History of Android design: 2008-2021 🤓📱

Android has been around since 2008, and in that time, its UI has been reinvented several times over. As we enter the fourth design era of Android, with Material You in Android 12, it's time to revisit the past 13 years in Android UI and remember how we got here.
Please subscribe so you see more videos like this one! phon.es/acsub
And follow us on social media:
Twitter: / androidcentral
Facebook: / androidcentral
Instagram: / androidcentral
LINKS
May contain affiliate links. See Future's disclosure policy for more details: www.futureplc.com/terms-condi...
#MaterialDesign #MaterialYou #HOLOYOLO #33b5e5

[@corntall725]

Android back then : dark mode already... Android now : lemme introduce you dark mode...

[@SirFaceFone]

Google: Introduces darker UI on Android 4 for OLED phones Google just a few years later: *w h i t e* app drawer

[@Mithinco]

This takes me back! Android sure has evolved! Makes me wonder how it would look like in another decade

[@En4cer2K9]

Assuming Google hasn't gotten bored and dropped Android support by then. They never seem to stick with anything for too long. As it is, they've been trying (and failing) to essentially replace it with Chrome OS (but then, let's see for how long they continue to support THAT). For instance, I don't think I'll ever forgive them for giving up on tablet support when Samsung followed right behind them and made Dex.

[@the_mariocrafter]

They might switch to Fukushima And leave Android to open source

[@SachinS-sf2vm]

@@the_mariocrafter not Fukushima 😂😂 it's Fuchsia

[@maddeningmonk9585]

Still ugly os for the poor

[@papi1999]

@@maddeningmonk9585 cringe dude

[@somedayitsgonnamakesense]

meanwhile at Apple: should we put calculator in the M1 iPad Pro? Tim: NO

[@Yash9278]

😂😂😂

[@Yash9278]

I like Windows 10 calculator since it has most unit converter including currency converter too. Pretty well equipped based on Windows stock app.

[@clickbaitpro]

@@Yash9278 I like it too, It's a feature rich calculator

[@coffeemakerbottomcracked]

What? Why no calculator?

[@nshinata9244]

@@coffeemakerbottomcracked they want genius and mind blowing calculator but they still can't find one

[@abesh1284]

Material Design is still so fresh and cool! Can't wait for Android 12 anymore!

[@orlamarch721]

sadly Samsung's One UI doesn't make this

[@Yash9278]

Can't expect stock Material You design on Oxygen OS. 😭

[@Yash9278]

I'm terribly having trouble to like OnePlus this year. What have you done OnePlus. 😭

[@blackpirate8748]

Custom roms are the way

[@snigir4908]

hoho my xiaomi redmi 5 plus is originally android 8.1 or called oreo, but because there is a custom rom I use it and the stable version becomes android 11 everything works normally, maybe I will get android 12 too

[@krisvaras7801]

been an android user since 2.1, damn. holo really takes me back..

[@laoahappy2]

Ikr

[@Slixbrah]

I want to see someone port gingerbread,ics,jellybean to newer smartphones and see how it runs

[@krisvaras7801]

or someone make a custom room and try to make it look as gingerbread as possible (if thats even possible, im no developer)

[@eamonob84]

@@krisvaras7801 it's certainly possible. CM ROMs had a KitKat theme you could use to make it look like the old style.

[@mavericu_]

As far as I know, this would be possible, but also extremely difficult, mostly because of the hardware blobs, HALs and kernels that are built for newer Android versions and would not work with older versions. So in the absolute best scenario, ROMs based on older versions of Android would boot succesfully but otherwise they would be borderline useless since pretty much everything else would be broken, like phone calls, internet access, camera etc.

[@RuviaPawz]

It will run bad cause 32 bit

[@martinytcz1762]

@@mavericu_ you could go one android version down presuming another device from the same manufacturer with the same chipset has launched with an older android version

[@duybachvu1891]

Seeing the design of old Android versions makes me miss Windows Phone even more :( Metro really looked great

[@swenn.4038]

The first time i turned on my first Windows Phone device i fell in love with the design. 6 years later i still miss it and sometimes turn on the old phone just to look at it and feel nostalgic.

