Difference between android OS Versions

Difference between Android 2.1 (Eclair) and Android 2.2 (Froyo)

For Users:

1. Tips Widget – the new tips widget at the home screen provide support to users to configure home screen and add new widgets.

2. Exchange Calendars are now supported in the Calendar application.

3. Easy set up and sync an Exchange account, you just have to enter your user-name and password

4. In composing an email, users can now auto-complete recipient names from the directory with the global address list look up feature.

5. Onscreen buttons give easy access to UI to control camera features such as zoom, focus, flash, etc.

6. Wi-Fi hotspot and USB tethering

7. Multiple language recognition simultaneously

8. Enhance browser performance using Chrome V8 engine, which enhance faster loading of pages, more than 3, 4 times compared to Android 2.1

9. Better memory management, you can experience smooth multi tasking even on memory constrained devices.

10. New media framework supports local file playback and HTTP progressive streaming.

11. Support applications over Bluetooth such as voice dialing, share contacts with other phones, Bluetooth enabled car kits and headsets.

For Network Providers:

12. Improved security with numeric pin or alpha-numeric password options to unlock device.

13. Remote Wipe – remotely reset the device to factory defaults to secure data in case device is lost or stolen.

For Developers:

14. Applications can now request installation on the shared external storage (such as an SD card).

15. Apps can utilize Android Cloud to Device Messaging to enable mobile alert, send to phone, and two-way push sync functionality.

16. New bug reporting feature for Android Market apps enables developers to receive crash and freeze reports from their users.

17. Provides new APIs for audio focus, routing audio to SCO, and auto-scan of files to media database. Also provides APIs to let applications detect completion of sound loading and auto-pause and auto-resume audio playback.

18. Camera supports portrait orientation, zoom controls, access to exposure data, and a thumbnail utility. A new camcorder profile enables apps to determine device hardware capabilities.

19. New APIs for OpenGL ES 2.0, working with YUV image format, and ETC1 for texture compression.

20. New “car mode” and “night mode” controls and configurations allow applications to adjust their UI for these situations.

21. A scale gesture detector API provides improved definition of multi-touch events.

22. Applications can customize the bottom strip of a Tab Widget.

 Difference between Android 2.3(Ginger bread) over Android 2.2(Froyo)

1.       New user interface design with new themes (Black themes save power)

2.       Extra Large Screen Size supported

3.       SIP Communication Supported (SIP Video and Audio Calling, In an operator point of view, this is feature will decrease their voice calling revenue where as user can call each other for lower rates or even free if they have good data connection)

4.       Supports for NFC (High Frequency High Speech Data Transfer in short range)

5.       Support for WebM/VP8 video playback, and AAC audio encoding

6.       New audio effects such as reverb, equalization, headphone virtualization, and bass boost

7.       Improved Copy and Paste functionality

8.       Redesigned Multi Touch Software Keyboard

9.       Audio, graphical, and input enhancements for game developers

10.    New sensors support (i.e gyroscope)

11.    Download manager for long running HTTP downloads

12.    Enhanced support for native code

13.    Improved power management and application control

14.    Support for multiple cameras

Android 3.0 (Honeycomb)

New User Features

1. New UI – holographic UI newly designed for large screen displays with content focused interaction, the UI is backward compatible, applications designed for earlier versions can be used with new UI.

2. Refined multitasking

3. Rich notification, no more pop-ups

4. System bar at the bottom of the screen for system status, notification and it accommodates navigation buttons, as like in Google Chrome.

5. Customizable home screen (5 home screens) and dynamic widgets for 3D experience

6. Action bar for application control for all applications

7. Redesigned keyboard for larger screen, keys are reshaped and repositioned and new keys added such as Tab key. button in system bar to switch between text/voice input mode

8. Improvement to text selection, copy and paste; very close to what we do in computer.

9. Built in support for Media/Picture Transfer Protocol – you can instantly sync media files through USB cable.

10. Connect full keyboard over USB or Bluetooth

11. Improved Wi-Fi connectivity

12. New support for Bluetooth tethering – you can connect more types of devices

13. Improved browser for efficient browsing and better browsing experience using the large screen – some of the new features are:

- multiple tabbed browsing instead of windows,

- incognito mode for anonymous browsing.

- single unified view for Bookmarks and History.

