Code names for Android OS from Google and release history
In this post, I am describing various code names used by Android OS. You can bookmark this page to keep track of the code names for various Android OS releases.
Now a days, most of the big brands assign code names to their products. With increasing number of code names, I myself get confused on what is what. In this article, I am providing the details of various Android OS versions released so far and that are coming up in the near future. If I missed any, please let me know and I will add it here.Android OS Code Names
Google started using code names for Android OS starting from version 1.5, which was the second major release of the Android OS, originally developed for mobile platforms. After releasing the first version of Android in Sept 2008, Google has significantly improved the Android platform and is currently the most popular mobile platform in the world. The version 4.0 code named Ice Cream Sandwich is a true cross platform operating system which can run smoothly on mobile as well as tablet platforms.
Android Cupcake was the first official code name used by Android OS, even though there were previous releases of Android OS before this release. The Android version 1.5, a.k.a was released on 30 April 2009.
Android Donut was release on 15 September 2009 but it had a very short life since Google came up with Eclair in another month.
Android Eclair was released on 26 October 2009. The first smartphone device to come preloaded with Android Eclair was Motorola Droid.
Froyo was released on 20 May 2010 and the Google's Nexus One was the first smartphone to launch with Android Froyo. The Android Froyo had only a short life and within few months Google released newer and much improved versions.
Android Gingerbread was introduced on 6 December 2010 and was a significant improvement in terms of performance compared to the previous releases. The first tablet to use Android Gingerbread was Google Nexus S.
Android 3.0, code named "Honeycomb" was a major update to the previous release to support tablet computers. Honeycomb was released on 22 February 2011 and the first tablet computer to use the Android OS was Motorola Xoom.
Ice Cream Sandwich, a.k.a ICS is the code name for Android 4.0. It was announced in May 2011 and was officially released on 19 Oct 2011. The Ice Cream Sandwich version is a major step in the cross platform OS from Google. Android 4.0 (or, Ice Cream Sandwich) is a single OS that can run on multiple platforms including tablets, phones and a variety of other devices.
Several websites have reported that the code name for next Android OS will be Jelly Bean, which will be Android 5.0 and will be released in Q3 this year. Google has not made any official announcements regarding the Jelly Bean release yet and it is possible that it may be named something else and it may not be even version 5.0. Many analysts predict it could be version 4.x since the previous release (Android 4.0 - Ice Cream Sandwich) is not yet available in many devices.
Read more about Android version history at Wikipedia.
DISCLAIMER: Android is a trademark of Google Inc. We are not associated with Google and Android.
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