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Android has changed dramatically in the last ten years. Returning to modern material after our historical series, I was struck by the visual differences between the versions. To take a closer look, we came back to a Even earlier build on our T-Mobile G1 / HTC Dream. For those who are curious, here is a little visual exploration of Android 1.0 compared to Android 9 Pie. And do not worry, this is not part of these click-by-for-each-photo galleries, but of a simple scroll as we go back in time.
Initially, I had barely planned to use the G1 for a week on Android 1.0, but I finally decided that I had already spent enough time exploring the Android. Android history. Still, one last flash was in order, so I returned to the R29 to take a quick look at the first mainstream version of everyone's favorite mobile operating system.
For a more detailed exploration of the changes made to the Android version, version by version, I encourage you to check out Ron Amadeo's Android Rollover History. It was last updated with Nougat, but it is still the authoritative operating system chronicle, and much more thorough than this superficial visual and functional review.
Home Screen / Launcher
The home screen and the default launcher have evolved a lot over the years, though the modern eye can still see what it contains. The T-Mobile G1 / HTC Dream and the Pixel 2 XL can be profoundly different, but Android is still Android ten years later, and its most basic and recognizable features are still present. (Although one could argue that the Pixel Launcher is not really part of Android, it is the latest incarnation of Google's intentions in the first part for the home screen of the platform.
From the side, at the most basic level, it still works the same way: you get icons with text labels for applications on customizable pages, with optional widgets and a drawer filled with installed applications. Aesthetic differences such as the notification bar and text backgrounds have been changed over the years over the years, fonts have been changed, the clock has slid to the left and the icons have changed. state are much nicer now, but it's still Android.
But the consistency in design has changed a lot since version 1.0. Google is now pushing for uniform but dynamic "adaptive" icon shapes – the kind of rigor with which Apple has been pushing icons from the start. Android 1.0 looked a bit like one app at a time, but Android is now much more consistent with its design language – with the exception of YouTube, anyway, that does not seem to have all idea what it does.
The overall aesthetics of Android has drastically changed compared to the 00s filled with bitmap and gradients. At the time, things like arrows and giant tabs were needed to make it clear that something was interactive and how. Now, a justified burgers menu on the left involves an edge gesture and the floating action button is a standard for "entering / creating a new thing".
Settings
The Android Settings menu was a surprisingly rare place, with an interesting organizational logic. Options such as USB debugging were typically used in the Applications section rather than hidden in a developer's secret option pane. Pie may have introduced brightly colored icons for each section, but even Froyo has included monochrome icons for visual navigation. OLs were a matter of text, and options were rare.
dialer
The priorities for using the phone have changed a bit. The same navigation options in dialing / phone applications are present throughout the times, but the default screen that you have been subscribed to was previously the manual entry dialer. Nowadays, pixels send you favorites filled with avatar.
Again, things seem much more modern in Android 9 Pie, but most of the same basic features are present since version 1.0. Andy Rubin, Android and Google were just avant-garde ideas.
Navigator
The same can not be said of the browser. Of course, in recent times, pixels have been transferred to Chrome, but the G1 / Dream and many other devices were using the original AOSP browser, and the way we interact with it has changed lot since 2008.
You had to enter a menu to enter a URL on Android 1.0. At the time, it was probably about saving space – 3.2 ", this is not a lot of real estate.There were still some tabs, even if they were called "windows", and the new tab / window page on Android 1.0 was simply sent back to your home page – Google, by default In 2018 / Android P, the new tab page lists the most frequently visited sites, recent bookmarks and even recommended content.
In Android 1.0, you have opened the browser for go somewhere in Android 9 you can open Chrome for find a place to go.
Gmail
Funny way, the density of information on the Gmail app seems to have declined a bit over the years. The same total number of emails is visible on both the 3.2 "G1 and the almost 6" 2 XL pixels, although more information (like the first few lines of each message) is visible .
The colors and icons are a little more modern, but the initial layout of the Gmail application has remained relatively constant, for better or for worse. Some might call this stability dated, but at least it's consistent.
Calculator
The calculator on Android 1.0 highlights the trend of 00 to skeuomorphic design. The perceived ignorance of users once implied that people could not understand the function of something on a screen without a layout or a parallel design of the real world, which produced the abomination masked by a shadow scope and shiny buttons. The designers seem to have (mostly) overcome this pretense, however.
