Android is 15 years old. In technology years, which feel a lot like dog years to me, that is … doing the math … a lot of years. I’ve been an Android user for 11 of those years, starting with a Galaxy Note 2 after several generations of iPhone use. I’ve had zero regrets since making that switch. I tried out a couple of new iPhones over those years but never lasted more than a couple days before returning them and swapping back to Android.
Google has a fun blog post up marking these 15 years. A few things that grabbed me about their post are:
Photos of the dessert-themed Android release version statues at Google’s campus, which are sort of epic and which I asked DALL-E to mimic in the image at the top of this post.
This number “ …the fact that over 3 billion people in the world rely on Android every day is the most satisfying and fulfilling part of our work.”
And maybe most of all, a bit of Android history I was clueless about, a cheeseburger emoji fiasco:
This seems like a fine time to think on and mention my favorite Android phones, out of the ones I’ve used for a year or more. Five stand out:
The Nexus 6P - a gigantic Google phone back in its day, before they changed away from the Nexus branding and Pixel took over. I’ve almost always had a “the bigger the better” approach to phone displays and I really liked the weight and feel of this phone.
The OnePlus One. The original “flagship killer” - with legitimate flagship specs at a crazy low price. The OnePlus Cyanogen OS was a wonderful, close to pure Android experience with some unobtrusive and lovely new gestures and ease of use features. It also had an iconic fabric back of the phone, and I believe it was the first smartphone that could be used to run NetHunter, the mobile version of the Kali Linux penetration testing framework.
Galaxy Note 10 - another big-screen beauty with tons of power, an amazing display, and the useful S-pen stylus. I tried a couple later versions of the Galaxy Note (even the S22 Ultra version) but the Note 10 is still my favorite.
Nothing Phone 2 - the most different and fun Andoid phone I’ve used. I’ve written about this one a lot already, and I’m excited to see the next generation of it.
The Pixel 7/8 Pro - A little cheating here, listing both of these as one entry, but I have reasons. Before the Pixel 6 Pro, I liked the Pixel phones, but they didn’t grab me in the same way that the phones listed above did. The 6 Pro started to, and then the 7 Pro got me there. I’ve talked about the Pixel line as well, and their secret, not-so-secret weapon. Now I’ve had a couple weeks of using the Pixel 8 Pro and I’m liking it even more than the 7 Pro.
I have to give a hat tip to Droid Life - it’s their post today that brought this to my attention. They have a great collection of some of their favorite and notable Android moments, their coverage, and maybe even a favorite Android phone. Droid Life has been my favorite Android site for a big chunk of the my years with Android phones, and it very much still is.
I wish Voice-to-text was that quick on all Androids. I'd seen the bit about the hamburger emojie. Think someone indulge in something before work the day that one came to mind for development? Too funny. I missed the Droid features so thank you for pointing it out. It should be good reading.