To be honest, Android versions starting from 4.1 look more like cosmetic fixes than global updates, but in fact the OS itself is already quite good, so it’s not surprising that Google is carefully “finishing” it to an ideal state. Let me remind you right away that this is a preliminary announcement, as soon as Nexus with 4.4 is in our hands, we will write a full review of this version of Android. Now let's move on to the innovations.

Appearance

In 4.4, the design of Android was slightly changed, it became flatter, and the colors became pastel. Externally, this solution resembles iOS7 and Flyme 3.0 from Meizu.

Full Full Screen Mode

I have long complained about on-screen buttons that take up a fair amount of space and are not completely hidden in a number of applications and games. Finally, Google solved this problem (it was actually funny, because they originally created it themselves, because for the first time we saw on-screen buttons in the Nexus line). Now developers can add full-screen mode to their applications, and if the user suddenly urgently needs buttons, they can be called up by swiping up from the bottom edge of the screen. Interestingly, some time ago Google banned Huawei from using a similar function in its smartphones. It is now clear that the search giant planned to solve this problem on its own.

Another innovation is the addition of a background to the part with on-screen buttons. Now the wallpaper will also be placed on the entire screen.

Voice search

You can call Google Now using the “Ok, Google” command directly from the desktop, or by swiping on the left side of the screen.

Music and full screen covers

Thanks to optimization of the operating system, the operating time for listening to music has increased to 50 hours. Also, on the lock screen, the album cover will be displayed in full screen.

Multitasking and 512 MB

Google promises improved multitasking, as well as more stable KitKat on devices with 512 MB of RAM. It's funny that we are unlikely to see such devices in the near future, because even the Chinese put at least 1 GB of RAM in their cheap smartphones and tablets.

Smarter Caller ID and Phone Book

Now, when you receive a call from an unfamiliar number, Google will try to independently identify the caller or organization based on information from Google Maps.

Phonebook will analyze your voice call activity and place the most frequent callers at the top of the list.

Hangouts and Emoji integration

Now your Hangouts, SMS messages, voice and video calls will be combined in one application.

Improved document management

You can open and edit documents stored in Google Drive directly in QuickOffice from any device. In addition, they can be printed immediately using Google Cloud Print, HP ePrint, or other printer programs from the Play Store.

Location

In the settings, you can select the operating mode of the location service; you can choose between high accuracy and low power consumption. In addition, you can specify in which mode each application will be used. For example, the energy saving mode is suitable for Foursquare, but in maps it is better to use the exact definition.

Innovations in one line

• There is official support for Chromecast,
• Added support for infrared at the system level, as well as an API for developers,
• Added support for subtitles in videos (apparently we are talking about films from the Play Store),
• Now you can find your device using the service Android Device Manager
• The download application has received an updated design,
• You can switch between multiple installed launchers using “Settings” -> “Desktops”,
• The Email app now supports subfolders and contact photos.
• Improved HDR+ mode for Nexus 5.

Conclusion

Android 4.4 KitKat will be available for download on Nexus 4, Nexus 7 and Nexus 10 devices on November 10th. The Nexus 5 will come with 4.4 pre-installed, while the Galaxy Nexus will not receive the update (which is especially ironic given Google's announcement that it will support devices with 512MB of RAM).

I was mentally prepared for Android 4.4 to be just another cosmetic update, but that was not the case. In the new version, Google has closed many of its weak points, for example, I am very pleased with the ability to hide on-screen buttons. Now you can finally play games without the fear of accidentally pressing the Back or Home button.

There was also information on the network about the appearance of a backup of all applications in the cloud, but I did not find it on the official website, so I did not add it separately; more precisely, we will talk about its presence or absence in a full review of Android 4.4 KitKat.

