Lollipop is one of the biggest Android releases ever — Here's our take on it
With the new Android 5.0 Lollipop release, Google's OS enters its third era. The first saw the scrappy platform achieve early success on smartphones, with devices like the Droid series and the first Samsung Galaxy handsets, paving the way to later dominance of the category. The second era was characterized by the important Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich release, which introduced a new focus on design, including the "Holo" visual style, and also allowed Android to gain early traction on tablets.
And now we're seeing the most important Android release in at least three years. Though we're just now getting to use it on Nexus handsets, Lollipop is about much more than smartphones. It promises to establish Android in new device categories like TVs, cars and smartwatches — and eventually an Android runtime on Chromebooks will augment Google's desktop presence. In its third era, Android is no longer just a mobile OS — it's an *everything* OS. It's the new embedded Linux or embedded Windows — a ready-made, feature-rich, and now *design*-rich OS — and Google wants to bring it to every screen you use.
Nevertheless, mobile remains Android's bread and butter, and that's what we're going to focus on in this review. Appropriately, there are a bunch of really important new additions for traditional mobile devices like phones and tablets. Lollipop introduces Material Design, Matias Duarte and co's new design language for the whole of Google, along with improved battery life thanks to the "Project Volta" initiative, and a rethinking of the way Android devices handle notifications. And that's before you consider important under-the-hood tweaks like the new Android Runtime (ART). To put it simply, this is one of the biggest Android updates ever.
We'll dive deeper into the depths of Android 5.0 Lollipop in our full review of the OS. Join us after the break.
Avril Lavigne
Fergie
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