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ANDROID VERSIONS

Android versions: A living history from 1.0 to 14

Explore Android's ongoing evolution with this visual timeline of versions, starting B.C.
(Before Cupcake) and going all the way to 2023's under-development Android 14 release.

By JR Raphael
Contributing Editor, Computerworld | APR 7, 2023 3:00 AM PDT

Thinkstock / Google

What a long, strange trip it's been.

From its inaugural release to today, Android has transformed visually,

conceptually and functionally — time and time again. Google's mobile

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 operating system may have started out scrappy, but holy moly, has it ever
evolved.

Here's a fast-paced tour of Android version highlights from the platform's birth
to present. (Feel free to skip ahead if you just want to see what’s new in Android
13 or Android 14.)

Android versions 1.0 to 1.1: The early days

Android made its official public debut in 2008 with Android 1.0 — a release so
ancient it didn't even have a cute codename.

Things were pretty basic back then, but the software did include a suite of early
Google apps like Gmail, Maps, Calendar, and YouTube, all of which were
integrated into the operating system — a stark contrast to the more easily
updatable standalone-app model employed today.

T-Mobile

The Android 1.0 home screen and its rudimentary web browser (not yet called Chrome).

Android version 1.5: Cupcake

With early 2009's Android 1.5 Cupcake release, the tradition of Android version
names was born. Cupcake introduced numerous refinements to the Android
interface, including the first on-screen keyboard — something that'd be

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 necessary as phones moved away from the once-ubiquitous physical keyboard
model.

Cupcake also brought about the framework for third-party app widgets, which
would quickly turn into one of Android's most distinguishing elements, and it
provided the platform's first-ever option for video recording.

Android Police (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Cupcake was all about the widgets.

Android version 1.6: Donut

Android 1.6, Donut, rolled into the world in the fall of 2009. Donut filled in
some important holes in Android's center, including the ability for the OS to
operate on a variety of different screen sizes and resolutions — a factor that'd
be critical in the years to come. It also added support for CDMA networks like
Verizon, which would play a key role in Android's imminent explosion.

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 Google

Android's universal search box made its first appearance in Android 1.6.

Android versions 2.0 to 2.1: Eclair

Keeping up the breakneck release pace of Android's early years, Android 2.0,
Eclair, emerged just six weeks after Donut; its "point-one" update, also called
Eclair, came out a couple months later. Eclair was the first Android release to
enter mainstream consciousness thanks to the original Motorola Droid phone
and the massive Verizon-led marketing campaign surrounding it.

Verizon's "iDon't" ad for the Droid.

The release's most transformative element was the addition of voice-guided

turn-by-turn navigation and real-time traffic info — something previously
unheard of (and still essentially unmatched) in the smartphone world.
Navigation aside, Eclair brought live wallpapers to Android as well as the
platform's first speech-to-text function. And it made waves for injecting the
once-iOS-exclusive pinch-to-zoom capability into Android — a move often
seen as the spark that ignited Apple's long-lasting "thermonuclear war" against
Google.

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 Google

The first versions of turn-by-turn navigation and speech-to-text, in Eclair.

Android version 2.2: Froyo

Just four months after Android 2.1 arrived, Google served up Android 2.2,
Froyo, which revolved largely around under-the-hood performance
improvements.

Froyo did deliver some important front-facing features, though, including the
addition of the now-standard dock at the bottom of the home screen as well as
the first incarnation of Voice Actions, which allowed you to perform basic
functions like getting directions and making notes by tapping an icon and then
speaking a command.

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 Google

Google's first real attempt at voice control, in Froyo.

Notably, Froyo also brought support for Flash to Android's web browser — an
option that was significant both because of the widespread use of Flash at the
time and because of Apple's adamant stance against supporting it on its own
mobile devices. Apple would eventually win, of course, and Flash would
become far less common. But back when it was still everywhere, being able to
access the full web without any black holes was a genuine advantage only
Android could offer.

Android version 2.3: Gingerbread

Android's first true visual identity started coming into focus with 2010's
Gingerbread release. Bright green had long been the color of Android's robot
mascot, and with Gingerbread, it became an integral part of the operating
system's appearance. Black and green seeped all over the UI as Android started
its slow march toward distinctive design.

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 JR Raphael / IDG

It was easy being green back in the Gingerbread days.

