The Evolution of Android

Dromag - September 23rd came and went, and many of you probably don't even remember why that's an important date. That's normal, after all – it has been a while since, 5 years ago, the world saw the unveiling of the first Android handset – the HTC Dream, widely known as the T-Mobile G1. The G1 was a huge success – it sold more than a million units in the States alone in the first 6 months. No, it wasn't as big as Apple's juggernaut – 1.6 million iPhone 3G sold in just 3 months in the US of A – but that has dramatically changed over the years -- Android now runs on over a billion devices.

Depending on the perspective, 5 years may appear like a long time to some people. If you think about the rate at which progress has historically occurred, however, then you may just understand what we mean by saying that Android, including the immediate ecosystem of hardware, tech, media and whatnot that surrounds it, has made giant leaps from what the platform represented just 5 years ago.

But, are we throwing around baseless superlatives as far as Google's OS is concerned? We'll let fact speak for themselves, though for the sake of being objective, the following advancements can't be solely credited to Mountain View, despite its undeniable involvement in shaping the market -- rivals or friends, numerous companies have made their contribution.

So what did change? In five years, we've gone from a lowly HVGA resolution of 320x480 to what has shaped as the industry standard of 1920x1080 today. The G1 had a screen real estate of just 3.2-inches – unacceptable for most today, with preferences now firmly entrenched in the 4.5- to 5-inch bracket. Processing capabilities? Through the roof! We went from single-core processors with third the clock speed of modern chips to quad-core chipsets that house CPU's that are now running at 1.5GHz and above. And the supporting ecosystem? It went from just 35 apps with the very first Android 1.0 to over a billion today and the number of manufacturers involved in the production of Android-based devices is now beyond count.

So what did change in Android through those 5 years? Let's take a look.

Source : http://www.phonearena.com/