In the first article in the series, we talked about the origins of the Android mobile operating system, as well as its first steps. We settled on version 2.3 of Gingerbread, which became very popular. The heyday of Google's mobile platform is ahead of us. How Android developed during its heyday - read under the cut.
Read also →

Android 3.0 Honeycomb (2011)

Version 2.3 of Gingerbread has become very popular due to its optimal feature set and low hardware requirements. The system quickly began to conquer manufacturers and the mobile market. However, after such success, Google for some reason went in a completely different direction. This is how Android 3.0 Honeycomb was born, which received a beautiful interface. However, first, a short excursion into history.

Mathias Duarte shows the webOS interface on Palm smartphones

In 2010, Palm, which became known for its communicators of the same name, developed the webOS platform. At that time, Palm had serious problems with financing, so HP bought the company and all its developments in the same 2010. The strength of webOS is its beautiful and intuitive interface. It was created by none other than Matias Duarte. In 2010, he did not move to HP after acquiring Palm - he was lured away by Google. Mathias already worked for the “good corporation” during the development of Android 2.2 and 2.3, but this man revealed his full potential when creating Android 3.0.

The Android 3.0 Honeycomb operating system was created exclusively for tablets as a response to Apple's iPad. The third version of Android was released in February 2011 - a year after the presentation of the first generation iPad by Steve Jobs. One year was not enough for a complete redesign and rework, so the update was released unfinished. Because of this, after the release, Google did not publish the source codes of the system.

Using widgets on your desktop

Android 3.0 is an operating system that worked exclusively on tablets. Smartphones could not update to it. The local Holo experience was designed only for large screens of 9-11 inches. The appearance of the system has been transformed thanks to a blue color scheme, instead of green in previous versions. The main focus was on the effective use of the desktop with widgets and icons. Many interface elements received “glowing” blue animation. Android 3.0 at one time really looked like the OS for some futuristic computer on a spaceship.

Motorola Xoom

The first tablet to run Android 3.0 Honeycomb was the Motorola Xoom. The characteristics of this gadget were really powerful at that time: a 10-inch display with a 16:9 ratio, 1 GB of RAM, a dual-core NVIDIA Tegra 2 processor.

It was in Android 3.0 that a virtual navigation bar with three control buttons appeared. Now manufacturers could produce devices without soft-touch buttons. Also in the third version, some semblance of full multitasking was outlined. The recent applications menu had full-fledged program preview cards. This is what Matias Duarte and team borrowed from webOS. The upper “curtain” moved down - on tablets it was more convenient to call it from there.

Three months after the release of Android 3.0, update 3.1 was released, followed by another update - 3.2. Many new features and functions were added to them, and the developers also fixed a large number of problems and bugs. For example, support for gamepads and SD cards was introduced, and widgets became flexible in size.

Easter egg in Android 3.0

Despite the fact that Android 3.0 did not become a popular version of the system, it set the tone for the further development of the platform.

Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich (2011)

After the tablet failure in version 3.0, Google decided to return to the smartphone direction. In October 2011, the Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich update was released. It was this version that established the appearance and basic functions that became entrenched in the minds of Android users.

Samsung Galaxy Nexus

The Holo design language from the Android 3.0 tablet migrated to the fourth version, along with on-screen control buttons. All the capabilities of the latest update were demonstrated by a new smartphone from Google's proprietary line - Galaxy Nexus. As the name suggests, production was handled by Samsung. The device at the time of its release was truly breakthrough not only in terms of characteristics, but also in terms of design. The gadget received a curved display and a front panel without buttons. The Galaxy Nexus only had three buttons - two for changing volume and one for turning on/off.

Compared to Honeycomb, the interface has been cleaned up to an almost perfect appearance. All elements were adapted for small screens. Advanced widgets and full multitasking with application “previews” have appeared. From the lock screen you could now perform additional actions, for example, open the camera application. The notification system has been improved - now you can swipe away selected reminders, and not just all of them. The virtual keyboard has been greatly improved in appearance and functionality. Now misspelled words are highlighted in red. They could be corrected with a couple of taps, or added to the dictionary.