Android 3.0 to 3.2: Honeycomb

2011's Honeycomb period was a weird time for Android. Android 3.0 came into
the world as a tablet-only release to accompany the launch of the Motorola
Xoom, and through the subsequent 3.1 and 3.2 updates, it remained a tablet-
exclusive (and closed-source) entity.

Under the guidance of newly arrived design chief Matias Duarte, Honeycomb
introduced a dramatically reimagined UI for Android. It had a space-like
"holographic" design that traded the platform's trademark green for blue and
placed an emphasis on making the most of a tablet's screen space.

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 JR Raphael / IDG

Honeycomb: When Android got a case of the holographic blues.

While the concept of a tablet-specific interface didn't last long, many of

Honeycomb's ideas laid the groundwork for the Android we know today. The
software was the first to use on-screen buttons for Android's main navigational
commands; it marked the beginning of the end for the permanent overflow-
menu button; and it introduced the concept of a card-like UI with its take on
the Recent Apps list.

Android version 4.0: Ice Cream Sandwich

With Honeycomb acting as the bridge from old to new, Ice Cream Sandwich —
also released in 2011 — served as the platform's official entry into the era of
modern design. The release refined the visual concepts introduced with
Honeycomb and reunited tablets and phones with a single, unified UI vision.

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 ICS dropped much of Honeycomb's "holographic" appearance but kept its use
of blue as a system-wide highlight. And it carried over core system elements
like on-screen buttons and a card-like appearance for app-switching.

JR Raphael / IDG

The ICS home screen and app-switching interface.

Android 4.0 also made swiping a more integral method of getting around the
operating system, with the then-revolutionary-feeling ability to swipe away
things like notifications and recent apps. And it started the slow process of
bringing a standardized design framework — known as "Holo" — all throughout
the OS and into Android's app ecosystem.

Android versions 4.1 to 4.3: Jelly Bean

Spread across three impactful Android versions, 2012 and 2013's Jelly Bean
releases took ICS's fresh foundation and made meaningful strides in fine-tuning
and building upon it. The releases added plenty of poise and polish into the

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 operating system and went a long way in making Android more inviting for the
average user.

Visuals aside, Jelly Bean brought about our first taste of Google Now — the
spectacular predictive-intelligence utility that's sadly since devolved into a
glorified news feed. It gave us expandable and interactive notifications, an
expanded voice search system, and a more advanced system for displaying
search results in general, with a focus on card-based results that attempted to
answer questions directly.

Multiuser support also came into play, albeit on tablets only at this point, and
an early version of Android's Quick Settings panel made its first appearance.
Jelly Bean ushered in a heavily hyped system for placing widgets on your lock
screen, too — one that, like so many Android features over the years, quietly
disappeared a couple years later.

JR Raphael / IDG

Jelly Bean's Quick Settings panel and short-lived lock screen widget feature.

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 Android version 4.4: KitKat
Late-2013's KitKat release marked the end of Android's dark era, as the blacks
of Gingerbread and the blues of Honeycomb finally made their way out of the
operating system. Lighter backgrounds and more neutral highlights took their
places, with a transparent status bar and white icons giving the OS a more
contemporary appearance.

Android 4.4 also saw the first version of "OK, Google" support — but in KitKat,
the hands-free activation prompt worked only when your screen was already
on and you were either at your home screen or inside the Google app.

The release was Google's first foray into claiming a full panel of the home
screen for its services, too — at least, for users of its own Nexus phones and
those who chose to download its first-ever standalone launcher.

JR Raphael / IDG

The lightened KitKat home screen and its dedicated Google Now panel.

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 Android versions 5.0 and 5.1: Lollipop
Google essentially reinvented Android — again — with its Android 5.0 Lollipop
release in the fall of 2014. Lollipop launched the still-present-today Material
Design standard, which brought a whole new look that extended across all of
Android, its apps and even other Google products.

The card-based concept that had been scattered throughout Android became
a core UI pattern — one that would guide the appearance of everything from
notifications, which now showed up on the lock screen for at-a-glance access,
to the Recent Apps list, which took on an unabashedly card-based appearance.

JR Raphael / IDG

Lollipop and the onset of Material Design.

Lollipop introduced a slew of new features into Android, including truly hands-
free voice control via the "OK, Google" command, support for multiple users on
phones and a priority mode for better notification management. It changed so

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 much, unfortunately, that it also introduced a bunch of troubling bugs, many of
which wouldn't be fully ironed out until the following year's 5.1 release.

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