[@coffeemakerbottomcracked]

Windows Phone UI still looks modern, and will look modern in the future

[@KofolaDealer]

It was so ahead of its time

[@stealthysaucepan2016]

Yeah tiles actually work better than icons when it comes to smaller touchscreen devices

[@Devo_gx]

I miss the CRT Screen Off animation in Android 2.3

[@VirusUch]

i still use it😂 on android 11

[@Devo_gx]

@@VirusUch Custom rom?

[@VirusUch]

@@Devo_gx yes

[@NewRepublicMapper]

that actually looks perfect

[@bulletpunch9317]

Would be great on a foldable

[@Aman-xo4yx]

Old Android kitkat days when I was excited for Android tablet my father used to bring for me

[@flood6907]

I remember when I got a Samsung galaxy tab e lite

[@shinpansen]

I remember being so excited for android 4.1 jelly bean. First time, we got 60 fps. My favourite version with kitkat.

[@PAIN_3100]

Android KitKat... my favorite version till date. Have lots of memories with my Galaxy tab 2 along with tonns of tweaking with Xposed modules! After that with the update of lollipop, Xposed almost got demolished for sometime (at least for me 😢)

[@SirFaceFone]

I remember my peak rooting and customizing days with KitKat - Lollipop

[@OriginalBoondocksXVIII]

Been here since the MyTouch 3G and I've loved every step of this UI journey.

[@nateskool]

Oh my God! I had that same device too! I totally forgot

[@eligeidel9357]

I started on Android 4, my favourite was 6 and I'm on 11 with my S21 Ultra now.

[@VirusUch]

android 5 and 6 were similar!!

[@SirFaceFone]

Android 6 was peak Material design 1 (or 2.0?). I'm still a bit pissed when they took away Google Now on Tap in the next versions.

[@itsreeyah]

I also started on Android 4 (KitKat), now I'm on Android 12 with my Galaxy A23. Also, which Android 4 are you talking about, there are two of them - Jelly Bean & KitKat?

[@ShippoHsu]

Fun fact: Roboto was redesigned in Android 5.0

[@eIucidate]

Interesting stuff. Maybe that's why I stopped hating it after a while...

[@hafuridotus]

Feels like a full circle seeing Samsung / Google team up again for the Pixel 6 & Pixel 6 Pro. Can't wait to get my hands on this phone!

[@simonsayz1812]

I think we'll quite literally go full circle if they keep rounding those corners even more :D

[@yoman9446]

back in 2014, Android Lollipop was the most beautiful thing android fans had ever seen. It's hard to bring back the same amount of excitement nowadays.

[@ArunG273]

because holo UI was very weird and not looking good.

[@clavierpixelkey650]

@@ArunG273 Personally I prefer Holo

[@JessieJamesPlays]

hello discord mod

[@eIucidate]

Spot on. I hated every single look - even at the time - until Material Design. My first Google phone was the Pixel XL but I was never excited about updating to a new version on day one until now.

[@SirFaceFone]

Lollipop was the first time Android looked as modern as Windows Phone's Metro UI tbh

[@Sandraisbored247]

Man, live wallpapers really take me back lol

[@coffeemakerbottomcracked]

Battery d r a i n

[@Sandraisbored247]

@@coffeemakerbottomcracked Indeed

[@Strikerage]

Fun fact: Nearly all the cool features you're used too were on WebOS first... 12 years ago.

[@2phonesbabyken]

Guess who was one of the mind behind WebOS...

[@blalien777]

@@2phonesbabyken Matias Duarte

[@TheXlen]

Fun Fact nearly all features were on Symbian 20 years ago🤷‍♂️

[@mehshutup3041]

@@TheXlen basically

[@Ignacio.Romero]

Fun fact literally all features were in a Turing Machine 85 years ago

[@chaabimonta8501]

Android 5 Lollipop was a peace of art, it was a huge jump to the android interface and shape, specially on samsung

[@r.Ry4N.05]

Nougat's Material Design was my favorite, when it wasn't all white. Oreo and up just look bland. Hopefully 12's Material You will be the next great thing. Also, when will Google or Custom ROM devs (like LineageOS team) and app devs make the dark theme more unified across the entire system? I mean, I can have the Settings and System UI in pitch black, but the Dialer is a dark grey instead, and Messaging is a lighter shade of that dark grey, while 3rd party apps have their own shades of dark grey. Substratum is no longer an option for me.