In addition, with the transition to version 4.0 in Android, the main system font changed - now Roboto was used instead of the classic Droid. The Android Market app store has been adapted for the Holo interface and small screens. Now you can find interesting new releases and main categories on the main page.

One of the truly innovative features of the fourth version was the user's face unlock. It worked poorly then, but it still worked, and this was something new at that time.

Typing corrections

The Android Beam service appeared, allowing synchronization between two smartphones or tablets with NFC chips: you could exchange contacts, music, videos, web pages and much other content.

Later in 2011 and 2012, Google will release minor updates to Android 4.0.3 and 4.0.4 with minor fixes. For a long time, Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich will be very popular among buyers and even manufacturers. This release was really successful.

Android 4.1 Jelly Bean (2012)

The Android 4.1 Jelly Bean update, announced in July 2012, may be considered minor in terms of the number of major changes, but it once again influenced the further development of the system and strategy of Nexus devices.

ASUS Nexus 7 (2012)

Also, Android 4.1 Jelly Bean can be called a full-fledged return to tablets. The first device with this system was the Nexus 7, a popular tablet that sold in large quantities, mainly due to its low price. The gadget offered a compact 7-inch screen, a powerful NVIDIA Tegra 3 processor with four cores and a lot of memory (1/8 GB). It's important to note that the Nexus 7 was an original product - Apple had not yet released a compact iPad mini. It was in 2012 that the boom of compact tablets began, and Apple was forced to respond to this trend.

Google programmers have once again tried to make Android pleasant to look at and smooth to use (demo in the view above). There are many new animations. All of them were played back at 30 frames per second. Scrolling through texts and lists has also become smoother. But all this could only be noticed on powerful gadgets.

The general menus and desktop in Android 4.1 were not much different from its predecessor - it was still the same Holo interface, but already “polished” to perfection. The notification system has undergone a big change: you can now pull down on a reminder to expand it and see more information. Notification fonts have become thinner. The same thing happened with the entire system font.

Google Now is a voice assistant that appeared precisely in Jelly Bean. The peculiarity of this program was the very convenient voice search and design of your workplace with information cards. They displayed and constantly updated information on weather, traffic jams, and news. All this is personalized - selected for each person.

The standard keyboard now has predictive support - it recommends words based on what the user is typing. At that time, similar capabilities were already offered by SwiftKey and BlackBerry.

Easter egg in Android 4.1

It was after the release of Android 4.1 Jelly Bean in 2012 that the first version of Google Services appeared. They were conceived by Google as a kind of bridge between applications and the system. This “bridge” could be updated separately from the entire system. All gadgets running Android 2.2 and later received Google Play Services 1.0. Thus, Google partially solved the problem of Android fragmentation: older devices could receive fresh APIs and functions from Google Play services to work with all the necessary third-party applications.

Android 4.2 Jelly Bean (2012)
After the release of version 4.1, two major minor updates were released. The first was Android 4.2 Jelly Bean, which was released in November 2012.

Nexus 10 and Nexus 4

The update was marked by two new devices from the Nexus line - the Nexus 4 smartphone and the Nexus 10 tablet. The latter is still the only 10-inch tablet in the Nexus line.

Among the changes in update 4.2:

• Slightly updated lock screen and desktop.
• New quick settings panel in the top curtain.
• Miracast support for broadcasting content to TV or other gadgets.
• New design of the clock widget and application.
• Supports multiple accounts.
• Supports shooting panoramas in 360° format.
• Daydream screensaver.
• Many new special features for people with disabilities or low vision.

Also, after the release of Android 4.2 Jelly Bean, the program of Google Play Edition devices was launched - smartphones and tablets from other manufacturers with pure software from Google. Between the release of versions 4.2 and 4.3, the Google Play application store received a major update. Even then he looked approximately the same as he does now.

Android 4.3 Jelly Bean (2013)
In July 2013, Google announced another minor update for Android - 4.3 Jelly Bean. The update was released along with the updated Nexus 7 (2013) tablet. This line broke on him.

