Android may refer to:
- A science fiction film released in 1982
- Any robot built to resemble a human
- An adventure board game published by Fantasy Flight Games
But more than all, it’s universally known as:
- A software platform and operating system for mobile devices, developed by Google.
It’s a mobile operating system running on the Linux kernel. It was initially developed by Google and later the Open Handset Alliance. It allows developers to write managed code in the Java language, controlling the device via Google-developed Java libraries.
The introduction of the Android platform on 5 November 2007 was announced with the founding of the Open Handset Alliance, a consortium of 48 hardware, software, and telecom companies devoted to advancing open standards for mobile devices. Google released most of the Android code under the Apache License, a free-software and open source license.
- Ability to record and watch videos with the camcorder mode
- Uploading videos to You Tube and pictures to Picasa directly from the phone
- A new soft keyboard with an "Auto complete" feature
Innovation has led to development of many platforms for mobile phones and these platforms achieve greater importance in the feature and smart phone segments as they enable phones to be more powerful and everywhere. While for long, this segment has been ruled by Symbian and Windows Mobile operating systems (OS), the recent past has seen some new entrants in the OS domain that have made a lot of heads turn with what they have to offer.
To understand the origins of the Android platform, one needs
Among the 34 companies that formed the OHA some of the known names included Google, T-Mobile, HTC, Qualcomm and Motorola. The alliance wanted to develop a platform that would allow application developers, handset manufacturers and mobile operators to introduce new features and applications for mobile phones, faster and at a lower cost.
Thus the Android platform was defined as, “A fully integrated mobile software stack that consists of an operating system, middleware, user-friendly interface and applications.”
The first Android Software Development Kit (SDK) was launched a week later to the announcement of OHA sowing the seeds of the new open source Android mobile platform. A number of Android prototypes were displayed at the Mobile World Congress 2008, but the first Android-based phone, the HTC Dream, was launched in October 2008.
Being an open source platform, Android provides application developers a wide playground to develop and offer a large number of applications for mobile phones. On the other hand, with more and more Android-based handsets being introduced in the market, operators will be able to provide location-based services and information to users more conveniently and seamlessly.
Similarly, for mobile users, Android promises an all together new level of personalisation. This goes beyond simple changing of ringtones, wallpapers and screensavers. For an Android phone user changing the phone’s dialler, photo gallery or even any of the applications is a possibility.
This platform treats the phone’s core applications and the third party applications equally giving users a wider base of options for enhancing the phone’s capabilities as well as for personalisation. While this means that the possibilities for an Android device are limitless, the question still remains whether this new age OS will be able to deliver everything it promises? Let’s wait and see!