[@marlonese]

Maybe unpopular opinion but I loved the non unified icon shapes of material design when it wasn't all round.

[@leongcm1998]

Yep, I felt the same as well. Nougat was super clean and easy to navigate around.

[@samuelitooooo]

Oreo and up was called Material Design "Refresh". I didn't like it as much either

[@space0015]

@@samuelitooooo i hate nougat tho.

[@coffeemakerbottomcracked]

Marshmallow and Nougat

[@NizarNoor]

I still love the look of that first Material Design showcase. I wish I could have that on my phone today.

[@sirbaconbuster]

I wish I could either get the concept showcase for Material Design or the Honeycomb style on my phone. Polar opposites, I know, but the two extrememes that I love.

[@phs125]

My first smartphone was a gingerbread. When I was jealous of my ICS friends... Then I got a kitkat, Then lollipop, Then nougat Then the updates didn't seem to have any visual differences. It's all the same to me now. I don't even know which version I have now...

[@prafullajha5123]

I prefer android 5.0 "Lollipop" as the major overhaul and the best design language till now. Wish they could kept that material design still.

[@WarlordMoA]

Honestly Google Material accent is still fresh and i would love if they kept the holo-scifi widgets that was on Gingerbread and Nexus 7 tablet.

[@paulmarsdensr1095]

A great android history lesson.

[@darrenhilton5581]

Such a great walk down memory lane!!

[@junaidwarsi3791]

Much awaited retrospective video. I am amazed how time flies so quickly.

[@eamonob84]

Man, I miss the KitKat and lollipop days with the smaller phones. So much better back then, when everything was exciting.

[@danasvah]

Everything was indeed exciting. Now we're so stuck up on specs and what now. A phone that would have been considered impossible back then would get reviewed as the "worst" phone. It's mind boggling

[@eamonob84]

@@danasvah exactly. Reviewers will talk about how “slow” a phone is when it’s faster then flagships used to be. Plus every phone is giant and exactly the same now.

[@SirFaceFone]

That's what happens when a market matures and there's only a few competitors left.

[@MaddJakd]

Holo to KitKat were the good times for me. Material definitely gave it a unified direction, but it's MEH AF!

[@jaredballoonboy7944]

When it comes to UI / aesthetics, Ice Cream Sandwich is my favorite.

[@samuelitooooo]

Bingo. The OG Material Design was my favorite. Only Material You might possibly top that.

[@coffeemakerbottomcracked]

For me it's only the nostalgy, but material design looks much more clean, no weird reflections and other effects

[@SirFaceFone]

I love the 'paper' concept of the OG Material Design. them shadows tho 😍

[@JohnMushitu]

I remember using the first android version.... How far we've come

[@jerryldavis1823]

Loved the video . Great to see the evolution.

[@beatspopo]

i guess its time for my 4 years old xiaomi mia1 to be useful again after being stuck as a remote control cant wait to flash android 12

[@kensh851]

Never I realized how nostalgic the old Android early 2010s era is.

[@mikajade33]

Riders on the storm!! This is incredible! Subscribed

[@Cowboi_o]

My all-time favorite phones - Nexus S, and Galaxy Nexus. Man I wish I could have those phones with 2021 Internals and Software

[@niklas5771]

horrible battery time though

[@dinckelman]

Every so often I consider getting a Nexus One again, just to tinker with. It was such a fascinating piece of hardware back then, especially compared to the HTC Hero, which had such unbearable lag, that it was next to impossible to use after a certain point

I honestly can't wait for materialYou & all the upcoming design inconsistencies.

[@NONOOBZ4EVR]

Oh boy😅

[@scylla4342]

Android is aiming to be the Windows of the smartphone world

[@ragingsilver]

As an iOS user I'm really envious of the material you theme, it's very clean and flat which is my design language. As for why I don't use an android phone then? I'll leave that to your thoughts as I don't wanna start a silly comment war.