Nexus 7 (2013)

Among the important changes in Android 4.3 Jelly Bean:

• Support for OpenGL ES 3.0 graphics libraries.
• Supports smartwatches with Android Wear along with Bluetooth LE.
• Prediction when dialing a number.
• Optimizing the use of RAM.

Android 4.4 KitKat (2013)

On Halloween, October 31, 2013, Google is launching a major update - Android 4.4 KitKat. It was the first and last version of Android to take the name of an existing product, Nestle's KitKat candy bar. Later, Google and this corporation will launch a major advertising campaign to promote Android and KitKat bars.

Nexus 5

Together with Android 4.4 KitKat, a new flagship of the Nexus line was launched - the Nexus 5 smartphone. The smartphone received a high-quality LCD screen with a resolution of 1920 × 1080 pixels, a powerful Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor and 2 GB of RAM. The smartphone later became a real hit - all thanks to its low price of $350.

A big and noticeable improvement in KitKat is the highly optimized RAM consumption. Therefore, the overall system performance has increased significantly. As a result, only 340 MB of RAM was enough for Android to work properly. Manufacturers began to produce more or less high-quality devices with 512 MB. State employees gradually began to “roll over” to KitKat. This is why Android 4.4 still occupies the lion's share among all devices running Google's OS. Also, reduced memory consumption made it possible to run Android on smart watches and glasses. It was on the basis of Android 4.4 that Android Wear and Google Glass smart glasses were launched.

It was in version 4.4 that the expansion of Emoji emoticons in the Android operating system began - they appeared in the standard keyboard.

In test mode, the ART environment was introduced to run applications. Even then it worked much faster than the old Dalvik. Later in Android 5.0, the new ART environment will be enabled by default.

The interface has been polished again. The bottom control panel became transparent, but the buttons remained the same. The same thing happened with the top status bar. The work space has become cleaner and more pleasant. The application menu was no longer displayed on a black background - most programs used the wallpaper installed on the desktop for the background. Now the color and design of the bottom and top panels depended on the color scheme of the applications. This made the system more complete and the interface unified. They finally gave up on the sci-fi style with the blue color scheme from Android 3.0 and moved on to brighter colors in the interface.

For the first time, Nexus 5 received an exclusive desktop interface. The so-called one was installed in the smartphone, which grew from a simple search application into a full-fledged desktop environment with its own settings, icons and widgets. The Google Now service itself has been greatly improved - it can be called up by swiping from left to right. Later the shell became available for download to all users.

Some standard applications have been cleaned up. For example, the separate application for SMS messages was replaced by Hangouts, the gallery functions were performed by the Google+ Photos program, the video editing application was completely removed, and Google Play Newsstand replaced Google Play Magazines. The standard dialer once again received a new interface. Google Drive cloud storage has appeared. Android 4.4 also came pre-installed with the QuickOffice office suite, the developers of which Google bought in 2012.

Easter egg in Android 4.4

For applications with video or other multimedia content, a full-screen mode has appeared - no more frames at the bottom and top. The main message of the Android 4.4 KitKat update was the slogan “Android for everyone.” The operating system of this version really reached the level of development when it could be used by all users and to perform any task. At the same time, the entry point into the Android ecosystem was very low - state employees even launched on the basis of the then fresh version and still do.

In the next article from the “History of Development” series of Android, we will look at versions that can be attributed to the modern era of Google’s mobile OS.

It's the OS's turn Android, or rather, its new version Android 4.4 Kit Kat. It just debuted on the Nexus 5. To be fair, Google hasn't made too many changes to it, but there are still some new features worth taking a look at.

First, we warn you - Android 4.4 will not turn your device into chocolate, but it will still provide you with several convenient functions. Let's look at five of the most interesting of them.

Or more accurately, sending all your messages from one place. Google Play has always had a huge number of instant messengers, but they did not communicate with each other. Finally, it's over. Now all your messages, both SMS and MMS, will be grouped in one place, and you will not need to install various applications to stay in touch with your friends. In addition, you will now be able to send your location data and, most importantly, send animated GIFs. And one more thing: emoticons have appeared on the keyboard, which is good news.