The Android 1.0 calculator seems a little simpler at first glance, but it had an "advanced" panel like its modern counterpart – accessible via the menu button or a slide on the screen – it just did not have the blue bar immediately visible and arrow to show how to get there.
One of the features, however, was missing from the original: it did not tell you the answer because you were typing again.
Calendar
Views of the calendar month (above) and planning views (below). Android 1.0 on the left, Android 9 Pie on the right.
Integrated calendar apps have benefited from the increase in screen size and resolution over the years. Again, the intention and the organization behind the design have not changed too much – few new calendaring methods have been invented over the past decade – but the Monthly view now has enough space to view the details of the event, rather than just a glimpse. visual presentation of availability.
Quick visual improvements, with elements such as color and simple iconography, also make navigating easier, but are minor changes.
messaging
This screenshot is actually 1.6, but apart from the font, it should be close to 1.0.
Messages / Mail has not changed also a lot over the years, either. The overall look is much more modern on Android 9, especially with Google's new design obsessed with whites, but it's essentially a list of contact conversations, like on Android 1.0 .
The name, date and content of the message should be organized in a comprehensible manner. Although there is much more to good email application, anyone from 2018 would immediately recognize and understand how it worked under Android 1.0.
The music
This may not be a fair comparison since Play Music in 2008, but as the only music player application included by default on Pixels, it is somehow the modern equivalent. even though he's probably on his death bed. However, comparing Play Music with the almost total lack of design in the original Music app is quite hilarious.
The Android 1.0 Music app seemed to be an afterthought, integrated at the last minute as a minimal visual interface for basic navigation, and far from the modern and visual bitmap experience filled with photos in apps like Play Music and Spotify.
Camera
Camera application on Android 1.0 r29 (above), Google Camera on Pixel 2 XL on Android 9 Pie (below)
Although she subsequently received an update that added much needed visuals, the original Camera application was literally a stream of the camera. Typing on the screen does nothing precisely, the only way to take pictures was via the camera's hardware button, although the application has at least indicated its location when it opened . In comparison, the Google Camera app is filled with a multitude of buttons, buttons and options.
The more substantial difference between camera apps from Android 1.0 and Android 9 makes sense. Other things like a calendar or message list can be basically the same no matter how you interact with them, but ten years ago, the cameras were nothing else. only buttons. The adaptation of all these material controls to one and the same rectangle without disturbing it is something that designers are again to experiment with.
Pictures
Integrated gallery / photo applications also share basic functions. Again, there are very few ways to do things, and if you want to see a list of photos, a grid of previews is the easiest and most intuitive way to do it.
Google Photos on Android 9 Pie is literal Magic compared to the old Android 1.0 Pictures application, but the basic features are still the same under Android 1.0: you can browse the saved pictures and photos in a chronological list, with simple options like editing by rotation, deletion and the ability to share your photos. with the others. There is no advanced feature or album feature powered by machine learning, but it is fully usable.
Market
Left: Beta market on Android 1.0 (image provided by Ars Technica). Right: Google Play Store on Pie.
Forgive the joke, but Android Market died for Android early, and our site was not there at the time. So, unfortunately, we have no screenshot of the original market to share, but I assure you that has changed a lot.
Thanks to Ron Amadeo, we were able to catch a screenshot of the Android Market beta. As you can see, the weather was a lot simpler.
The distribution of applications is one of those things like the Camera application that had not been done before. It took time to determine the best way to do it. Content discovery is a subject on which a UX / UI designer could easily write a thesis. Thousands of applications are downloaded from the Play Store every day and users can not expect a chronological list.
Google has been slow to find the best way to organize and present information about apps. I would say that their current approach, which combines curation and dynamic recommendations through rational categories, will probably end up being pretty close to the ideal, but time will tell.
It is interesting to see how things have evolved over the years under Android. I did not touch it because of the lack visuals, but Android did not even have software keyboard before 1.5 Cupcake.
Honestly, I was expecting to see even more substantial feature differences when visualizing direct comparison of Android 1.0 to 9, but most of the changes relate to design and not use. Although there are very big differences regarding window coverings, a surprising number of applications and functions is still pretty much the same once you've outgrown their dated appearance.
There are really only so many ways to do it, and while we often like the idea that Google likes to reinvent the wheel every few years, the basic interactions between applications have been much more consistent than I did not think so, even though many of the finer details are still being worked out.
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