[@AlexMafija]

I’ve always been anti Apple and used Symbian, maemo/meego, sailfish and then android Once Htc and Nokia were done I switched over to Apple a year ago Even tho I knew what I was getting I have to say iOS only started to grow on me once I used it I don’t think I’ll ever get something else now but this new android update looks absolutely stunning (alltho heavily influenced by iOS and sailfish) I just hope Apple has a good answer for that as this is the first time android looks better than iOS to since design is apples flagship Even tho I really really like the look of this new android version I’m cautious I liked a lot of android versions (holo ui and all the material versions) but what I absolutely started to hate was how android started to look and behave after some months of usage even tho I always invested a lot of time in maintaining it the way it is supposed to work. It’s sort of like the old Windows mobile 6,5 which had a nice lookin homescreen ui but once you dig a little deeper it was an obvious mess Let’s see if this version is the same If Htc or Nokia would make a decent flagship I might be back tho I think it’s unlikely

[@eamonob84]

I'm apparently in the minority, but I really don't like a lot of the new look of Android 12. It's pushed me back to iOS, which I think looks way better (as does One UI).

[@codymurphy3493]

@@AlexMafija The thing about iOS is is that some people just dont want to tinker or customize their phones. They just need to make sure their essential apps work and that it has great security. Which Apple is one of the best in the biz for.

[@clickbaitpro]

@@codymurphy3493 Even in android you don't need to tinker, customisation is an added feature and all the essential apps works great on both the platforms but the privacy sentiment is changing after apple announced CSAM

[@midleno8364]

@@clickbaitpro people still have a choice, and people need to respect that. Cope.

[@zues121510]

God, that HTC desire brought back some memories. It was my first (actually usable) Android smartphone. One thing I really miss is the news widget. It always felt like I was caught up unlike other news aggregators today.

[@SirFaceFone]

Those old keynote clips are so nostalgic, brings me back to the excitement of the Material design launch

[@agoogleuser2369]

We need more phones at $450 max price like the Pixel 5a 5G. I'm seriously considering this phone.

[@boussIRL]

5.0 and 6.0 have gotta be my all time favorites 👌 such a fun time for Android, even if I may be looking through rose-tinted glasses

[@sandeshvantveen]

This takes me back! I thought Gingerbread, Honeycomb and especially Ice Cream Sandwich were all the best possibly designs that they could have come up with.

[@gasperstarina9837]

Amazing evolution-I am here from watching iOS 1-15 (I had Nexus S for two months) and as I knew at this moment actually for few years now the inovation reached peak/barrier like every product does. But leaps at the beggining were mindblowing

[@RichardRatner.1972]

Thanks Alex, big love, kindest regards, as ALWAYS, Richard U.K

[@WaterObey]

I just found this video and the videos your posting are great so far hope you keep it up.. Also i did sub.

[@nvision26]

Ahh the HTC Desire. My first android love, how I miss you 😢

[@JeevanSamagar]

🔥🔥🔥🔥 These fires came while listening 🎧

[@kinari7587]

it sure takes me back, man I feel old. My first android experience was GingerBread

[@flominatorgd]

Somebody forgot that Material You theme engine, existed already in Android p custom Rom DotOS-p and was in beta for full 3 years now...

[@shekharswarnakar5592]

This video sure took me back to my early smartphone days when I was using a Samsung Galaxy Y GT-S5360 as my primary device.

[@shubhamjain931]

I used the same phone. It was my first android phone.

[@SirFaceFone]

Damn that phone was everywhere. I remember seeing the individual pixels on that crappy screen.

[@shekharswarnakar5592]

@@shubhamjain931 Same here brother.

[@shekharswarnakar5592]

@@SirFaceFone Absolutely! 😅

[@haziqsembilanlima]

I still love 4.x style launcher to this day that I'm still using Xperia Home on non-Sony devices

[@tomrachellesfirstdance7843]

I miss that old HTC clock widget I loved when it rained and you unlocked the phone windscreen wipers would wipe pretend rain way. Never got boring

[@Arrozconchopsticks]

Those 2.3/4.0 days were fun, especially with custom roms. My first Android was the Droid X.

[@JulianGesenhoff]

What a fun video to watch!

[@Shadow_man7]

My journey started with HTC Magic 1.5 Cupcake without HTC UI. It was so barebone but I were so excited. It already felt like a handy computer in my pocket :D

[@KisalYahampath]

I remember getting my first Android phone Sony Ericsson Xperia x8 running Android 2.1 Good times

[@OGMattKenobi]

Damn...these old HTC's...still have my old one. Two screens of that one can fit in my phone right now

[@kaushikvemala3095]

Content is great!!

