Android (operating system)
Android is an open-source mobile operating system developed by Google, primarily known for powering smartphones and tablets. However, its versatility extends to a wide range of devices, including smartwatches and automotive systems. Android was originally conceived in 2003 for use in smart cameras, but the vision shifted towards mobile phones due to their widespread usage. Google acquired Android in 2005, and the following year, it formed the Open Handset Alliance, promoting open standards for mobile devices and enabling manufacturers to utilize the Android platform.
Launched in 2008 with the HTC Dream (T-Mobile G1), Android distinguished itself from competitors like Apple’s iOS by allowing third-party developers to create applications freely, leading to a rich library of apps in the Google Play Store. While this open model fosters diversity and innovation, it can also lead to security concerns with less oversight on applications. Over the years, Android has undergone numerous updates, each named after food items, enhancing user experience and functionality, though fragmentation remains a challenge due to the variety of devices and manufacturers. Today, Android is a dominant force in the mobile operating system market and is continually evolving to meet user needs across various electronic platforms.
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Android (operating system)
Android is a popular mobile operating system (OS) that is owned and developed by Google. Although it is most closely associated with smartphones and tablets, the Android OS powers a wide variety of electronic devices, including watches and car stereos. This diversity is a direct result of the fact that Android is an open sourced operating system. This means that Google makes Android software available to other developers at no charge unless they wish to include Google's own suite of applications. While this model does have some drawbacks, it has contributed significantly to Android's rapid growth and set the operating system apart from its biggest competitors. The most notable of these competitors is Apple's iOS, which powers that company's iPhones, iPads, and other products. Despite being launched after and with much less fanfare than iOS, Android has established itself as a dominant player in the mobile technology industry to which few other operating systems can compare.
Brief History
The genesis of Android began when four Californian tech experts came together to create a new mobile operating system in 2003. Originally, the operating system that Andy Rubin, Rich Miner, Nick Sears, and Chris White envisioned was not intended for cell phones at all. Rather, they planned to create an operating system for smart cameras and other similar devices that was capable of determining the user's location and remembering his or her personal preferences. As development proceeded, however, the four eventually came to realize that it made more sense to focus on devices like cell phones that enjoyed much wider use than other smart devices. Ultimately, the team's work led to the creation of the Android OS.
The next important milestone in Android's evolution came in 2005 when tech giant Google purchased the emergent operating system for an estimated $50 million. This historic buyout marked the beginning of Google's efforts to establish a presence in the quickly blossoming realm of mobile computing. For the next few years, Google worked to improve Android in anticipation of its eventual debut as a major mobile operating system. The company's biggest and most important decision in its development of Android came when it introduced the Open Handset Alliance (OHA) in 2007. The OHA was a group of telecommunications providers, mobile handset manufacturers, and chipset producers that pledged to create open mobile device standards. Crucially, the organization of this group signaled that Android, unlike Apple's popular iOS, would be an open source operating system that all manufacturers would be free to use.
Once the OHA was established, the initial development of the Android OS entered its final stages. By October of 2008, work was complete and the first Android-powered smartphone was ready for release. That device, originally known as the HTC Dream, was the T-Mobile G1. Offering touchscreen capabilities like those of the popular iPhone and a slide-out keyboard, the T-Mobile G1 was an innovative device that set a new standard for smartphones and introduced the world to the Android OS. Since that time, Android has become one of the most successful and widely used mobile operating systems of its kind. In 2010, Google developed its first phone, the Nexus, featuring the Android OS.
Overview
From the outset, the philosophical differences between Android and iOS set Android up on a different playing field than its biggest competitor. Apple's iOS was a closed platform, which meant that it was entirely proprietary to Apple and did not allow for any third-party modifications or applications. By embracing an open source platform, