WHAT IS ANDROID ?

What is android ? This is a simple question but the answer is quite complicated. If you go deeper on the word android , You will get lot of answers for the question What is Android. To answer in a simple way. Android is an operating system for Mobile phones. I will explain more about this in the later part of this article.

Lot of advances can be seen these days in the field of smartphones. As the number of users is increasing day by day, facilities are also increasing. Starting with simple phones which were made just to make and receive calls. Now we have phones which can even access GPS , GPRS, Wifi, NFC. and lot of other cool and advanced features which you cannot even imagine.

So in this Mobile world of this complication. Android is one of those operating system platforms which made it easy for manufacturers to design top class phones.

You might have seen windows , linux and mac operating systems which are made for computers. Windows is the most popular operating system on computers. So if you know about it then it is easy for you to get an answer for what is android.

Android is also an operating system developed by Google. Basically it was started by some other company which was taken by Google. Google improved the operating system and made it a open source platform. It was widely adapted over the world. As it is open source it is so popular amongst the smartphones.  Android OS can also be used on tablet PCs.

Android is based on linux and offers you a great deal of customization in widgets and over millions of apps. Most of them are free of cost and can be installed on your phone just by clicking on install tab of the respective app in the Google Play Store app. Which comes along with the android Phone.

You can see the logo of Android from the image below:

Android is a open source platform which can be used by any phone manufacturers on the world. Unlike other operating systems for mobile phones like iOS ( Operating system by apple for iPhone, iPad and other iDevices.). Symbain is owned by Nokia and it comes only on Nokia Handsets. Android can be used by any manufacturer. So that if the latest research is to be believed over half of the smart phones in usa run on android.

Android is one the hottest mobile operating systems available today. Samsung is the Largest Manufacturer of android phones and tablets. LG, HTC, Sony, are other top manufacturers of android phones and tablets. Some local manufacturers like Micromax, Karbon, Hawai, also use android Phones on their portable devices.

Android is released in series of Versions. Starting from 1.0 version ( where 2.0, 3.0, …… are latest releases). Google name these versions with some food items like ice cream, jelly bean, sandwich etc. which is one of the specialty of android versions.

Here are some of the Versions released by android.

• 1.0 – Android beta.
•  1.5 – Android Cupcake.
•  1.6 – Android Donut.
• 2.0/2.1 – Eclair.
• 2.2.x – Froyo.
• 2.3.x – Gingerbread.
• 3.x – Honeycomb (used mainly for tablets.)
• 4.0.x – Ice Cream Sandwich (both for phones and tablets.)
• 4.1/4.2 – Jelly Bean (both for phones and tablets.)

You can also find more info about it from the Android’s official website .