If someone calls you from an unknown number, your Android 4.4 device can search the Internet to find out something about that number and its owner. And when you dial numbers, you'll see that the ones you call most often are at the top of the list to make them easier to find. New phone book search mechanisms have also been added, which will allow you to find the numbers you need much faster.

Android 4.4 Kit Kat makes the home, back, and apps buttons invisible when you're watching a video, playing a game, or reading a book. This means that you can immerse yourself in any process without distractions. You can make these virtual buttons visible again by swiping at the bottom of the screen to bring them up. Your device's screen will now become much more sensitive thanks to new technology for processing your taps.

After removing some built-in apps, Big G was able to lower the system requirements for Android 4.4. This means that even if your device's processor is a little weak, you still have a chance of running a new version of Android. Much depends on the manufacturer of your device, but Google continues to make strides to eliminate device fragmentation.

The Google development team tried to implement several solutions related to resource-intensive applications in Kit Kat. Now your processor will not process all the data sent in its direction, which means you can appreciate various applications without the fear of being alone with a disconnected phone.

When Google released the next version of its mobile operating system, there was no doubt that the serial number 4.4, instead of the supposed 5.0, indicates that no important changes should be expected. Indeed, on the Google website you could find only a little more than a dozen items, some of which have long been present in proprietary shells of third-party developers. Does everything really work so well in Android OS that there is nothing to add? But this operating system now runs 81% of smartphones in the world. If the changes are not significant, why not leave the code name the same? Because even this small number of changes made makes you look at Android as a new OS, from design to smoothness and speed of operation.

Most of the features described below are available on devices natively running the Android 4.4 operating system. Devices updated to Android 4.4 do not have a built-in Google Experience launcher

Android 4.4 KitKat Cosmetic Changes

First, let's look at the visual differences in Android 4.4, and they start with the lock screen. Widgets that appeared in are now hidden. Those who use them will have to enable them in the Security section. A camera icon has been added to the lower right corner. By clicking on the camera shortcut on the right side of the screen, a preview of the application appears. To go to it, you need to move the icon to the left. There is also the previous option - shifting the clock widget to the left. Apparently, the innovation should help beginners by showing that their device can also launch the camera without unlocking the screen. If you pull up the arrow at the bottom of the screen, Google Now will launch.

Having unlocked the smartphone, the user is taken to the main desktop window. The top and bottom lines have become transparent. Visually this makes the screen larger. The status bar got rid of the blue icons. Now the main color for Android is white. Below the status bar there is a non-deletable Google search field. At the very bottom there are three control keys: “Back”, “Home” and “Running Application Manager”. Above them are four shortcuts separated by an icon for calling up a list of installed applications. Labels have become larger. Even higher are two circles, where the larger one indicates which desktop window you are currently on. As before, creating folders is done by dragging one shortcut onto another. The background of the folders is white translucent.

Holding down on a free space on the desktop takes the user to a menu for selecting wallpapers, widgets, and search settings. Here you can change the location of desktop windows. You will no longer be able to find widgets to the right of the list of installed applications; they are all located here. The bottom row of shortcuts consists of the dialer shortcut, the Hangouts app that replaced Messages, the Chrome browser, and the camera. Each of these applications has received a number of changes. The interface of the application responsible for working with calls looks different. The last incoming/outgoing call is displayed at the top, below it are three large favorites icons, below are the most frequently used contacts, and at the very bottom is an icon for calling the numeric keypad and, on the left and right, icons for going to call history and settings. One useful thing to note is the automatic search for matches to unfamiliar information numbers in Google. For example, you dial the number 0 800 xxx xxx, press call and at the same second the smartphone changes the number to the name of the company, institution, service. Moreover, if they have a logo, it will automatically be inserted into the contact image field. The same principle of operation applies to incoming calls.

