Android turns 4 today!

Happy Birthday, Android!

Google's mobile operating system known as Android was officially unveiled on November 5th, 2007 but Google has the sheer firepower. In just four short years, Google's Android mobile platform has overtaken the global smartphone market. The first Android-powered phone, the T-Mobile G1, launched on Sept. 23, 2008, making today Android's 4th birthday.

It's fair to say that this mobile platform has taken the world by storm - in just a few years time, it's gone from a non-dominant player in the mobile OS market to the top smartphone platform in the U.S. and number two in the world. There are even predictions that it will overtake Nokia for the top slot worldwide by 2014.

It's always fun to look back and see how much the tech world has changed. But even as recently as 2008, when Android first hit the scene, most consumers still had regular cell phones instead of smartphones, Palm OS was still a contender, Research In Motion was on a BlackBerry Curve-fueled and Pearl-fueled upswing, and there was no such thing as an iPad. Mobile apps had yet to enter the public consciousness. Most phones were either 2G or 3G, not many had GPS yet, and any touch screen phone that wasn't an iPhone needed a stylus.

Since April 2009, each Android version has been developed under a codename based on a dessert or sweet treat. These versions have been released in alphabetical order: Cupcake, Donut, Éclair, Froyo (frozen yogurt), Gingerbread, Honeycomb, Ice Cream Sandwich, and Jelly Bean. The most recent update to the Android OS was Jelly Bean v4.1, which was announced in June 2012, and was released into the Android Open Source Project on July 9, 2012.

Android version history :

1 Android beta
2 Android 1.0
3 Android 1.1
4 Android 1.5 Cupcake
5 Android 1.6 Donut
6 Android 2.0/2.1 Eclair
7 Android 2.2.x Froyo
8 Android 2.3.x Gingerbread
9 Android 3.x Honeycomb
10 Android 4.0.x Ice Cream Sandwich
11 Android 4.1.x Jelly Bean
12 Android 4.x.x/5.x Kaju Katli