What is Android ?? !! Part - 1

Cell phones have really evolved earlier features like camera and music player but now latest hardwares not only support such features but advanced use of such features as well as Bar code scanner, text scanner etc which has made life better and simpler and Android has played an instrumental role in this evolution with thousands of applications available in Android market and open chance for developers to make it more advanced and better. In a way Android has changed its users' life completely.

More often than not when I’m at a family reunion or meeting up with an old friend I’ve not seen for ages, a variation on the following sometimes happens:

Interested relative/friend: “Hey what’s that phone you’ve got there?”

Me [smiling]: “It’s a Google Nexus One.”

IR/F: “Oh right. Is that an iPhone?”

Me [smile fading]: “No, not really. It’s got a big touchscreen and it’s got apps but 

it’s kind of different. It runs on Android.”

IR/F: “What’s that?”

Me [serious voice]: “It’s Google’s mobile operating system. Android comes pre-loaded with useful Google stuff like Search, Maps and all that. In a couple of years time it’s going to kick Steve Jobs’ face off.”

IR/F: “Steve Who?”

This happens a lot more than you’d think. It’s easy to forget when working for an über-cool and bleeding-edge start up that not everyone shares your enthusiasm for shiny lumps of metal and plastic.

Android is now 4 years old. But despite the little green robots peeking out of Carphone Warehouse high street displays there’s still a few people who don’t really know what Android is and what it’s all about.

This then is a beginner’s guide to Android, intended for my interested relatives and friends. I’d post a link to this article on their Facebook walls if they had them. I might print this out instead and send it to them in the post.

What is Android?

Android is the name of the software that an increasing number of today’s phones run on. It’s developed by Google and comes with a range of Google features, most notably Search and Maps, installed as standard.

This means you can easily search for information on the web and for directions from your phone, as you would on your computer. This is handy for checking up on things like train times and getting directions when out and about.

You can also access other Google services, like Gmail, Google Earth, YouTube and Google Calendar on an Android phone.

What can an Android phone do?

Android phones are highly customisable and as such can be altered to suit your tastes and needs. You can check your Facebook and Twitter profiles through a variety of apps making it ideal for social networking. Through the calendar you can set reminders from your desktop or your phone and on the latest version of Android you can send links to and from your computer and vice versa.

Another neat feature of Android is that it automatically backs up your contacts for you. When you set up an Android phone you’ll need to create a Google Account or sign in with an existing one. Every time you save a number to the address book of your Android phone it will be synced to your Google Account.

The benefit of this is if you lose your phone all of your numbers will be saved. The next time you get an Android phone and sign in with your Google Account, all of your contacts and friends numbers will be displayed in your new phone’s address book.

What apps can I get on an Android phone?

There is a huge range of apps and games available to download from the Android Market. There are cameraapps that allow you to take pictureswith artistic effects and filters on them and music players which allow you to import MP3s from your and create playlists.

You can customise the appearance of your Android phone with a number of wallpapers based on pictures you’ve taken yourself or downloaded from the web.

There are also various on screen widgets to download which allow you to access and reconfigure the settings of your phone. You can pretty much create your own system of shortcuts and menus to suit you.

Popular games available for Android phones now include AngryBirds, FruitNinja, Wordfeud and Drop 7.

How can I get apps on an Android phone?

The majority of Apps are downloaded from the Android Market (the equivalent of Apple’s iTunes App Store). Most of these are free but there are some premium apps as well that you’ll have to pay for.

You’ll have to set up an account with Google Checkout in order to pay for apps. You can pay either by debit or credit card. This takes less than five minutes to set up and is best done from your computer.

Some developers choose to make their apps available to download freely outside the Android Market and directly from their own sites. In order to download these you'll have to change some settings on your phone before visiting the site on your Android phone’s web browser.

What does an Android phone look like?

Android phones come in many different shapes, colours and sizes. Some have super-fast processors, some have powerful cameras and some have slide-out Qwerty keypads.

All Android phones prominently feature a large touchscreens. The size of the screen varies, but most of them measure at least 3-inches diagonally.

Popular Android phones include the HTC Desire (3.7-inch screen), Motorola Milestone (3.7-inch screen), SamsungGalaxy S (4-inch screen) and the Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 (4-inch screen). The DellStreak has a huge 5-inch touchscreen and is currently the biggest Android phone in terms of dimensions and screen size.

So who makes Android phones?

Every handset maker is free to make an Android phone if they want to. As well as the aforementioned HTC, Motorola, Samsung and Sony Ericsson, LG, Acer, Dell and Huawei have all made Android phones. There isn’t however a Nokia or a BlackBerry Android phone and there probably won’t be.

Does Google make any Android phones?

Google makes the software not the hardware. One phone - the Google Nexus One - is branded as “the Google Phone” but is actually made by HTC, who make other Android phones such as the HTC Desire and HTC Legend. It is considered to be the flagship Android phone, even though some Android phones have bigger screens and better cameras.

Of all of the Android phones, the Google Nexus One is currently always the first to receive new Android updates.

 

Android updates?

Google is constantly working on new versions of the Android software. These releases are infrequent; at the moment they normally come out every six months or so, but Google is looking to slow this down to once a year.

Versions usually come with a numerical code and a codename that’s so far been named after a type of dessert; e.g. Android 1.5 Cupcake, Android 2.1 Eclair, Android2.2 Froyo , Android2.3 Gingerbread and the most recent edition Android 3.2.

The dessert names of the releases are in alphabetical order, with Android 3.0 Honeycomb being the latest version, albeit a version of Android tweaked for tablets.

What's Android 3.0 Honeycomb?

So far, versions of Android designed for phones carry a 2.x designation, whereas Android versions coded specifically for tablets, like Honeycomb, bear a 3.x numbering convention.

Following the release of Ice Cream Sandwich, due to arrive this winter, this numbering convention will end. The intention of Ice Cream Sandwich is to have the same OS running on all Android devices - phones, tablets, and everything else in between.

Android tablets?

An Android tablet is a touchscreen device that’s larger than a phone and generally is used as a web browsing, media playing device - like an iPad that runs on Android, to extend the lame describing-Android-to-relatives-metaphor.

Like Android phones, Android tablets come in all shapes and sizes. These can range from the 7-inch screens of the Samsung Galaxy Tab and HTC Flyer, to the LG Optimus Pad and Motorola Xoom which have a 8.9 and 10.1-inch screens respectively.

Somewhat confusingly, you can get Android tablets, like the original Samsung Galaxy Tab, which run on Android 2.2 Froyo - a version of Android tailored for phones - and not Android 3.0 Honeycomb.

Android tablets which don’t run on 3.0 Honeycomb can’t benefit from things like the redesigned YouTube app, 3D widgets and certain tablet-specific apps like SwiftKey for Tablets.

With the arrival of Ice Cream Sandwich in october or november 2011, we should begin to see the two Android platforms becoming one.

Do Android updates cost anything?

Android updates are free. The updates bring a number of new features and changes to Android each time. Generally though, with each update the speed and overall performance of Android is improved upon.

Most of the high-end Android phones are scheduled to receive updates first. Most Android phones will have at least one update during their life cycle, with some having two.

How do I get an update?

Android updates are normally received OTA (over the air), that is, sent directly to your Android phone. Normally, once your Android phone or tablet is due to get an upgrade, you'll see a notification at the bar at the top of the screen. Then you'll be prompted to connect to Wi-Fi to avoid incurring extra data charges - updates can be quite big.

Updates are generally one-stage processes and relatively straightforwards, but in some cases you may need to back up/save any photos or apps you've downloaded before updating.

In some cases, as with Samsung's Android phones like the Galaxy S, you'll need to install the Kies program in order to receive Android updates.