- multi-touch support to JavaScript and plugins

- improved zoom and viewport model, overflow scrolling, support for fixed positioning

14. Redesigned camera application for larger screen

      - quick access to exposure, focus, flash, zoom, etc.

      - built-in support for time- lapse video recording

      - gallery application for full screen mode viewing and easy access to thumbnails

15. Redesigned contacts applications features for larger screen

      - new two-pane UI for contacts applications

      - improved formatting for international phone numbers based on home country

      - contact information view in card like format for easy reading and editing

16. Redesigned Email applications

     - two-pane UI for viewing and organizing mails

     - sync mail attachments for later viewing

     - track emails using email widgets in the home screen

New Developer Features

1. New UI Framework – to fragment and combine activities in different ways to create richer and more   interactive applications

2. Redesigned UI Widgets for larger screen and new holographic UI theme

    - developers can quickly add new types of content to relevant applications and can interact with users    in new ways

    - new types of widgets included such as 3D stack, search box, date/time picker, number picker, calendar, popup menu

3. Action Bar at the top of the screen can be customized by developers according to application

4. A new builder class to create notifications that include large and small icons, title, a priority flag, and any properties already available in previous versions

5. Developers can use multi select, clipboard and drag and drop features to offer users more enjoyable gaming experience

6. Performance improvement to 2D and 3D graphics

    - new animation framework

    - new hardware accelerated OpenGL renderer to improve the performance of 2D graphics based   applications

    - Render script 3D graphics engine for accelerated graphics operations and create high performance 3D effects in applications.

7. Support for multi-core processor architectures – support symmetric multi-processing in multi-core  environments, even an application designed for single core environment will enjoy the performance boost.

8. HTTP Live streaming – media framework supports most of the HTTP Live streaming specification.

9. Pluggable DRM framework – for applications to manage protected content, Android 3.0 offers unified  API for simplified management of protected contents.

10. Built-in support for MTP/PTP over USB

11. API support for Bluetooth A2DP and HSP profiles

For Enterprises

    Device administration applications can include new types of policies, such as policies for encrypted  storage, password expiration, password history, and requirement of complex characters for passwords.

Android 3.1 additional features and improvements to UI and  standard applications in Android 3.0

 

New Features

1. Refined UI

    - Launcher animation optimized for faster, smoother transition to/from app list

    - Adjustments in color, positioning and text

    - Audible feedback for improved accessibility

    - Customizable touch-hold interval

    - Navigation to/from five home screens made easy. Touching the home button in system bar will  return    you to most frequently used home screen.

    - Improved view of internal storage used by apps

2. Support for more varieties of input devices such as keyboards, mouse, trackballs, game controllers   and accessories such as digital cameras musical instrument, kiosks and card readers.

    - Any type of external keyboards, mouse and trackballs can be connected

    - Most of the PC joysticks, game controllers and game pads can be connected except for some

   proprietary controllers

   - More than one device can be attached simultaneously via USB and/or Bluetooth HID

   - No configuration or drivers required

   - Support for USB accessories as host to launch related applications, if application not available the   accessories can give the URL to  download the application.

    - Users can interact with application to control the accessories.

3. Recent Apps list is expandable to include larger number of apps. The list will have all the apps in use  and recently used apps.

4. Customizable Home screen

    - Re-sizable home screen widgets. widgets can be expanded in both vertically and horizontally.

    - Updated home screen widget for Email app gives quick access to emails

5. New high performance Wi-Fi lock added for uninterrupted connectivity even when the device screen  is off. This will be useful for streaming long duration music, video and voice services.

    - HTTP proxy for each individual Wi-Fi access point can be configured. This will be used by the browser when communicating with the networks. Other Apps also may use this.

   - Configuration is made easy by touch-hold of the access point in the setting

   - Backup and restore the user defined IP and proxy setting

   - Support for Preferred Network Offload (PNO), which works in the background and conserves battery  power in case where Wi-Fi connectivity needed  for longer time.

Improvements to Standard Applications

6. Improved Browser app – new features added and UI improved

   - Quick Controls UI is extended and redesigned. Users can use it to view thumbnails of open tabs, to  close the active tabs, access overflow menu for instant access to settings and many other.

   - Supports CSS 3D, animations, and CSS fixed positioning to all sites.

