What Android OS For What, A Guide To Android OSs

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Android may be one systems but there are a lot of versions.

There isn’t any less than 10 core Android versions provided with hundreds of different ROMs for those adventurous enough to set them on.

This makes life confusing for those who want to get an Android phone along with know what is good and what is old.

Below is a look at the various Android versions, after they were released, what they are good for and when they will be obsolete.

Android 1.5 (Cupcake) and Android 1.6 (Doughnut)

While there was a version of Android before cupcake Android 1.5 was the first version of the operating system that had mass acceptance.

A lot of people accuse the Android cupcake for being half-baked and problems included buggy video, a difficult-to-use keyboard and the tendency to crash when taking pictures or video.

Android 1.6 (donut) obtained a better keyboard and an improved camera.

Currently you’d be hard pressed to find Cupcake on anything and, if you are searching at a new or used Android phone or Android tablet by having an Android 1.5 or Android 1.6 (doughnut) os then it’s a good enough reason to take a look somewhere else as they are severely outdate.

Android 2-2.1 (Eclair)

The Android Eclair os came as a welcome relief on the community, with a dramatically improved onboard typing experience as well as the ability to load on multiple user accounts.

Android cell phones and tablets running the Android Eclair os are fairly rare these days and if you’re looking at buying an Android tablet your version of the operating system that will need to have a few other very good selling points before you even think about pulling the trigger.

Android 2.2 (Froyo)

Launched in May 2010 Android Froyo possibly represents the earliest version of the Android os you should accept in an Android tablet or mobile phone.

While it is almost two years old now Froyo still compares as a reasonable operating system. This is largely due to the 19 major changes and upgrades from Android Eclair include for your Adobe Flash framework, allowing it to handle YouTube videos and flash games.

You shouldn’t be paying huge amounts for Android Froyo devices though and, if you’re looking at an Android tablet or Android phone with Froyo on, ask if it can be upgraded to gingerbread anyway.

Androd 2.3 (Gingerbread)
Released in December 2010 Android 2.3 remains to be found on a lot of brand name phones and Android tablets for sale today (including the newly-released Kindle Fire) and new-release China Android tablets and phones much like the Fly touch Android tablet.

Android Gingerbread is definitely an incredibly user friendly version from the Android OS with a much-improved camera experience, one of the better virtual keyboards on the market, native VOIP support for Skype calls and resource management for improved battery life.

Android 3 (Honeycomb)
Released in February 2011 honeycomb appeared specially for the tablet.

With the release of Honeycomb the Android os got a big cosmetic makeover.

With extra system bars, action bars, bigger virtual keyboards and two pane interfaces honeycomb was a lot a tablet interface and something that won Motorolla a good portion of their Xoom sales.

If you’re looking with an Android tablet with Android Honeycomb installed then you certainly might be onto a winner, if you’re looking at an Android honeycomb phone then you certainly might want to play around with it extensively first to make certain everything feels right.

Android 4 (Soft ice cream Sandwich)
Launched in May 2011 Android Soft ice cream Sandwich is Google’s first foray into Android phone and tablet systems in 12 months.

It represented numerous tasty changes including:
Drag and drop folders
Real-time speech to text dictation
A built-in photo editor
Integrated screen capture functionality
1080p video recording

During the time of writing Android Ice Cream Sandwich hasn’t made its way onto many commercial devices as well as the best way to get hold of it is to root your Android phone or Android tablet and to run one of the many Android ROMS.

Save a duplicate of this article to your hard drive so that you don’t have to worry about exactly what good Android OS is good for what again.

Look at iSource China, your source for Android smart phones with the latest OS, today.

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