Under Construction


On 3 September 2013 Google announced that 1 billion activated devices now use the Android OS worldwide.

Versions:
Name Num Release API Level1 Notes
Alpha 1.0 8/2008 1
Beta 1.1 2/2009 2
Cupcake 1.5 4/2009 3
Donut 1.6 9/2009 4
Eclair 2.0 10/2009 5
2.01 6
2.1 7
Froyo 2.2-2.2.3 5/2010 8 Voice input
Gingerbread 2.3-2.3.2 12/2010 9 "Improved soft keyboard, User Interface and performance.
Support for SIP VoIP internet telephony.
Support for WXGA (1280x768)
2.3.3-2.3.7 10
Honeycomb 3.0 2/2011 11 "Designed for tablets.
3.1 12
3.2 13 Better large screen support and SD card support.
Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0-4.0.2 10/2011 14 "Spell checker.
Voice input
Flash support dropped.
4.0.3-4.0.4 15
Jelly Bean 4.1 7/2012 16 "Faster, Smoother, More Responsive. Improved UI.
Enhanced Bluetooth
4.2 17
4.3 18
KitKat 4.4 10/2013 19
KitKat-Watch 4.4W ? 20
Lollipop 5.0 11/2014 21
Lollipop 5.1 3/2015 22 High-definition voice calls, available between compatible devices.
Device protection: if a device is lost or stolen it will remain locked until the owner signs into their Google account, even if the device is reset to factory settings.

More
Marshmallow 6 10/2015 23 USB Type-C support. Automatic full data backup and restore for apps. Adoptable External storage to behave like Internal Storage. "Doze" power saving mechanism.
Nougat 7 8/2016 24 multiple apps on-screen at once in a split-screen view, inline replies to notifications
Nougat 7.1 10/2016 25
Oreo 8.0 8/2017 26
Oreo 8.1 12/2017 27
Pie 9 8/2018 28
Android Version History | wikipedia

1. API level - Apps should contain a variable "android:targetSdkVersion" which is the version "API Level" the app was tested with. If the API level of the platform is higher than the version declared by your app's targetSdkVersion, the system may enable compatibility behaviors to ensure that your app continues to work the way you expect.
If an application requires features of a newer version it should set the variable "android:minSdkVersion". The system will not allow the application to be installed on a lower version.
If an application is designed for an older API level it may not run on newer version. Apps should have a field "android:maxSdkVersion" which is the maximum version on which it will work. The system will not allow the application to be installed on a higher version.

See:
Android (operating system) - Wikipedia
Android version history - Wikipedia

Technical tips:
The following UNIX/Linux commands were in /system/bin in version 4.3
abcc
adb
am
app_process
applypatch
atrace
bmgr
bootanimation
bu
bugreport
cat
chcon
chmod
chown
clatd
clear
cmp
content
cp
dalvikvm
date
dd
debuggerd
dexopt
df
dhcpcd
dmesg
dnsmasq
drmserver
du
dumpstate
dumpsys
fsck_msdos
getenforce
getevent
getprop
getsebool
glgps
grep
gzip
hd
hostapd
id
ifconfig
iftop
ime
input
insmod
installd
ioctl
ionice
ip
ip6tables
iptables
keystore
kill
linker
ln
load_policy
log
logcat
logwrapper
ls
lsmod
lsof
make_ext4fs
md5
mdnsd
media
mediaserver
mkdir
mksh
monkey
mount
mtpd
mv
nandread
ndc
netcfg
netd
netstat
newfs_msdos
notify
ping
pm
pppd
printenv
ps
racoon
reboot
renice
requestsync
restorecon
rm
rmdir
rmmod
route
run-as
runcon
schedtest
schedtop
screencap
screenshot
sdcard
sendevent
sensors-config
sensorservice
service
servicemanager
setconsole
setenforce
setprop
setsebool
settings
setup_fs
sh
sleep
smd
start
stop
surfaceflinger
svc
sync
system_server
tc
tf_daemon
toolbox
top
touch
uiautomator
umount
uptime
vdc
vmstat
vold
watchprops
wipe
wm
wpa_supplicant

ZShaolin ZSH console terminal - Android Apps on Google Play has more commands. $3.50
Shell apps - console with unix like interface ZShaolin ZSH console terminal GNU tools Awk, Sed, Grep and the awesome Z-Shell
3CX DroidDesktop run shell from desktop over wifi
Android Terminal Emulator - Android Apps on Google Play


Links:
Android under tablets.
Android, the world's most popular mobile platform | Android Developers
Android (operating system) - Wikipedia
Android.com
List of features in Android - Wikipedia

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last updated 31 Aug 2015