Smartphones Android OS - What Are The Differences?

Android release roadmap

In the course of a year in 2010, Google released three Android patches that form the backbone of the vast majority of today's Android smart phones:

* Android 2.1 A (clair) C January 2010
* Android 2.2 2 (Froyo) C May 2010
* Android 2.3 3 (gingerbread) C December 2010

In terms of overall market share, Android 2.2 2 (Froyo) retains a commanding position (59.4 4%) as the most popular Android smartphone OS in the world, but the latest version of Android 2.3 3 (Gingerbread) enjoyed a tremendous growth (17.6 6%) as users upgrade to significantly benefit from the latest and greatest features.

As users' needs evolved so did Android, with key developments for gradual improvements in the whole range of functions from simple interface updates to the browser performance for memory management.

So what were the main differences between Android 2.1 1, 2.2 2 and the latest 2.3 3? And what were the key benefits that users could enjoy? Continue reading this article to find out!

Choose a flavor

Android 2.1 1 (Clair)

Clair provided users with a new and improved experience compared to Android 1.6 6 (Donut). With his debut on the Nexus One handset, the great change of Android 1.6 6, the improvement of the virtual keyboard with multi-touch support. Other enhancements including improved speed, better screen resolution and contrast ratio, HTML 5 support, Google maps 3.1 1.2 2, MS Exchange Server integration, flash for camera and Bluetooth v2.1 1 functionality.

In addition, Live wallpapers also introduced for the first time, more eye candy to offer, while the front end was significanly upgraded: Five home screens were provided instead of three, home screen navigation was updated for easy access, a new Android app launcher gave a better user experience, new widgets available for the standard home screen and a 3D photo gallery with Cooliris developed all your photos in a scrollable smooth 3D display.

Android 2.2 2 (Froyo)

As Eclair Couder claimed to have a basic, albeit important, features that are needed in a smartphone, improved Froyo on it with even more features, new user interface features, developer features, API changes and bug fixes. Froyo brought a polished, more responsive experience some severe under-hood improvements for users to enjoy, thanks to the optimized code compiler that provides a 2x-5x performance increase for CPU-heavy code.

The other significant differences by Froyo include support for high DPI screens (320 dpi) like 4 720P, USB Tethering, WLAN, Flash 10.1 1 support, integration of Chrome V8 JS engine, general speed improvements, and performance optimization.

Android 2.3 3 (gingerbread)

Android 2.3 3 (Gingerbread) introduces many new features and applications for users to experience a richer and richer multimedia environment. New platform technologies and APIs for developers was to use the high-definition big screens, improved processing speed and memory to create a great gaming experience.

Other new features offered by Android 2.3 3 includes a sophisticated UI interface, improved keyboard, improved copy and paste support for WebM video playback, Internet calls and NFC (Near Field Communication). These functions are in addition to the popular Android features like multi-tasking and Wi-Fi hotspots, Adobe Flash 10.1 1, and support for additional high-DPI displays.

Android 2.3 3 has also firmly integrated part of the program to the platform that Google Mobile Apps, and a redesigned YouTube. In a world of Internet calls a particularly attractive feature for users. Android 2.3 3 provides dedicated support for SIP and video calls in addition to standard therapy voice calls. Another important aspect of the mobile operating system is power management. Gingerbread handled it in a better way, the management of applications and application daemon running in the background and closing unnecessary applications who consume more power.

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About the Author:
Rose Li is the PR Manager for Chinavasion, China's premier dropshipper of wholesale electronics. For western quality consumer electronics at China prices.