We take a look inside Android 2.3 Gingerbread to see what 's different
Once again, Gingerbread updated the Linux
kernel to version 2.6.35. The interface was completely streamlined to
make it much more user-friendly and a wee bit quicker too. Performance
on the whole was vastly improved and it’s easily the fastest phone build
of Android to date.
A big part of Gingerbread was giving more user control in the form of management tools.
Firstly, there’s the app management suite which allows you to see
more info than ever before on your currently installed and running apps,
all organised very neatly in categories to make things as easy as
possible.
Not only do you have direct control to shut down apps at will but
Android does a much better job than before in monitoring your apps
activity and shutting down any which get too resource intensive.
You also now get a separate download manager menu which allows you to
see everything you’ve downloaded via websites, emails and the Android
Market.
Portable gaming saw a big boost in Gingerbread with added support for
sound, control and graphics enhancements, including things like
gyroscope enabled motion control.
Extra-large WXGA (1280×768 pixels) resolution screens are now
supported and the user interface generally received a make-over with
menu keys now having white text on a black background. Some keys were
also given a green highlight and the whole UI has a lot more contrast.
The virtual keyboard has been completely overhauled, not only is it
now much faster and more responsive but it supports multi-touch to make
things even easier. The top row of keys also have numbers which can be
activated with a long press, or you can now hold down the number toggle
(rather than tapping to switch to number mode) and tap the number keys
with another finger. It’s all about letting you do whatever is most
comfortable.
Copy and paste functions have also been massively enhanced and it’s a
much less infuriating experience to try and edit text, it’s even been
developed with one-handed use in mind.
A few other additions are more a case of equipping Android for the
future than anything immediately usable. Support for
near-field-communication (NFC) for tap-and-go payment is one such
feature. The other is SIP integration for app-free voice-over-IP
internet phone calls without the need for services such as Skype.
Version 2.3.3 was a small improvement and API update, while 2.3.4
enhanced the native Google Talk app with voice and video chat
functionality.
In July 2011, version 2.3.5 was released to fix issues on the Google Nexus S, as well as improve network connectivity. It also made improvements to Gmail and fixed a Bluetooth bug on the Samsung Galaxy S.
Most recently the 2.3.6 update aimed at fixing a voice search bug on
the Google Nexus S, but reports indicate that not only in some cases did
it not fix the bug, but also caused USB and Wi-Fi tethering features to fail.
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