Android 1.6 (Donut) vs Android 2.1 (Eclair)
Android 1.6 (Donut) and Android 2.1 (Eclair) are two versions of the Android mobile platform. Android mobile platform was initially created by Android Inc. based on a modified version of the Linux kernel. It is an open source software stack developed for mobile phones and other mobile devices. Google bought Android in 2005 and formed the Android Open Source Project (AOSP) in collaboration with Open Handset Alliance to maintain the Android system and to develop it further. Since then there had been a number of version releases to Android platform. Android 1.6 (Donut) and Android 2.1 (Eclair) were released during late 2009 to early 2010 period and they are the early Android platforms that supported multi-touch feature in Android based mobile devices. However, the virtual keyboard was introduced with Android 1.5 (Cupcake).
Android 2.1 (Éclair)
Android 2.1 is a minor update to Android 2.0, however the Android 2.1 is the officially released version. Android 2.0 was made obsolete with the release of Android 2.1. Android 2.1 gave totally a new experience to users when compared to Android 1.6. The major change from Android 1.6 is the improvement to virtual keyboard with multi-touch support.
Android 1.6 (Donut)
Android 1.6 a minor platform release introduced in October 2009. It incorporated the features in Android 1.5 (Cupcake) with few aditional features. Android 1.5 is a major release in May 2009. The Linux kernel version for Android 1.5 is 2.6.27. And it was upgraded to 2.6.29 in Android 1.6. The on-screen soft keyboard was introduced with Android 1.5.
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Android 2.1 (Eclair) API Level 7 |
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New Features 1. Screen support for low density small screens QVGA (240×320) to high density, normal screens WVGA800 (480×800) and WVGA854 (480×854). 2.Instant access to a contact’s information and communication modes. You can tap a contact photo and select to call, SMS, or email the person. 3. Universal Account – Combined inbox to browse email from multiple accounts in one page and all contact can be synchronized, including Exchange accounts. 4. Search feature for all saved SMS and MMS messages. Auto delete the oldest messages in a conversation when a defined limit is reached. 5. Improvement on camera – Built-in flash support, digital zoom, scene mode, white balance, color effect, macro focus. 6. Improved virtual keyboard layout for accurate character hits and improve typing speed. Virtual keys for HOME, MENU, BACK, and SEARCH, rather than physical keys. 7. Dynamic dictionary that learns from word usage and automatically includes contact names as suggestions. 8. Enhanced browser – the new UI with actionable browser URL bar enables users to directly tap the address bar for instant searches and navigation, bookmarks with web page thumbnails, support for double-tap zoom and support for HTML5: 9. Improved calendar – agenda view provides infinite scrolling, from the contact look up list you can invite for event and view attending status. 10. Revamped graphics architecture for improved performance that enables better hardware acceleration. 11. Support Bluetooth 2.1and included two new profiles Object Push Profile (OPP) and Phone Book Access Profile (PBAP) . |
| Android 1.6 (Donut)API Level – 5, Linux Kernel 2.6.29 |
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. New Features 1. Quick search box – search across multiple sources direct from homescreen – system list results based on previous clicks 2. Improvement to camera feature – Integration of camera, camcorder and gallery – quicker toggle between still and video mode – select multiple records for deletion – launching and processing faster than earlier 3. VPN settings – new control panel in settings to configure and connect to VPN – Support for L2TP/IPSEC pre-shared key based VPN, L2TP/IPsec certificate based VPN, L2TP only VPN, PPTP only VPN 4. Battery usage indicator – guide users to save battery power by showing power consumption for each applications and services 5. New accessibility service available for download
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Features incorporated from Android 1.5 (Cupcake) 1. On-screen soft keyboard that works in both portrait and landscape orientation – Support for user installation of 3rd party keyboards – User dictionary for custom words 2. Home screen – Widgets – Live folders 3. Camera – Video recording – Video playback (MPEG-4 & 3GP formats) 4. Bluetooth – Stereo Bluetooth support (A2DP and AVCRP profiles) – Auto-pairing 5. Browser – Webkit browser introduced – Squirrelfish Javascript engines added – Copy ‘n paste – Search within a page – User-selectable text-encoding – Unified Go and Search box (UI change) – Tabbed bookmarks/history/most-visited screen (UI change) 6. Contacts – Shows user picture for Favorites – Specific date/time stamp for events in call log – One-touch access to a contact card from call log event 7. Google applications – View Google Talk friends’ status in Contacts, SMS, MMS, GMail, and Email applications – Batch actions such as archive, delete, and label on Gmail messages – Upload videos to Youtube – Upload photos on Picasa . |