[@raghu_rsb]

i'hv started my android journey with Android Eclair 2.1 SONY W8 still with android & i love to be.

[@Blessed2bFresh]

What a great trip down memory lane! I remember seeing the 1st drastic change when I bought my Nexus 7 which was my first all Google device that was made by Asus. I believe it was one of the first ones that had jelly Bean and I was in love. I do believe that us droid folks are knocking on Apples door and I see more switches coming with the pixel 6 than ny other device thus far. I'm quite excited for the materialU in Android 12. I won't benefit too much on my s21 but I am going to definitely pick up a 6 pro if there are any left in stock LOL. I'm not entirely sure if it's just my personal algorithm but it does seem as if there is a lot of talk about this phone from both sides. I've been happily using gcam ports on Samsung hardware since the S8 and after purchasing my girlfriend a pixel 4a 5G I was blown away at the fast shutter speed that made me seek a different camera than the stock on Samsung. I work with dogs so naturally taking multiple pictures just to get one has always been the norm but the software working on the intended hardware is phenomenal. Sorry for the novel, fantastic video as always!

[@Chemy.]

nice documentary mate

[@lordforareason9440]

Daaaaamn i started on Android 4 and now I'm on Android 11. Gosh the good ole days

[@TheRandom1212Channel]

3:45 my opinion thats looks like beautiful that side bar please add to next android when you flip the phone sideways

[@fbkensarhd5279]

Jelly bean ...was the pinnacle of android. Spb shell 3d launcher made android 2.x fun. :)

[@Sim_Flix]

I remember trying Andriod for the first time back in 2012 and being sorely disappointed. It just didn't compare to the fluid iPhone. But now, I've just switched from iPhone to the Samsung S22 Ultra and I'm blown away!!

[@melocowan2610]

Personally, circular icons of stock Android make it look cheap. So far, One UI is the best in terms of aesthetics.

[@clickbaitpro]

Thankfully we can customise that

[@clavierpixelkey650]

One UI 2.1 on Android 10 looks good. One UI 3.1 on Android 11 looks cheap. Stock Android 11 looks good (if you change the system colour accent) Stock Android 12 looks cheap. sigh…

[@msaudtahir]

@@clavierpixelkey650 Blur at most places in OneUI 3 really annoys me.

[@kennybruhbruh]

OxygenOS is better

[@clavierpixelkey650]

@@msaudtahir Exactly. So far I haven't been able to beautify the visual appearance of One UI 3.1 despite Samsung's advanced Theme Park (theming engine) and my favourite 🤖Holo Blue colour accents… Even more annoying for me is that since One UI 2.5, the virtual ⌨️ cursor no longer has haptic feedback and it floats vaguely - like a PC mouse cursor - over the letters I'm trying to edit. Basically extremely frustrating to type and edit anything. And then in One UI 3.1 the option to disable the 📸 selfie camera cutout (notch) is just removed! Gone with no explanation! Don't even get me started on the rest… even the 🔊🎚️volume panel was much better in One UI 2.1 with Sound Assistant.

[@Saluteme10288]

The nexus one brings back memories man

[@MegasXLR]

The gestures clashed with the great side menus, not the other way around.

[@krtkks]

Great video

[@rizqiput_x]

my first android was gingerbread. and it gave me a lot of beautiful memories

[@damarrahmatan]

Yeah

[@romandulce999]

I actually loved my HTC Desire... More then I love android phones today...

[@fahmibassem1122]

Wonderful

[@FinskuTV]

Damn I just want HTC Desire sized Android phone with better screen/body ration

[@scavanger1000]

My first Android phone, was when I was in middle school I think, it was my sister's old phone when she upgraded, android 2.3.5 I think maybe 2.3.4, and i spent so long trying to root it so I could flash a custom ROM, but that update was not able to be rooted, sadly

[@raymundonunez9485]

I'm watching this on Android 12. Android jelly bean and ice cream sandwich are the most nostalgic for me

[@ThePeter567]

The material you commercial looks so much better than the real thing

[@bakohyusron7432]

Unpopular Opinion : Android Lollipop and Marshmallow Material Design is the best Android design ever

[@scylla4342]

not an opinion but a fact

[@theotht]

Time passes fast, but technology evolves way faster

[@paulclalchungnunga2052]

( Leave your comment English ) Very informative , whole lotta thanks for the post tbh