   - Supports embedded playback of HTML5 video content

   - Save the webpage locally for offline viewing with all styling and imaging

    - Improved auto login UI let users quickly sign in to Google sites and manage access when multiple   users sharing the same device

   - Support for plug-ins that use hardware accelerated rendering

   - Page Zoom performance improved

7. Gallery apps improved to support Picture Transfer Protocol (PTP).

   - Users can connect external cameras over USB and import pictures to Gallery with one touch

   - The imported pictures are copied to local storages and it will show the balance space available.

8. Calendar grids are made larger for better readability and accurate targeting

   - Controls in data picker are redesigned

   - Calendar list controls can be hidden to create larger viewing area for grids

9. Contacts app allows full text search making it quicker to locate contacts and the results are shown  from all the fields stored in the contact.

10. Email app improved

   - When replying or forwarding HTML message the improved Email app sends both plain text and HTML  bodies as multi-part mime message.

   - Folder prefixes for IMAP accounts are made easier to define and manage

   - Pre-fetches emails from server only when the device is connected to a Wi-Fi access point. This is done  to conserve battery power and minimize data usage

   - Improved home screen widget gives quick access to emails and users can cycle through email labels  with the touch of the Email icon at the top of the widget

11. Improved Enterprise support

   - Administrators can use the configurable HTTP proxy for each Wi-Fi access point

   - Allows encrypted storage card device policy with emulated storage cards and encrypted primary  storage

Experts comments on testing mobile apps on emulators and real devices

Expert’s comments on testing mobile apps on emulators and real devices:

“The problem with any web-based or simulated environment is that there are some tests that are difficult to impossible to do,” says Uriah McKinney, QA manager at developer Übermind. “For example: trying to stress test with multitasking; what happens if you tap two buttons; can you crash the device,” says McKinney. “That’s hard to test in a simulated environment.”

 Chuck Hriczko, application developer at Accella, which develops applications for various mobile environments, “You have to test on multiple real-world devices, since they have differences. For example, Samsung’s new Nexus S comes with Android 2.3, which no other phone has, and it has hardware that no other phone has, like a gyroscope instead of an accelerometer.”

“Using the computer as an input device is so different from using a touchscreen,” says Big Nerd Ranch’s Conway. “It’s not about how it looks; it’s about how it feels.”

But while individual devices can be inexpensive, acquiring many devices quickly stops being cheap. “We can’t test on every device,” says Lance Parker, president  of iTag.com. iTag’s mobile security app (for locating lost phones and other security activities) is currently available for Android and BlackBerry, with iPhone and Nokia versions in the works. “We have to move pretty quickly and nimbly. It’s almost impossible to test on every platform or device, and put out a release.” For their Android version, says Parker, “We have a handful of Android devices, about 8 to 10, and we may buy another few Android phones next month.”

“The general strategy I use is bounds testing,” says Übermind’s McKinney. “Know what the bottom and upper limit are, and test those. If there are specific devices or carriers you want to target, get them.”

Equally, focus on the most popular devices. For example, says Big Nerd Ranch’s Conway, in terms of Android devices, “Based on TweetDeck’s tracking of device and OS, the majority of people were sticking with 1.6 or 2.2.  So if you get the more common devices, chances are it will run pretty well on those other devices. And you have to take a leap of faith, that based on the performance and how it looks on this device, that it will look and run OK on these other devices.”

Comparission of different os

Comparison of different OS

There was a time when buying a smartphone was easy. You had a couple of platforms and a handful of models to choose from. Things have changed a lot today. You now have over half a dozen platforms out there with hundreds of different models between them, priced very close to each other. It doesn't help matters when several phones are identical to each other but simply running a different brand of operating system. 

You can decide what features you want in your phone but what about the operating system? There is no way you can choose between them looking at the spec sheet alone. Being in a position where we get to use all the latest smartphones on all the different platforms, we think we have answers to your operating system related questions.

What follows is a brief comparison of the top four smartphone platforms - IOS, Android, Windows phone 7 and Symbian  - where we try to find which one is the best, ultimately narrowing down your number of options while buying and helping you choose better.

