We can't talk about Honeycomb without mentioning that it also shows Google's new distribution method, where manufacturers are given the source code and license to use it only after their hardware choices have been approved by Google. This dampens third party development, as the source code is no longer available for all to download and build. Under the hood, 3D rendering and hardware acceleration have been greatly improved. Both made great use of fragments, and the Talk app added video chat and calling support built in. Some of the standard Google applications have also were updated for use with Honeycomb, including the Gmail app and the Talk app. It's the first (and only) version of Android specifically made for tablets, and it brought a lot of new UI elements to the table. Things like a new System bar at the bottom of the screen to replace the Status bar we see on phones, and a new recent applications button are a great addition for the screen real estate offered by Android tablets. The Motorola Xoom and the ASUS Transformer Prime were the first tablets to receive updates, while the Samsung Nexus S was the first smartphone to make the jump to Android 4.0.Īndroid 3.0 Honeycomb came out in February 2011 with the Motorola Xoom. The first device to launch with ICS was the Samsung Galaxy Nexus. Dubbed Ice Cream Sandwich and finally designated Android 4.0, ICS brought many of the design elements of Honeycomb to smartphones, while refining the Honeycomb experience. The follow-up to Honeycomb was announced at Google IO in May 2011 and released in December 2011. If your phone or tablet is still running one of these, it's absolutely time to update.Īndroid 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich (late 2011) Yes, Legacy: Versions of Android older than 4.0, while still used on very a small number of devices, are considered "legacy" versions and are generally unsupported by Google, manufacturers and app developers. It's certainly was very visually pleasing, and we'd argue that it was one of the nicest looking mobile operating systems available at the time. Jelly Bean is hailed by many as the turning point for Android, where all the great services and customization options finally meet great design guidelines. The release polished the UI design started in Ice Cream Sandwich, and brought several great new features to the table.īesides the new focus on responsiveness with Project Butter, Jelly Bean brings multi-user accounts, actionable notifications, lock screen widgets, quick-settings in the notification bar, Photosphere to the "stock" Android camera and Google Now. Later in the year, the release of the Nexus 10 and Nexus 4 updated things from 4.1 to 4.2 and on to 4.3, but the version remained Jelly Bean. Jelly Bean arrived at Google IO 2012 with the release of the ASUS Nexus 7, followed by a quick update for unlocked Galaxy Nexus phones.
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