The application now allows you to communicate not only between users of Google accounts, but also through text and multimedia messages. There is no separate application for messages. Hangouts in its current form cannot be called a successful replacement for Messages; in particular, the implementation of grouping messages from the same users raises questions. On the other hand, the possibilities for working with messages are wider than before. As for the text keyboard, one cannot fail to note the huge set of emoticons.

With the exception of HDR+ mode, the camera interface has not undergone any changes. The principle of HDR+ is to stitch together three images taken at different exposures into one - allowing for greater dynamic range compared to conventional shooting. “Normal” HDR mode has long been present on almost all Android smartphones, but there these are additional features implemented by the device manufacturer, but here the function is initially built into the system.

The list of installed applications also remains the same, the only change is a transparent background instead of a gloomy black color.

There are slight differences in the Settings menu. The first ones touched on the operation of the Wi-Fi module; an option appeared that allows you to enable or disable the search for networks by some applications even if Wi-Fi is turned off.

The “Public Alert” menu, which is useless in our latitudes, includes the activation and configuration of notifications in the event of natural disasters.

The new "General" section is designed to help users select and remove installed launchers, if any.

“Tap & Pay” is the name of the menu where applications used for contactless payment using NFC will be displayed. For example, one such application could be Google Wallet.

There are also changes in setting up the operation of geolocation services - a more intelligible description of the modes for determining coordinates using GPS or Wi-Fi and mobile networks. High precision uses all available capabilities. Reducing energy consumption uses only mobile and Wi-Fi networks. Identification by device sensors includes GPS operation. Once you decide which mode is best for you, you can find out which of your installed apps or services requested your location, as well as how much of an impact it had on your battery.

The last of the new items is “Print”. By going into it you can find the network printer closest to you.

Among the less significant changes, we note the ability to run applications in full-screen mode, when the bottom line with the keys is hidden - this will allow you to use the entire usable screen area. In fact, many devices have already learned this feature, but only with Android 4.4 will it be supported at the hardware level, without the need to obtain Root rights.

The principle of multitasking has been redesigned: applications hanging in the background take up fewer resources, and the transition between them has become faster. Hardware support for IR transmitters has appeared, which can now be found in devices from at least four manufacturers: Samsung, LG, HTC, Sony. To improve autonomy when playing music, data processing will now be handled by the DSP processor. When playing music, an image of the current album and player control keys are displayed on the lock screen. Changes should also be noticeable for lovers of an active lifestyle - for this, Google has optimized the flow of data from all sensors available in the device.

Well, if you suddenly lose your smartphone or it is stolen from you, you can use remote control. To connect to a smartphone, it is enough that it has access to the Internet and, importantly, your account remains. The user can lock the smartphone, reset to factory settings, turn on the signal and find out the location of the device. The accuracy of determining the last parameter depends on which means of determining coordinates are used. Even if all of them are disabled, including the determination of coordinates by Google services, you can still get coordinates with an accuracy of 20 meters. This opportunity is both exciting and scary.

The download manager has changed somewhat, now it looks more like a file manager. The email client was updated, although it was not possible to understand what the differences are between the conditionally new and the current version of the client. Car enthusiasts should like the fact that messages can be read not only from the smartphone screen, but also from the car’s multimedia system (support for the Bluetooth Message Access Profile has been added), without being distracted from the controls. The last thing I would like to mention is Quickoffice - an application for working with office documents, both from the internal memory of the device and cloud services.