Aesthetics

IOS is the oldest of the four platforms here. Even though it is four-and-a-half-years old now and has barely undergone any major UI makeover, it still looks great. The UI design has a sense of timelessness to it and no matter how many times you look at it it does not look boring. Apple has also designed it in a manner where it is out of your way most of the time so that you can concentrate on your applications. This means there are no unnecessary animations and transition effects and whatever little is there looks natural and is functional. 

Android on the other hand has gone through considerable changes since its first iteration and has only got better with age. Having said that, over the years it has lost some of its simplicity and picked up some UI design elements that seem overdone, such as the 3D image gallery or the live wallpapers, which serve no functional value whatsoever and just consume resources for meaningless eye candy. This behavior is at odds with the usual Google way of designing things, where functionality takes precedents over attractiveness. Still, overall it is an attractive OS and although it lacks the timeless beauty of the IOS or the contemporary look of Windows phone 7, it manages to look pretty good. Too bad you rarely get to see the real Android below the custom skins. 

Symbian borrows the basic UI design of its predecessor and improves upon it. Despite that the end result is not something that one would call modern. You can see the roots of the operating systems, such as the soft keys at the bottom of the screen that were necessary for devices with buttons and a scroll bar for when there was no kinetic scrolling. It does not look bad per se, but it is not in the same league as others. Luckily, it is skinnable, so you can give a new look to it with a custom skin, although don't expect to make a swan out of a goose. 

The latest entrant into the world of smartphones, Windows phone 7 took the world by surprise when it was first announced, partly because no one expected Microsoft to come up with something that was so fresh and modern. The beauty of the UI design on Windows phone 7 is unlike anything that you have seen before on other smartphones. 

Unlike other operating systems here, especially Android, which borrowed heavily from IOS initially for their UI design, Microsoft came up with something that was completely original and yet incredibly good looking. So good is the UI design that most people would be seduced into buying a Windows phone 7 device based on the look itself. 

Ease of use

Designing a good looking interface is one thing. Designing a good looking interface that is also easy to use is another and no one does this better than Apple. If you don't believe us just search online for videos where kids are given an iPad or an iPhone and within minutes they manage to figure out the basics. 

In our experience IOS has turned out to be the easiest mobile operating system, where everything was so clear and obvious that anyone who used it for the first time, regardless of age, could figure it out without having to refer to a manual. The reason for this is that it does not assume that the user knows how to use it and because of that you can go around doing basic things without any help. It is incredibly intuitive and makes you wonder why others haven't figured out a way to make their software work this way. It feels as if it was designed with regular human beings in mind, not robots or geeks. We loved the keyboard especially. 

Next in line of intuitiveness is Android. It does not have the same level of simplicity as IOS, were you can detach you brain and still manage to work the interface, but it is still very easy nonetheless. Unfortunately, you would rarely get to use stock Android on every phone you use, which means if you are someone who's not a geek and are used to, say, an HTC Android phone, you will be lost when you pick up a Samsung Android phone.  

So even though Google and the OEMs try to make the UI user friendly, the fact that there are so many different types of them is bound to leave a layperson confused. 

Using the early versions of Symbian S60 5th Edition was as much fun as amputating your arm with a dull blade. The UI was designed for phones with keypads and Nokia had done little to ensure that it was usable, if not a pleasure. That's not the case with Symbian ^3, however, which feels miles ahead in terms of usability. 

Things now work the way they should and there is no longer a doubt in your mind whether clicking something will just highlight it or launch it. We still don't like the way the applications are scattered across the menu and the on-screen keyboard could have been better. But overall the latest version of Symbian is pretty user friendly, and unlike Android, you don't have to worry about different interface layouts on different devices. 

Windows phone 7 may look great but it isn't the best when it comes to user friendliness. There are some things that aren't immediately apparent, such as the way you have to press and hold on certain items to display additional options. Then there is also the quirky behavior of the search button or the tiny call/end keys and the need to unlock the screen before you can receive a call. But more than anything, it's the lack of basic features such as multitasking and copy-paste for text that really makes things difficult for the users. We do love the keyboard though, which is on par with the keyboard on Gingerbread and almost as good as the one on IOS. 

Features

Features was never a strong point of IOS, but over the years Apple has added a lot of functionality to the OS, such as the ability to install applications, multitasking, copy-paste, folders, etc. IOS today leaves very little room for complaint. However, there are some things that Apple is yet to take care of such as Bluetooth file transfers, file manager, mass storage, homescreen widgets and FM radio to name a few, but we have a feeling none of these will ever be addressed.

