I’ve installed custom ROMs on more Android phones than I can count — CyanogenMod, Paranoid Android, AOKP — and Ice Cream Sandwich was the first Android version that made me stop. Not because it was perfect. Because for the first time, stock Android felt like a finished product, not a work in progress.
Android 3.0 Honeycomb: Complete Guide to Features, Release Date, API Level & History
Everyone’s nostalgic about Android’s early days — the G1’s slide-out keyboard, the Droid’s “Droid Does” campaign, the Nexus One’s trackball. Nobody’s nostalgic about Honeycomb. Google barely even acknowledges it existed.
Android 2.3 Gingerbread: Complete Guide to Features, Release Date, API Level & History
Can a smartphone OS peak at version 2.3 and still define the platform for the next five years? That’s exactly what happened with Gingerbread. It launched in December 2010, and by 2013 — when Android 4.x had been available for two years — Gingerbread still ran on over 30% of active Android devices.
Android 2.2 Froyo: Complete Guide to Features, Release Date, API Level & History
The iPhone 4 cost $599 at launch. The Samsung Galaxy S running Android 2.2 Froyo cost $199 on contract — and for the first time, the cheaper phone was faster.