Android Generations

Although it is difficult to generalize the huge ecosystem of Android devices, we can put them into generations based on their hardware capabilities.

The newest generation is generally considered "high-end", the previous as " mid-range", and the one before that to be "low-end".

1st Generation

The first generation of Android smartphones is generally underwhelming. The technology just wasn't there, hardware wise or software wise. The hardware arms race had yet to begin, so many of these were at mid-range compared to the iPhone 3G of the period.

• Mid-range during: - 2007

• Concurrent with: - iPhone 2G, Windows Phone 6.5, Blackberry

• Processor - 500-600MHz, single core

• RAM - 128-256MB

• Bands - 2G, 3G

• HTC Dream/T-Mobile G1 - The first Android smartphone. It was underwhelming, underpowered, and was not a looker by any means.

• Motorola Backflip - A odd phone with a new design of the keyboard on the back and screen in front.

2nd Generation

In this generation, Android managed to supplant Windows Mobile 6.5 and the Blackberry, as carriers looked for something that could truly rival the iPhone. New custom skins, some ported from Windows Mobile, began to pop up to "fix" the "less than appealing" Android interface of the time.

• High-end during: - 2007-2008

• Concurrent with: - iPhone 3G, Palm Pre, Nokia N900, Windows Phone 6.5

• Processor: 600-900MHz single-core

• RAM: 256-512MB

• Bands - 2G, 3G

• Motorola Droid/Milestone - The Motorola Droid gave Android a "serious business", high-end tradition of great design. It was a bestseller to rival the iPhone, which had been a major thorn in Verizon's side. The Android 2.0 OS is said to be the first usable edition of Android.

• HTC Hero - Outside of America, it was this phone and it's successors that rocked the markets. HTC attempted to liven up the unremarkable Android interface with its signature HTC Sense, imported from its successful, but dying Windows Mobile 6 devices. This began a long tradition of manufacturers adding their own custom skins to Android, which later became a liability, rather than a benefit.

• Nook Color - Built by Barnes and Noble with Foxconn as the first 7-inch Android tablet. It is notable that this forerunner did not include Google services, only using Android as a basis.

3rd Generation

The third generation of Android devices went head to head with the iPhone in high-end territory. This generation was dominated by the innovation of HTC in anything related to Android, often surpassing the iPhone in ability.

• High-end during: - 2008-2009

• Concurrent with: - iPhone 3GS, Windows Phone 6.5, Windows Phone 7

• Processor - 1.0-1.2GHz single-core

• RAM - 256-768MB

• Bands - 2G, 3G, 4G, WIMAX

• HTC HD2 - Oddly, this generation begins with the advent of the last WM6 device, the HTC HD2. This phone was massive (for the era), packing a 4.3 inch screen and a powerful 1GHz Snapdragon to power it. The hardware was beyond the capabilities of even the iPhone. The only flaw was that it used Windows Mobile 6, about to be abandoned by Microsoft. Still, it was quite popular worldwide, and with the support of XDA-Developers, it wasn't about to die anytime soon.

• Google Nexus One/HTC Passion - The first Nexus device, a phone designed and sold directly by Google. Google and HTC used the killer components of the HD2 to build one Android to conquer all. It was not successful in the market and would end up lacking the longevity of the HD2. Still, it did show manufacturers that Androids could be used in high-end devices.

• HTC EVO 4G - Not content to let the unparalleled hardware of the HD2 go into obscurity, HTC repurposed the hardware for Android, making it the first 4G smartphone.

• Samsung Galaxy S - An unremarkable, cheaply built phone that would haunt carrier shelves for years to come. It became popular solely for price, and Samsung used it as a foothold for its next projects.

• Google/Samsung Nexus S - Rather than partner with HTC again, Google worked with Samsung for the next Nexus device; a collaboration that would soon being HTC to it's knees. This phone was based on the Galaxy S, but would end up living longer, with updates going on all the way to Android 4.1 in 2012.

4th Generation

In the fourth generation, new manufacturers began to edge out HTC, though Samsung quickly won out over all of them.

During this generation, Oracle, which recently took over Sun, sued Google for it's use of a cloned Java virtual machine and associated APIs in Android. Sun had turned a blind eye to Android in the past, but Oracle now wanted a cut of the rising phone OS. After long litigation, it was ruled that Google did infringe on Java patents, but as they also ruled that APIs and classes should not be patented, Oracle was awarded nothing.

HTC faltered and failed to capitalize on it's success, instead following the tend of creating a glut of mediocre variant phones with no clear sense of progression. This policy was ripe for disaster; Android kept bringing new, feature-filled updates that fragmented the OS and left users wanting. HTC often left their old flagship models to rot as low-end models, using updates as a way to force users to buy new phones. It was a gambit that failed, and Samsung would soon take over Android from top to bottom.