Fortunately, Apple does add additional functionality with every major firmware upgrade but more often than not these are limited to newer devices, whereas the older ones get the short end of the stick. 

Android's biggest advantage over IOS has been the features and with the latest release Android has almost every feature that you could want, whether it is multitasking, widgets, tethering, Wi-Fi hotspot or Adobe Flash support. It feels the most complete out of all the four platforms here in terms of features, and if features are all that you are looking for then you would be happiest with Android. 

When it comes to features, Symbian is no slouch either. You will find almost every feature here that you get on Android, along with some that you don't, such as FM radio and USB On-the-Go connectivity. You even get multiple homescreens (three, to be exact) and widgets for them, which are very handy. Features like multi-tasking and copy paste, something others have just discovered and others are yet to, have always been part of Symbian since the first iteration several years ago and have been executed perfectly. Symbian has most of the features that you would want and there wasn't anything that we felt it should have that it didn't. 

This is one aspect where Windows phone 7 fails miserably. For an operating system launching in 2010, Microsoft has left out some pretty major things. Although they are saying they will eventually incorporate most of them through updates we feel they should have had them from day one. While it was excusable to leave out on those things back in 2007, Microsoft has no such excuse, considering they were in the smartphone business even before Windows phone 7. It does have some good features, such as the homescreen tiles, Xbox Live support, Zune pass and Office integration, but we don't think that will be enough to compete against the rivals. 

Performance

When IOS first came out, it wowed the world with its fluid interface that ran perfectly even on the modest hardware of the first generation iPhone. Over the years the OS has become heavier and the proof of this is the way the iPhone 3G struggles with IOS 4.0. But try the same OS on an iPhone 4 and you will notice a world of difference. The UI is silky smooth throughout with no noticeable sluggishness. Even when switching between multiple applications, the UI maintains its smoothness without faltering. 

Something similar has been observed in case of Android. As long as you provide it with fast hardware, it runs fine but tends to choke on slower devices. However, unlike IOS, even when running on faster hardware, Android is never perfectly smooth. At times you will notice unexpected and inexplicable slowdowns while going through the UI, which deters from the overall experience. Google has also added unnecessary eye candy to the UI, which also tends to bog down devices with less than perfect hardware. 

Also, Android does not use the GPU to render the on-screen images, which means the CPU is overburdened, causing further slowdowns. Still, with some optimization, Android can be made to work pretty well on slower devices.
One of the greatest strengths of Symbian is that it has always been a very light operating system that could be run even by weaker hardware. This is why all the Symbian phones have hardware that seem less impressive than what we are used to seeing on high-end devices, but that is absolutely fine as even on that hardware the OS runs perfectly well. 

Since the OS is so light, it removes the need to unnecessarily jack up the hardware and burn more battery in the process. This is why Symbian phones have the best battery life among smartphones. Nokia has also made good use of the on-board GPU to render all the on-screen images, leaving the CPU free to handle other tasks. 
When it comes to UI smoothness, Windows phone 7 is unbeatable. That's mostly because it is always sitting on powerful hardware, but also because the OS is well optimized for it. This is another good example of the kind of performance you get when you know what the weakest device your software would work on and then optimize it accordingly. 

This is also why Android does not work well on low-end devices. The UI of Windows phone 7 is so smooth, it gives you the illusion of moving physical objects around instead of UI elements, an illusion that Android fails to maintain, thanks to the occasional stutter. Unfortunately, the smoothness is only limited to the default applications as third-party applications could not live up to the same standards that Microsoft has set. We have seen Android developers come up with smoother applications even though they had no idea what phone their application would be running on. We hope things get better in future as these applications are updated. 

Applications

This is one area where IOS pulls out a massive lead ahead of all the other platforms here. Being around the longest has certainly benefitted it and there are millions of applications available on the App Store right now waiting to be downloaded. Granted that more than half of them are not worth a second look but there are some really brilliant apps here. In fact, the general quality of applications available is the highest among all the smartphone platforms. Some of these apps have truly revolutionized the way we use our smartphones and in a way that not even Apple would have imagined when they made the iPhone. If apps are all you care about more than the device, then IOS is the platform to be on right now. 

