![]() ![]() See? The full number jumps have generally been limited to releases with sweeping visual changes - like what we saw with last year's transformative Lollipop or Honeycomb and ICS before it. ![]() But there weren't any sweeping changes to the core UI - and the updates weren't full number jumps. I mention all of those specifics to emphasize that those were no small releases there was plenty going on with each of 'em, ranging from significant new features to noticeable visual advancements. It also introduced some extra-Googley elements into the platform, like the home screen design that'd eventually become the Google Now Launcher, and started the move away from the operating system's once-trademark bluish hues (pour one out for an old friend, won't ya?). Later revisions of Jelly Bean brought about elements like the top-of-screen Quick Settings panel, the platform's first multiuser mode, and a ton of important improvements to system-level security.īut those releases remained 0.1-level bumps, as did the subsequent KitKat release - which, lest we forget, focused on allowing Android to run on devices with as little as 512MB of memory and delivered platform-propelling features like system-level wireless printing and native support for IR blasters, low-power sensors, and low-power Bluetooth devices. The 4.1 release packed a lot of visual polish, not to mention the launch of impactful OS elements like a card-based search system and the ability to use natural-language voice commands - oh, and a little thing called Google Now. With its blue-themed Holo motif and sleek new Roboto font, it was arguably the start of the modern era of Android UI for most mobile-device users.Īnd then Google started to focus on refining rather than reinventing for a while - a natural and understandable shift. It was also when physical system buttons started to go bye-bye and virtual on-screen keys came into the picture.Īndroid 4.0 carried those same concepts further and took them into the realm of smartphones. It was when we started to see things like purposeful animations, interactive notifications, and intelligently scaling "tablet-optimized" interfaces. Let's think back again for a sec, going back even further:Īndroid 3.0, Honeycomb, marked a drastically new direction for Android - with a revamped UI (reserved specifically for tablets, strangely, but nevertheless) that ushered in the beginning of Google's focus on polish and user experience. Why the surprise? Well, aside from the unusually quick departure from the land of 5, Google has typically reserved full number bumps for major platform evolutions - those with not only under-the-hood improvements but also sweeping visual overhauls. As I mused on social media yesterday, the jump sure seems like a long one - and I'm not the only one being caught off-guard. ![]() And now we're jumping from 5.x to 6.0 within a single year and a single letter change. That's three years and three named releases - Ice Cream Sandwich, Jelly Bean, and KitKat, all of which had their fair shares of visual refinements and feature additions - all staying within the 4.x family. And a year after that, in October of 2014, Android 5.0 Lollipop made its way into our lives. That same fall, we got a taste of KitKit in Android 4.4. The next year brought us a third Jelly Bean release with Android 4.3. Then Android 4.1 and 4.2, both Jelly Bean, in 2012. We had Android 4.0, the delectable Ice Cream Sandwich, in late 2011. Six-point-oh? Good golly, Miss Molly! That's a hefty number jump - especially when you consider how slowly Android's version numbers have climbed in the past. While most of us expected the M release to be a minor bump up from 5.1 to 5.2, Le Googlé has revealed Marshmallow will actually bring us all the way up to a big, round 6.0. ![]()
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