Ionic.Framework vs $ionicFramework?

I’m trying to understand the difference between:
ionic.Framework documented here: http://ionicframework.com/docs/api/utility/ionic.Platform/
and
$ionicFramework documented here: http://ngcordova.com/docs/install/

both utilized inside a controller as a way to access the device info. Is the latter ngCordova specific? It doesnt seem to be documented in the ionic docs but it looks and feels very ion-e…

Thanks in advance,
sakotturi