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14,418 'Android' stories May 2011 - May 2015
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Breaking news for Android. Get the latest on apps, carriers, devices, and more!

Android is Google’s mobile operating system, launched in September 2008, although its history technically began with the release of the Android alpha in November 2007. To this day, Android powers the majority of the world’s smartphones and comes in several different flavors across many phone makers.

Table of contents

What is Android?

Android Inc.

Android, before it was Android, was a company called Android Inc. That company was founded in Palo Alto, California, in 2003 by a crew of four: Andy Rubin, Rich Miner, Nick Sears, and Chris White. The company and its project was acquired by Google in 2005 for a sum of more than $50 million, although the exact number is unknown. The company’s founders joined Google as part of the deal.

In its infancy, Android was an operating system built not for touch screen smartphones like the iPhone, but rather BlackBerry-like devices with physical keyboards. It’s well documented that after Apple shocked the world with the iPhone, ahead of its nearest competition by at least a couple years, Google and Android Inc. had to go back to the drawing board to build something competitive.

Adoption by third-party makers

It didn’t take long after the launch of the iPhone for various manufacturers to enter the market with their alternatives — and Google’s Android immediately became the obvious platform of choice for just about everyone except Microsoft. HTC was the first manufacturer on board, and introduced the T-Mobile G1 running Android in September 2008. Soon after, HTC, Motorola, Samsung, and carriers like Sprint and T-Mobile jumped on board to form the Open Handset Alliance.

Android makers across the world

Iconic Android handsets

There have been thousands of Android phones released since Android’s inception, but some have been more important to the platform’s history than others. There was the original T-Mobile G1, as mentioned, but there was also the HTC One Google Play Edition, Moto G, Samsung Galaxy S4, and others. Some of the most iconic Android handsets include:

  • HTC G1
  • HTC Nexus One
  • Samsung Galaxy S, S2, S3, S4, and their successors
  • HTC Incredible S
  • Samsung Nexus S
  • Samsung Galaxy Nexus
  • Samsung Galaxy Note
  • Nokia 8
  • BlackBerry KeyOne
  • Google Pixel and its successors

In more modern times, there are several Android smartphones makers that popped up across various niches and in several international markets. Huawei is a dominant Android maker in China and many European markets, while Samsung is by far the most popular maker in the United States by far — effectively creating a duopoly with Apple. Today, there are dozens of major device makers contributing to the Android ecosystem.

Full list of Android OEMs

History of major Android versions

Android has seen countless software revisions over the course of its life, but in modern times the OS usually sees a major release on an annual cadence. In the earlier days, Google famously gave its major software releases dessert-themed codenames, but retired that practice in 2019 with the release of Android 10.

VersionNameReleaseDevices
2.3GingerbreadFebruary 9, 2011Nexus S
4.0Ice Cream SandwichOctober 19, 2011Galaxy Nexus
4.1Jelly BeanJuly 9, 2012Nexus 7
4.2Jelly BeanNovember 13, 2012Nexus 4, 10
4.3Jelly BeanJuly 24, 2013Nexus 7 (2013)
4.4KitKatOctober 31, 2013Nexus 5
5.0LollipopNovember 3, 2014Nexus 6, 9
5.1LollipopMarch 9, 2015Android One
6.0MarshmallowOctober 5, 2015Nexus 5X, 6P
7.0NougatAugust 22, 2016Nexus 5X, 6P
7.1NougatOctober 4, 2016Pixel, Pixel XL
8.0OreoAugust 21, 2017Pixel, Pixel XL
8.1OreoDecember 5, 2017Pixel, Pixel XL
9PieAugust 6, 2018Pixel 2, Pixel 2 XL
1010September 3, 2019Pixel 3, 3a
1111September 8, 2020Pixel 4

List of major Android OS platforms

While Android proper is certainly the most widespread of Google’s Android operating systems, the company has also launched many offshoots of the main OS over the years. There’s Android Auto, Android Wear (now Wear OS), Android TV (now rebranded to Google TV), as well as versions of Android built for tablets and Android Things (now defunct).

Yu Yuphoria has decent specs & low-end price, is a great competitor to the Moto E

Avatar for Stephen Hall May 12 2015 - 7:28 am PT
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Yu—a subsidiary of Micromax—announced their first device (the Yureka) late last year, but today the company has announced their second entry: the Yuphoria. At first glance you’ll probably notice that the device has a smaller overall build and a metal frame—and that’s exactly the realm of devices that Yu seems to be after with this launch (think the Galaxy A series)…
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Google’s Android One initiative reaches Turkey in latest market expansion

Avatar for Zac Hall May 12 2015 - 7:25 am PT
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Sundar Pichai announcing Android One at Google I/O last year

Ten months after Sundar Pichai announced Android One at Google’s I/O developer conference last year, the program to bring quality and affordable smartphones to developing markets is expanding outside of Asia for the first time. Android One’s latest expansion into Turkey marks the seventh market for the program as it moves into Europe.

