a bunch of several companies which include Broadcom Corporation, Google, HTC, Intel, LG, Marvell Technology Group, Motorola, Nvidia, Qualcomm, Samsung Electronics, Sprint Nextel, T-Mobile and Texas Instruments expose themselves in front of media itself. The aim of the Open Handset Alliance is to develop open standards for mobile devices. On the same day, the Open Handset Alliance also unveiled their first product, Android, a mobile device platform which is built on the Linux kernel (version 2.6).
On 9 December, 2008 14 new members accompany, including ARM Holdings, Asustek Computer Inc, Garmin Ltd, Huawei Technologies, PacketVideo, Atheros Communications, Vodafone, Sony Ericsson, Toshiba Corp.

Android 1.0
The first Android device which runs on Android 1.0 is HTC Dream (G1), incorporated the following Android 1.0 features:
- Web Browser to show, zoom and pan full HTML and XHTML web pages, multiple pages show as windows, supporting POP3, IMAP4, and SMTP
- Android Market app downloads and updates
- Multitasking, instant messaging, GPS, Wi-Fi an bluetooth
- No Microsoft Exchange Server, no camcorder, youtube video player
- Camera Support : lacked in change of camera’s resolution, quality, white balance etc
- Folder permits for the grouping of bunch of application icons into a single folder icon on the home screen
- Notification alert in the status bar optioned with ringtone, vibration alert or by LED
- Google synchronization to many applications
- Google Maps with Latitude (Street View as well as in satellite imagery), driving directions using GPS
- Voice Dialer allows dialing and placing of phone calls without typing a name or number
- Other apps include: Alarm Clock, Calculator, Dialer (Phone), Home screen (launcher), Pictures (Gallery), and Settings
 
Android 1.1
This update was released for the T-Mobile G1 only. The update resolved bugs, changed the API and added a number of other features :
- Details and reviews available when a user searches for businesses on Maps
- Longer in-call screen timeout default when using the speakerphone, plus ability to show/hide dial pad
- Ability to save attachments in messages

Android 1.5 (Cupcake)
- Universal search box
- Revamped Android market : Browsing categories and filters (Top free, Top paid, Just in)
- Toggle between camera and videos modes, Video recording and playback in MPEG-4 and 3GP formats
- Faster Camera start-up and image capture, integrated photo gallery
- Much faster acquisition of GPS location (powered by SUPL AGPS)
- Auto-pairing and stereo support for Bluetooth added (A2DP and AVRCP profiles)
- On-screen soft keyboard
- Directly upload videos to youtube and picassa

Android 1.6 (Donut)
- Virtual On-screen keyboard
- Camcorder mode for recording (and watching) video
- Stereo Bluetooth
- Expanded Gesture framework and new GestureBuilder development tool
- Home screen widgets and folders
- Quick Search Box and Voice Search
- Toggle between still and video captures modes, Support for WVGA screen resolutions
- Copy/Paste and search within the browser
- Direct upload to Youtube and Picasa
- user can select multiple photos for deletion
- Battery usage indicator
- Updated technology support for CDMA/EVDO, 802.1x, VPNs, and a text-to-speech engine
- Multilingual tect-o-speech function

Android 2.0 (Eclair)
- Multiple accounts for email and contact synchronization
- Microsoft Exchange Support for syncing of e-mail
- Quick Contact pop-up widget
- Search saved SMS and MMS messages
- Camera improvement include support for flash and digital zoom, scene mode, white balance, color effect and macro focus
- Keyboard improvement : Adaptive Dictionary
,- Bluetooth 2.1 support
- New browser User Interface and support for HTML5
- Improved Google Maps 3.1.2
- New calender features
- Besides live wallpapers, it’s allowing Home screen background images to be animated to show movement
- MotionEvent class enhanced to track multi-touch events

Android 2.0.1
- Minor API changes
- bug fixes and framework behavioral changes

Android 2.1
- Minor amendments to the API and bug fixes

Android 2.2 (Froyo)
    - Multiple user account
    - Speed, memory, and performance optimizations
    - Android market update : Batch and automatic updates, installing apps to the SD card
    - New tips widget for homescreen
    - Support for the Android Cloud to Device Messaging (C2DM) service
    - File uploading in the browser
    - Improved Microsoft Exchange support
    - USB tethering and Hotspot support, Voice dialing and contact sharing over Bluetooth
    - Multiple keyboard languages
    - Adobe Flash 10.1