Although Android is fast catching up with IOS in terms of number of applications, we have failed to come across truly compelling apps that would sway us in favor of the Droid. Most of the great apps on Android are already available on IOS and the remaining ones are Google's own apps. There are very few great apps or games that are exclusive to Android right now. Sure, things would change down the line and once everyone realizes that Android is the better platform to develop for, considering there are no strict restrictions to follow unlike on the App Store, people would eventually make a move towards Android. 

With Android already outselling iPhones in the US soon everyone would want to develop for the OS with the most number of users. Right now though, things aren't that great as such and if it's apps you want you should be looking at IOS, not Android. Also, remember that even if tomorrow Android Market does get all the great applications that does not mean they will stop making them for IOS. 

There was a time when people boasted about the number of applications that Symbian has. Although it does have one of the best libraries of applications available in terms of sheer numbers, a lack of application store meant it was difficult to have access to them. Now that Nokia has the Ovi Store, things are looking better. When we reviewed the N8 we remarked about the number of applications available for it. 

Even though the platform was quite new, the store had decent number of apps available for it. Even now it is growing at a steady pace. But the thing about the Ovi Store is that it will just take care of the basics and you won't be spoilt for choice as on IOS or Android. Want a Twitter client, there is Gravity. Want an IM app, use Nimbuzz. While this does make it easier to choose, at times you wish you had more apps from the same category to choose from. 
Windows phone 7 has the least impressive library of applications available for it and although one can blame this on the short period of time it has been out we must say the Windows Marketplace didn't flood with great apps the way we expected it to be. 

Just like Ovi, it has all the basic applications covered, but there is nothing here that isn't available on the other platforms as of now. Also, the applications and especially games seemed unreasonably expensive on the Marketplace compared to App Store or Android Market. The same app as on these stores would cost two to three times more on the Marketplace for no reason. 

Perhaps developers are seeing Windows phone 7 as a premium platform, considering all the Windows phone 7 devices are high-end and think they can get away with pricing their apps high (the same reason why Android developers either choose to go the ad-based way or through OEMs because they know Android buyers aren't big spenders). 

Verdict

You probably expected Symbian to be at the bottom of the chart when you started reading this article, but as surprising as it may be, it isn't. That (dis)honor goes to Windows phone 7, which has a long way to go before it can play with the big boys. Sure it has the potential to be great with a killer interface that would seduce people into buying this phone (and flame me in the comments section for writing bad about it). But right now there are few reasons to consider buying a Windows phone 7 handset. Perhaps by the time you are ready to buy your next smartphone, it would be ready for you. 

Symbian has gone through a lot of changes over the past years and it has never been in a better shape before. But we feel it has reached the end of its potential and it's about time it hands over the torch to MeeGo, which will take over as the premium operating system on Nokia's smartphones. While there is nothing bad about it, others just seem a generation ahead and although it still has the one of the best feature list around it's not enough in today's world. The fact the Ovi Store isn't exactly brimming with great quality apps is also another reason why it lags behind. 

IOS has had a long and successful journey and it still has a long way to go, but it seems too rigid in today's world. The interface design is still top notch and Apple's attention to detail is exemplary. However, you still miss some of those features, such as widgets for the homescreen or a notification system that does not annoy you. More than anything else, IOS's biggest trump card is the App Store, which is undoubtedly the best in the business. But the fact that you can only enjoy this wonderful OS on two smartphones, both of which are high-end devices, does not bode well for those who don't have 'Ambani' as their last name. 

Android today is a completely different animal compared to what it was two years ago. It felt rudimentary, to say the least, and although it showed potential it was difficult to predict back then what it would be today. Google has worked hard on the OS and thanks to a steady stream of updates it has completely transformed into this new OS that can go head-to-head with the best of the business. It's still far from perfect though and certain issues such as fragmentation would never be solved. But people have accepted them and found ways to make things work regardless of presence. 

Today's Android offers the best combination of features, performance and support from the developer community in terms of application and the fact that it can run on even a sub Rs. 7,000 handset proves that you don't need big bucks to own a smartphone. And it's because of all these qualities that it manages to narrowly nudge ahead of IOS, which has so far been the undisputed king of the smartphone segment. So our verdict is simple, if you don't have the cash to spend on an iPhone 4, get an Android.