General Mobile will offer the first Android One smartphones, the company shared today, albeit at a higher price than Google has targeted for other Android One hardware…
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Motorola begins testing Android 5.1 update for 2013 Moto X, rollout to start in a few weeks

Avatar for Chance Miller May 11 2015 - 5:36 pm PT
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In a post on Google+, Motorola this evening announced that the long-awaited Lollipop update for the 2013 Moto X will begin testing this week in both the United States and Latin America. Motorola’s Senior Director of Software Product Management, David Schuster, made the announcement and noted that the after testing via TestDrive is concluded, the update will start full deployment. Schuster anticipates that the full rollout will commence in a “few weeks.”


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Android 5.1.1 factory image for the Nexus 9 now available, here’s how to install it (Update: LTE too!)

Avatar for Stephen Hall May 11 2015 - 1:03 pm PT
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Update: Both the Nexus 9 LTE OTA download link and factory image are now available.

Android 5.1.1 has been rolling out for a while, and now the 5.1.1 factory images for the Nexus 9 are starting to show up. Google’s factory image download page was just updated with Android Lollipop 5.1.1 (build LMY47X) for the WiFi-only Nexus 9, and the build for the LTE variant is surely just around the corner…
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Google temporarily shutting down Map Maker to remedy spam situation

Avatar for Stephen Hall May 11 2015 - 10:29 am PT
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Google’s Map Maker has been getting hit hard with spam over the last few months, with one of the most recent and widely publicized incidents involving an Android logo urinating on an Apple logo in the middle of Pakistan. Now, the company is telling users of the Map Maker website that the service will be temporarily shut down as of tomorrow, May 12th…
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AT&T unveils the Trek HD 4G LTE, its first self-branded Android tablet

Avatar for Tom Maxwell May 11 2015 - 9:00 am PT
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AT&T today announced that it will soon begin selling the budget AT&T Trek HD 4G LTE (let’s just call it the Trek HD), the nationwide carrier’s first company-branded tablet. In its press release, the company says the tablet will be available to purchase on their website starting May 12th and in AT&T stores starting May 15th, and notes right in the first sentence, and on multiple other occasions, that it will run Android Lollipop…


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London’s cycle hire scheme finally gets an official Android app

Avatar for Ben Lovejoy May 11 2015 - 4:51 am PT
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Cycling is definitely the fastest and most pleasant way to get around central London, and the large-scale cycle hire scheme – informally known as Boris Bikes, after Mayor Boris Johnson who launched the scheme – finally has an official Android app.

Named after the scheme’s new sponsor, the Santander Cycles App allows users to find the nearest docking station, check availability of bikes and obtain a release code to hire one. Transport for London has long made the data publicly available, allowing developers to create their own apps with limited functionality, but it’s taken five years to create an official app that allows you to hire the bikes.

There are more than 700 Boris Bike docking stations in London, with a total of 11,500 bicycles available. More than 10 million journeys were made by Boris Bike last year. Users pay £2 ($3) for a one-day membership, and can then make unlimited use of the bikes for journeys of up to 30 minutes each (which will pretty much get you anywhere to anywhere in central London).

The app is a free download from Google play, and the full press release can be found below.

London’s newest red icon – Santander Cycles – today launched a revolutionary new App, making the cycle hire scheme easier to use than ever before.

The new Santander Cycles App for Android and iOS smartphones is free to download for both members and casual users. In addition to viewing the nearest docking station and bike availability, the new App is able to send a ‘bike release’ code straight to a user’s phone, which means they can hire a cycle without having to use the docking station terminal.

All customers need to do is register with their bank card, use the App to ‘hire now’ from a nearby docking station, and just tap the code into a docking point to release a bike for use.

Extra features of the Santander Cycles App

  • See up-to-the minute information about which docking stations have cycles and spaces available;
  • Users can log in to their membership accounts;
  • Buy 24 hour and annual subscriptions;
  • Receive notifications showing the cost at the end of a hire period;
  • View recent journeys and charges;
  • Tells users exactly when their hire period has started – and confirms the bike has been securely docked at the end of a hire period;
  • Plan a journey with an easy to follow map – Transport for London’s (TfL’s) real-time cycling Journey Planner is available at the touch of a button, which shows users where they can hire a bike and how many are available at any one of the Capital’s 750 docking stations;
  • Smart design means it can be constantly upgraded and improved by TfL and Santander with the latest app technology available.

Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, said:

‘The new Santander Cycles App will make finding and hiring a bike in our great Capital city even more of a doddle. The App is packed full of handy new features and is part and parcel of our plans to take the cycle hire scheme to the next level and encourage more people on to two wheels.’