[@harrismirza2731]

Huawei actually created material u bc in the EMUI 11 ad you see all the colours that match each other like all shades of pink are shown in sections and that how Google got it they gave Google info about it bc before the ban they was making a smart speaker and they gave eachother ideas for there devices

[@dylanbacon4039]

For anyone that still says Android is slow and laggy, they haven't used any Android in the past 3 or 4 years lol My first Android was a Blu Advance 5.0 that cost $60. Ran Android 5 out of the box. While it didn't have the fastest specs or largest memory, it was still snappy. Fast forward to today owning a Pixel 4XL, Galaxy S10, and OnePlus 5T, I can only say the experience has gotten so good that I take for granted how far we've come.

[@abdelali9279]

NGL, I miss the free shape app icons, call it whatever you like but I got used to recognize apps by the shape of their icon and different colours used, now all icons are just a circle and even Google apps are white with an abstract shape using the comany's colour scheme that to me, just tells me nothing, IDK but those big and unique icos is what made the UI so special and different than iOS, but hey that's just me.

[@coomercommander2554]

i miss early android 4.x design so much

[@rohitparethodi8061]

All I am thinking is, Man! That HTC phone looked rad!

[@Adit422]

Still, the best experience for me (read it, experience) is KitKat @ OG Nexus 5! My first clean android phone, just shame that Google won't enter my country because I really really like Pixel 5 & 5A!

[@jessiebirax9152]

Very nice video

[@myrmeko]

I think every non-Nexus/Pixel user is laughing at Android 12 right now. They finally managed, after they broke all support for Substratum, to add a native theme engine that's as barebones as barebones can be. Remember HTC's theme engine? You were able to make your own themes, share your themes with others and everything was fully customizable. It didn't have those fixed colors chosen by some AI. You were able to choose the colors YOU wanted, not what the phone thought you wanted. If they really want to market this pseudo-customization like it truly is, they should rename it into "Material AI", because there is no "you" in that, there is no user input.

[@clavierpixelkey650]

I kind of agree. Even Samsung One UI 2.1 on Android 10 was very theme friendly (not the terrible One UI 3.1, not going to talk about that). This looks more like Material Google. If it's really Material You, you would be able to change the shapes and use Substratum themes without root. (On Android 8 Oreo you can use Substratum without root and then Google killed this feature on 9 Pie). Or at least Google should give the power users a more complicated theme engine like Telegram's theme engine. I miss Holo Blue and Holo UI.

[@clavierpixelkey650]

I think it's possible to key in your own hex code colours in Material You. I would go with turquoise blue and lilac purple.

[@niek7808]

i actually think that it will integrate really good with one ui

[@HAKANKOKCU]

i think if they was made android 3.0 material.. it would look so cool

[@abdullahzafar4401]

Kinda don't want this material design to get the back seat but Also cery excited for the new material you

[@timothyxxxpaul]

Where can I get the wallpapers from 8:16 great video btw!

[@dugtrioramen]

I mostly love material you, but I'm really not a fan of the monochrome home screen icons. I think the app backgrounds should a low saturation background, with low saturation but different colored icons. That way each app can still be distinguished by color, and it won't look horrible with 3rd party apps

[@NewRepublicMapper]

Android KitKat and Lollipop-Marshmallow is one of the Best Android Versions ever

[@WHR0306]

I've always been an Android guy. I hope One UI 4 keeps the Material You colors.

[@macs006]

Looking at android Lollipop brings me back

[@snigir4908]

hoho my xiaomi redmi 5 plus is originally android 8.1 or called oreo, but because there is a custom rom I use it and the stable version becomes android 11 everything works normally, maybe I will get android 12 too

[@sbatty65227]

Been an Android since the first Tmobile G1 phone. They've come a long, long, long way since then.

[@jbritain]

In practice android 12 has about 5 different accent primary colours with various secondary colour options, so it's hardly you customising it yourself. Frankly, android 12 allowing you to pick the icon shape and accent colour was better

[@lenni-builder]

I used this nexus live wallpaper on my old android 4.2 tablet...

[@lateral1385]

Android means freedom. Power to the user. 💚

[@naydacolunga4992]

Another reason iphooph sucks

[@jesusnavarrete6317]

HTC Android was the best for me at the time. The UI was top tier