CODEWITHSUNDEEP
androideclipseadtandroid-5.0-lollipop
Solace
Solace

Reputation: 9010

Android: What does "X" in version "4.X (L Preview)" and "Preview" in "L Preview" mean, and why does the combination "Android 4.X (L Preview) imply"?

I have ADT version 23.0.4 and have Android 5.0's SDK Platform installed.

I read that the Android 5.0 Lolipop has API level 21. But in Eclipse in the "New Application Project" wizard, it shows the highest API level to be L Preview and then API 21: Android 4.X (L Preview).

  1. What does this confusing sorta comination "Android 4.X" (implies it is a 4.somthing version of Android SDK) and "L Preview" (L for Lollipop?) mean?

And what does "X" say in "4.X"?

  1. Why are they using the word "Preview" in L Preview to indicate they Lollipop version?** Why didn't they write something like "API 21: Android 5.0 (Lollipop)"** like they used to for old versions?

Upvotes: 1

Views: 480

Answers (1)

AlexVogel
AlexVogel

Reputation: 10621

Before the final version of "Android 5.0 (Lollipop)" was release, Google published a beta (or preview) version of the new API. At this time it was not clear (in public) if this version would be called Android 4.5 or Android 5.0. For the "L" in the name, I can only say Google uses an alphabetically order of there version names. So after KitKat they had to use some name with an L as first letter. -> Android version history

So they chose to publish it as a "L preview" version.

After publishing the final version they renamed API Level 21 to "Android 5.0 (Lollipop)"

Upvotes: 1

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