After hitting the 1GHz milestone, gigahertz becomes more misleading; with a host of other factors to take into account, such as ARM extensions, GPU, and whatnot.

• High-end during: - 2010-2011

• Concurrent with: - iPhone 4, Windows Phone 7, Nokia N9

• Processor 1.0-1.3GHz (some models are dual-core)

• RAM - 512MB - 1GB

• Bands - 2G, 3G, 4G, HSPA+

• HTC Desire HD - HTC's flagship smartphone for 2010. This one saw record sales, but also record disappointment, as HTC opted against updating the phone to ICS even while it was shown to be capable of bearing it's load. Many users would never forget the betrayal, swearing against HTC phones for the near future.

• Samsung Galaxy S II - The successor to the Galaxy S series, bringing a dual-core processor, a well-needed polish, and tons of inferior variant models. It was also widely popular, with a clear brand and familiar style that found fans in Apple converts.

• Amazon Kindle Fire - The first successful "Android" 7-inch tablet, quickly giving the iPad a run for it's money. It was super cheap, powerful, and hackable; three things that would be important, since the Kindle Fire was not Android in any sense other than app compatibility.

• Google/Samsung Galaxy Nexus - 5th generation in spirit, 4th generation in specs. This phone was the first to showcase Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, which instantly made every other phone obsolete. The software was stunning; the phone itself was a generation behind when it was sold. Additionally, this phone dropped the sdcard and the removable battery, radical moves that would be a major point of contention in the Android community.

5th Generation

The powerful devices of the fifth generation, combined with the compelling features of Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, propelled Android far beyond the tired old iPhone, with Samsung dominating the market.

Apple was badly threatened by the meteoritic rise of Android, and as it's founder famously demanded, began thermonuclear war in the courts. Apple sued HTC, which barely got away with $6 royalties. Next was Samsung, where Apple won a crippling settlement against it. Not to be trifled with, and much too successful to die out easily, Samsung's CPU department enacted large price increases on their Apple A4 CPUs to make up for the wound. Google even went as far to buy out the failing Motorola to use it's patents against Apple.

• High-end during: - 2011 - Sept 2012
• Concurrent with: - iPhone 4s, Windows Phone 7 (Nokia Lumia 900)
• Processor - 1.0-1.3 GHz (usually dual-core, some quad-core)
• RAM - 1 GB
• Bands - 2G, 3G, 4G, LTE, HSPA+ .
• Samsung Galaxy S III - The quintessential Android device of the generation. It boasted a massive 4.7 inch screen, a quad-core processor, and copious amounts of RAM. This was the first real "iPhone-killer".
• HTC One X - HTC managed to get it's act together just in time to fight the Galaxy S III, creating the HTC One series, which was superior in build quality and raw power to anything that existed at the time. But it was much too late for HTC to retain it's place; and this superior phone was only available in a few markets, strangling the baby in the cradle. Even when it was up for choice, the lack of brand recognition and the lack of an sdcard or removable battery (both found in the Galaxy S III) removed much of the appeal for devs and users alike. After the failure of the One series, there was no turning back.
• Google/ASUS Nexus 7 - Google partnered with ASUS, a famous laptop and tablet maker, to create a souped up, pure Android tablet for only $200, beating out the crippled Kindle Fire. It was more popular than any 7-inch tablet before it, forcing Apple to grudgingly release a similarly sized iPad Mini.

6th Generation

• High-End during: Sept. 2012 (release of Nexus 4) - ongoing
• Concurrent with: - iPhone 5, Windows Phone 8 (HTC Windows Phone 8X)
• Processor - 1.2-1.7 GHz (usually quad-core)
• RAM - 2 GB
• Bands - 2G, 3G, 4G, LTE, HSPA+

This was the era where Google's inexpensive Nexus devices began to see popular support, from users tired of high prices and Android fragmentation.

Starting with the Galaxy Nexus, Google began to purge many key features of Android, such as Adobe Flash, the sdcard slot, the removable battery, LTE radios, USB OTG, and the tablet-style status bar. While a minority of users attempted to defend the changes, many in the Android community began to feel that Google had fallen into an echo room of feature removal. Whether this will have a chilling effect on the future of Android remains to be seen.

• Samsung Galaxy Note 2 - A massive, powerful phablet. It has a 5-inch screen like the original and a powerful 1.7GHz Quad-Core Exynos to power it. The Note 2 was the most prominent phone of the 6th generation.
• Google/LG Nexus 4 - Google partnered with LG to create the most powerful Android phone for half the price of anything that could rival it, at $300. It was a big step from the Galaxy Nexus.
• Google/Samsung Nexus 10 - Said by Google to be the most open hardware they've ever released. The combined tablet status bar was sacrificed at great loss of convenience in favor of uniformity.