Thursday Poll: Which Android Update Has Been Most Important to the OS?

When Droid Life first started, we began with the Motorola “OG” DROID. It came running Google’s Android 2.1 “Eclair” operating system. That was fine, but what had thousands of people rabid was the talk of an update to Android 2.2 “Froyo.” It had live wallpapers, Adobe’s Flash support, and also introduced the development community to the JIT compiler which allowed for better performance, richer graphics, and higher battery life.

Next in line was Android 2.3 “Gingerbread.” With a complete Android UI overhaul, it turned Android into a dark and sexier OS that also brought various improvements and features to devices. Highlights of Gingerbread was support for NFC chips, a much improved and smarter keyboard, and additional power management upgrades that would help our devices last longer. Gingerbread is currently the most used Android operating version in the world. 

Since Honeycomb is seen merely as a transitional period for Android, we’ll jump right into 4.0 “Ice Cream Sandwich.” What ICS has done is merge the tablet OS and UI (Honeycomb) and phone OS, bringing them into one single operating system. One that would look great on larger 10.1″ displays as well as the more compact 4.0″ devices. ICS also brought another, more elegant user interface update. There was the new Roboto font that everyone fell in love with, multi-tasking was made simpler and more accessible, improved voice input, Android Beam, and the list goes on. If anything, ICS does have the most extensive changelog of any Android release to date.

Lastly, we have Android 4.1 “Jelly Bean.” The easiest way to describe Jelly Bean is to say it’s Ice Cream Sandwich on steroids. Google introduced “Project Butter,” which improved system performance and brought the interface speeds up to 60FPS throughout. Other popular features are the new expandable notifications, Google Now, improved Voice Search, and customization through re-sizable widgets.

Taking all of this into account, which do you think has been the most important step for Android as a whole? Which version brought Android to its highest peak so far? Voice your opinions down below and feel free to shout out which version has been your overall favorite in this long journey.

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