Leon Daniels, TfL’s Managing Director of Surface Transport, said:

‘This is just one of the exciting new developments we’re bringing to life with our new partnership with Santander. Together we’re working hard to make cycling an integral part of London life, so anyone can jump on a bike to get to work, the shops or discover the Capital. The new official Santander Cycles App will make hiring a bike much easier for both members and casual users by being able to find the nearest docking station and check how many bikes are available, and get an access code so you can just hop on and go without spending time at the terminal.’

Nathan Bostock, CEO, Santander UK, said:

‘We’re absolutely committed to growing and developing Santander Cycles together with TfL by making more bikes available, providing more docking stations and offering extra benefits in future to give Londoners and visitors to the Capital the best possible experience.

‘Since announcing our partnership in February of this year, we’ve already added 3 per cent cashback on cycle hire journeys for customers using their 1|2|3 credit card, and the App further demonstrates our commitment to making the cycle scheme more fun, rewarding and easy.’

The new red-and-white livery of Santander Cycles is already widespread across London and the transition is continuing at pace as docking stations and distribution vans are rebranded.

Santander Cycles is the second-largest cycle hire scheme in Europe, and since it was introduced in 2010, around 40 million journeys have been made using the bikes, making it a popular and affordable way to travel around London for work or leisure.

Usage of the scheme rose by a quarter last year and is at a record high, with more than 10 million journeys made in 2014. Customer satisfaction is also at an all-time high, with over 80 per cent of members intending to renew their membership.

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China approaches smartphone saturation point, shipments fall as penetration hits 90% – IDC

Avatar for Ben Lovejoy May 11 2015 - 4:14 am PT
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China – long viewed as one of the key growth markets for smartphones – is now approaching saturation point, according to data being released today by IDC. The WSJ reports that smartphone shipments fell for the first time in six years, 4.3% down year-on-year in the previous quarter. Other sources say sales are still growing, but at a much-reduced rate.

Experts say the slowdown is largely driven by the disappearance of China’s first-time buyers. Smartphones now have a more than 90% penetration rate in China, said Tom Kang, research director with market-research firm Counterpoint, meaning just about everybody in China who wants a smartphone already has one. “China is now a replacement market,” Mr. Kang said.

Even local brands like Xiaomi are finding it tougher to compete, say analysts, while Samsung fell from the best-selling brand in China a year ago to fourth place today. Samsung was, however, upbeat about its prospects in the country.

“While there are signs that the explosive growth of smartphones in China will slow this year, the vast majority of China’s 885 million mobile users are using low-end and mid-range smartphones,” Samsung said in a statement. “This leaves plenty of room for upgrades to high-end phones as China’s market matures.”

Android manufacturers are also facing increased competition in China from Apple, which recently hit 26% market share.

Photo: Darley Shen/Reuters

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Sega to remove games that no longer meet its standards from the Play Store

Avatar for Chance Miller May 8 2015 - 3:51 pm PT
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Sega announced in a post on its blog this evening that it is going to remove a number of games from its catalog of apps on the Play Store. Sega says that a number of its games on the Play Store no longer meet its “high-quality” standards. Sega will also remove the games from the Apple App Store, the Samsung App Store and the Amazon App Store.


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Review: LG’s G4 boasts the best smartphone camera, a beautiful display + other surprises (Video)

Avatar for Dom Esposito May 8 2015 - 8:27 am PT
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LG may be late to the game as far as smartphone releases go, but the G4 is finally here and it’s ready to take on the competition. I’ve been using a T-Mobile variant of the G4 for a little over a week now as my daily driver, and it’s been a very pleasant experience. If you’ve been holding out for a smartphone upgrade, this is definitely one to consider….


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Sprint’s Samsung Galaxy S4 is now receiving Android Lollipop

Avatar for Stephen Hall May 8 2015 - 8:00 am PT
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According to Sprint’s support website, the carrier’s Samsung Galaxy S4 should today start receiving its update to Android 5.0 Lollipop. As you likely are already aware, the update brings the famed Material Design aesthetic, changes to the OS notifications system, and other improvements.

Lollipop is still just now being pushed to various flagships across the major carriers, and this is just one more added to the list. If you’re a Verizon customer with the Samsung Galaxy S4, you should have received your update sometime in late April.

Google is set to announce the next major version of its Android mobile operating system at Google I/O at the end of this month, codenamed Android “M”. We’ll be on the ground in San Francisco during the I/O keynote to keep you in the loop on all the latest developments.