Android 2.2.1
    - Bug fixes
    - Security updates
    - Performance improvements

Android 2.2.2
    - Fixed minor bugs
    - Fixed SMS routing issues that affected the Nexus One

Android 2.2.3
    - This update consisted of two security patches

Android 2.3 (Gingerbread)
- Native support for more sensors
- UI refinements for simplicity and speed
- New keyboard for faster text input
- One-touch word selection and copy/paste
- Near Field Communication (NFC), Improved power management
- New Download Manager, Internet Calling
- New audio effects such as reverb, equalization etc.
- Support for WebM/VP8 video playback, and AAC audio encoding

Android 2.3.3
- Included several improvements and API fixes

Android 2.3.4
- Support for voice or video chat using Google Talk

Android 2.3.5
- Improved network performance for Nexus S 4G
- Fixed Bluetooth bug on Samsung Galaxy S
- Shadow animations for list scrolling
- Camera software enhancements
- Improved battery efficiency

Android 2.3.6
- Fixed a voice search bug

Android 2.3.7
- Introduced Google Wallet support for the Nexus S 4G

Android 3.0 (Honeycomb)
    - Specifically optimized for tablets and devices with larger screen sizes
    - Hardware acceleration, Support for multi-core processors, Ability to encrypt all user data
    - Refined multitasking, rich notifications, home screen customization, widgets, Redesigned keyboard
    - Support for video chat, Multiple browser tabs, form auto fill, new “incognito” mode allowing anonymous browsing
    - Bluetooth tethering
    - Built-in support for Media/Picture Transfer Protocol
    - New two plane contacts and Email UI
    - Ability to view albums and other collections in full-screen mode

Android 3.1
    - UI refinements
    - Connectivity for USB accessories
    - Expanded Recent Apps list
    - Resizable Home screen widgets
    - Support for external keyboards and pointing devices, joysticks and gamepads, FLAC audio playback
    - High-performance Wi-Fi lock, HTTP proxy for each connected Wi-Fi access point

Android 3.2
    This update first appear on Huawei’s MediaPad tablet. Changes included:
    - Improved hardware support, including optimizations for a wider range of tablets
    - Increased ability of apps to access files on the SD card
    - Compatibility display mode for apps

Android 3.2.1
    - Bug fixes and minor security
    - Stability and Wi-Fi improvements
    - Update to Android Market with automatic updates and Google books
    - Improved Adobe Flash support and Chinese handwriting prediction

Android 3.2.2
    - Included bug fixes and other minor improvements for the Motorola Xoom 4G

Android 4.0 (Ice-cream sandwich)
- Increase in speed and performance
- Virtual buttons in the UI
- Separation of widgets in a new tab
- Easier-to-create folders with a drag-and-drop style
- A customizable launcher, Resizeable widgets
- Improved visual voicemail with the ability to speed up or slow down voicemail messages
- Pinch-to-zoom functionality in the calendar
- Offline search, a two-line preview, and new action bar at the bottom of the Gmail app
- Ability to swipe left or right to switch between Gmail conversations, Automatic syncing of browser with users’ Chrome bookmarks
- Integrated screenshot capture (accomplished by holding down the Power and Volume-Down buttons)
- Improved error correction on the keyboard, Real-time speech to text dictation
- Ability to access apps directly from lock screen
- Improved copy and paste functionality
- Face Unlock : New feature that allows users to unlock handsets using facial identification software
- New tabbed web browser (allowing up to 16 tabs)
- Modern Roboto font
- Data Usage section in settings that lets users set warnings when they approach a certain usage limit, and disable data use when the limit is exceeded
- New Ability to shut down apps that are using memory in the background
- Improved camera app with zero shutter lag, time lapse settings, panorama mode, ability to zoom while recording, 1080p video recording for basic Android devices
- New gallery layout, organized by location and person, Built-in photo editor
- Android Beam, a Near Field Communication (NFC)

Android 4.0.2
- Fixed minor bugs on the Verizon Galaxy Nexus

Android 4.0.3
- Bug fixes and optimizations
- Improvements to graphics, databases, spell-checking, Bluetooth functionality
- Calendar provider enhancements, new camera apps enhancing video stabilization and QVGA resolution
- Accessibility refinements such as improved content access for screen readers