ANDROID AND ANDROID PHONES

What is an Android? Android is the world's most popular mobile

platform. With Android you can use all the Google apps you know and love, plus there are more than 600,000 apps and games available on Google Play to keep you entertained, alongside millions of songs and books, and thousands of movies. Android devices are already smart, and will only get smarter, with new features you won't find on any other platform, letting you focus on what's important and putting you in control of your mobile experience.

Android an Operating System Android is a Linux-based operating system

designed primarily for touchscreen mobile devices such as smartphones and tablet computers. Initially developed by Android, Inc., which Google backed financially and later purchased in 2005, Android was unveiled in 2007 along with the founding of the Open Handset Alliance: a consortium of hardware, software, and telecommunication companies devoted to advancing open standards for mobile devices. The first Android-powered phone was sold in October 2008.

ANDROID as a DEVICE

History of ANDROID

Android was relatively unknown to most consumers throughout its early years. It has since then taken the market by storm, flooding shelves with smartphones running on all kinds of ‘desserts’. From Cupcake to Jelly Bean, we take a look at the Android operating system in depth, analyzing its rise from anonymity to the world’s most popular

Version of ANDROID

Different Versions 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.)

More of ANDROID’S history

Android, Inc. was founded in Palo Alto, California in October 2003 by Andy Rubin (co-founder of Danger), Rich Miner (co-founder of Wildfire Communications, Inc.), Nick Sears(once VP at T-Mobile), and Chris White (headed design and interface development at WebTV) to develop, in Rubin's words "smarter mobile devices that are more aware of its owner's location and preferences".

Pre- Google Android,Inc. was co-founded by Andy Rubin, Rich Miner,

Nick Sears, and Chris White. Their company set out to create a smartphone OS that was, “more aware of its owner’s location and preferences.” Their operations were mostly concealed, with there not much known about what was being developed internally. On August 17, 2005, Google announced it had bought Android Inc. Key executives and employees transferred to Google after the acquisition, but others decided it wasn’t in their best interests to work for Google. With the purchase, many analysts saw this as a move for Google to enter the mobile market. For the next few years, Andy Rubin and Co. worked hard at creating a mobile operating system based on the Linux kernel.

ANDROID 1.0 Android 1.0 was released on September 23,

2008. It was dominated by Google services and apps, listing from Google Calendar to Google Talk. Google made a key focus to integrate their services tightly with Android, which allowed easier sync between services and ultimately resulted in a much better experience. Some other notable features were the Youtube application, Google Maps with GPS, and the presence of the Android Market, which was relatively new at the time.

THE ANDROID 1.0

ANDROID 1.5 Cupcake Cupcake was an essential,yet minor, upgrade over 1.0

simply because it allowed users to place interactive widgets on their home screen. This is still one of the greatest advantages Android has to date. Gone were the days of opening the browser to check stocks or going into the weather app to check the temperature outside. The widgets self-refresh, bringing a wide range of information to your homescreen in an intuitive and unobtrusive manner. Some other changes were the inclusion of copy and paste in the browser and auto-rotation of the screen. Albeit a minor upgrade, Cupcake still had some sought-after features that no other competitor had

ANDROID 1.5 CUPCAKE

Android 1.6 Donut

Donut was also another minor update. It included text-to-speech which gave developers the ability to enable their apps to ‘speak’ a line text. Another major inclusion was the support for WVGA resolution. This allowed screen sizes to get slightly bigger and better in resolution. Donut also kicked off the trend of the ‘large screen’ phone. From here on, phones would only increase in size.

ANDROID 1.6 DONUT

Android 2.0/2.1 Eclair Android 2.0/2.1 is arguably

Android’s most important update. Eclair was introduced to the world through the Motorola Droid. The success of Android and Motorola was hinging on this one device. Google, Verizon, and Motorola bet big and it paid off. The marketing team was brilliant at advertising all that ‘Droid Does’, which included but wasn’t limited to: live wallpapers, turn by turn directions, high resolution screen (at the time), HTML 5, and tighter integration of Exchange and Google services. Luckily, the Droid was a hit, and ultimately got Android thrown into the spotlight. This was the first legitimate competitor to the iPhone.

Android 2.0/2.1 Eclair

Android 2.2 Froyo

On a side note, Android was increasingly getting popular for customers looking for a low-tier to midrange phone for under a $100. With Froyo, Google’s Android Market was becoming more and more populated with quality apps, flocking developers (and consumers) to Android.

Android 2.2 Froyo

MORE TYPES OF ANDROID

Android 2.3 Gingerbread Android 3.0 Honeycomb Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich Android 4.1 Jellybean