Watch the Macintosh II’s System 6 running on Android Wear (Video)

Avatar for Stephen Hall May 8 2015 - 6:52 am PT
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We’ve seen just about anything running on Android Wear at this point—from Minecraft: Pocket Edition, to Flappy Bird, to Windows 95. Today, Corbin Davenport is back with another video, this time showing off another ancient operating system running on the miniature Samsung Gear Live wrist computer. This time, he’s running the Macintosh II’s System 6 (and the emulator he’s using—Mini VMAC II—supports up to version 7.5.5)…
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There’s good news & bad news for Nintendo fans: Android rollout will be slow, but expect great games

Avatar for Ben Lovejoy May 8 2015 - 6:18 am PT
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We learned back in March that Nintendo would finally be creating games for smartphones and tablets, featuring Mario and other popular characters – though not in their original games. Today brings a mix of bad and good news …

The bad news is that Nintendo announced in its financial results presentation that it is planning to release just five games by March 2017.

Regarding the number of the titles, you may want to know that we will release approximately five titles by the end of the next fiscal year, which is the end of March 2017.

The company says that while it recognizes this will be seen as a small number, there are good reasons behind the decision … 
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Truecaller’s spam-blocker and caller ID technology are coming to Cyanogen OS

Avatar for Tom Maxwell May 7 2015 - 2:14 pm PT
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Incessant calls from unknown numbers are frustrating and can at times be immensely distracting, which is part of why companies like Facebook and Google have as of late introduced new Android dialers with which they hope quash this problem. Both essentially crawl their respective social network and search databases for the number calling you trying to find a name or business match. In Facebook’s case, it allows you to “block” individual numbers, which really just sends calls from unwanted callers straight to voicemail.

It was announced by Truecaller today that Cyanogen, the popular Android OS based on the AOSP, will be getting the company’s caller ID service baked in, specifically to be part of the Cyanogen OS dialer.


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Google reportedly prepping to give Android users more control over app privacy settings

Avatar for Stephen Hall May 7 2015 - 1:02 pm PT
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According to a report this afternoon from Bloomberg, “people familiar with the matter” have said that Google is preparing to give Android users more control over what data gets shared with their apps. Users will, at some point in the near future, have “more detailed choices” over which pieces of their information that apps have access to:

Google’s Android operating system is set to give users more detailed choices over what apps can access, according to the people, who asked not to be identified because the matter remains private. That could include photos, contacts or location. An announcement of the change, which would put Android closer in line with Apple Inc.’s iOS, is expected for Google’s developer’s conference in San Francisco this month, one of the people said.

More than likely, this is a feature that Google will be announcing alongside Android “M” at this year’s Google I/O conference which is set to kick off at the end of the month.


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comScore releases U.S. smartphone subscriber market share for March 2015

Avatar for Tom Maxwell May 7 2015 - 12:36 pm PT
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comScore today released a new U.S. smartphone manufacturer and platform market share report for the three month period ending in March. The data suggests that while the continued strength of iPhone 6 adoption has resulted in market share gains for Apple, Android is still the most popular smartphone platform in the United States.

During the measured period, comScore reports that 187.5 million people in the United States owned smartphones, which equates to 77 percent of the total population. Of that, Apple was the most popular OEM (original equipment manufacturer) with 42.6 percent of U.S. smartphone subscribers (up 1% from December), followed by Samsung with 28.3 percent market share (down 1% from December), and LG taking third place with 8.4 percent (up 0.4% from December).


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Some Nexus 9 users reporting that recent 5.0.2 update bricked their devices

Avatar for Stephen Hall May 7 2015 - 11:13 am PT
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Following our report last month that the Android Lollipop 5.0.2 update was causing Nexus 7 and Nexus 5 devices to become bricked, it now appears as if the Nexus 9—which just received the update earlier this week—is suffering the same problem. While not all Nexus 9 devices that go through with the 5.0.2 update are being killed, threads on Google’s Product Forum suggest that this is definitely not an uncommon issue by any means…


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Google is rolling out Android 5.1 to the Nexus 9 starting today

Avatar for Stephen Hall May 7 2015 - 9:45 am PT
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Google has announced today that it is beginning its rollout of Android 5.1 to the Nexus 9 at some point today. It has been a long time coming for the Nexus 9, with the flagship Google tablet just earlier this week receiving its update to 5.0.2—which first hit the Nexus 7 in December of 2014. Now, finally, it looks like Android 5.1 (more specifically Android 5.1.1) will be coming to the Nexus 9 very, very soon.


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Sketchy leak suggests lower-end LG ‘G4c’ smartphone incoming w/ Snapdragon 410

Avatar for Stephen Hall May 7 2015 - 9:24 am PT
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A new report from German site winfuture.de suggests today that a new LG G4 variant, sporting model number LG-H525N, is in line for announcement later this year. This isn’t simply a smaller version of super-powerful LG G4, though; the site suggests that this miniature “G4” variant will be a middle-range phone with mediocre specifications.


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