Opting out of using the Dalvik virtual machine

Let's start describing the remaining innovations with the most dramatic one - changing the application runtime environment (compiler) from a virtual machine Dalvik on ART(Android RunTime). Without going into the weeds of programming, the main difference between the ART compiler is that applications are optimized for a specific device during the application installation process, and not at the time of its launch, as is the case now. When switching to ART, there are both advantages and small, but disadvantages. The latter includes a slightly larger size of the applications themselves and, as a result, a slightly longer installation time. The benefits: reduced power consumption due to less load on the processor, more free RAM, faster launch of applications and improved smoothness. Since we used a smartphone to write this review of Android 4.4, we can’t say how smoother the device’s operation becomes when switching to ART. If you trust the reviews of users of other Nexus devices that received the Android update to version 4.4, then, according to them, the smoothness and speed of launching applications has noticeably increased. On our own behalf, we would like to add that the use of ART significantly affects the autonomy of the device, which is clearly seen in the LG Nexus 5, where we compared the operating time of the smartphone when using the Dalvik virtual machine and ART. The question remains open of how quickly “regular” devices that will use Android 4.4 will receive such significant changes and, in fact, whether they will receive them at all. Another important change in Android 4.4 is the ability to work on devices with 512 MB of RAM. So owners of not entirely new smartphones, for which there are custom firmware from Cyanogen and AOSP, may well give their device a second wind.

Ok Google

To access Google Now, you need to go to the far left of the desktop window or swipe up from the bottom edge of the screen, even if the screen is locked. Since Google is trying to update its services on all devices, and not just the Nexus line, you can learn about the new features of Google Now on any Android smartphone you have at hand. As for voice search, there are no changes yet for people using a non-English interface language.

Results

Android 4.4 KitKat is not just another operating system update; it shows where the developer is heading. The focus is on improving autonomy and smoothness, interacting with other devices through wireless communications, giving the shell a lighter look and adding features that have long been present on most Android smartphones. If with the advent of Android 4.3 Jelly Bean, users received practically no significant changes, then an update to Android 4.4 KitKat is worth waiting for, at least for the sake of improved smoothness and battery life. In addition, as already mentioned, it will be possible to install and comfortably use the new version of the OS not only on smartphones with 1 GB of RAM and higher, but also on smartphones with 512 MB of RAM. This means that next year the segment of low-cost devices will become even larger, which will entail a reduction in the lower price level and will increase the already huge share of Android smartphones.

Now the Android OS is installed on many modern devices: smartphones(due to the enormous popularity of the system, many people wonder which smartphone to buy on Android),e-books, planets, netbooks, watches, glasses, etc.. Let's start with what Android is in general. Android is a new fairly popular operating system. A little history: in 2005, Google bought Android INC. Then the development of this operating system began. It was first installed on Google Sooner phone. And more than 81% of smartphones have the Android operating system. But we are not talking about history, but about the varieties of Android.

So, below are some 3 types of Android operating system:

• Ice Cream;
• Jelly Bean;
• KitKat;

Ice Cream or 4.0

In 2011, a new Android operating system was released - Ice Cream. Before the creation of 4.0 there was only 2.3, we can conclude that this is a big leap in development. By releasing Ice Cream, the creators connected smartphones and tablets. Having received such an OS, the tablet was transformed and became even more relevant on the market.

A little about the features:

• Design. Matias Duarte redesigned each screen until he was happy. After all, people want to hold in their hands something new and especially beautiful, simple and exclusive at the same time!
• Creation of ROBOTO. Now you can create a theme for your Android yourself.
• You can also create folders yourself and put the applications you need in them.
• Next, conveniently turn off the application. Just hold down the middle button and swipe the app.

Jelly Bean or or 4.1

Kit Kat or Android 4.4

This new type of Android has an exquisite design, is characterized by versatility and ease of use. Key Features:

When you listen to music or watch videos, album or movie art appears on the lock screen. There is also a function called “rewind”, you can easily rewind a song or video back or forward.

Thanks to the new comfort mode, the display shows only the page you want to play. No extra icons, no time, no notifications. To view the status bar, just swipe your finger across the screen.

KitKat is a very economical operating system. It is designed so that playing music or a movie or other application uses as little energy as possible. Also, the screen responds more quickly to touches and you don’t have to wait 5 minutes.

The article presents the most popular and modern versions of Android. You understand that there are many more of them! And they all have their own distinctive features.

Technology overview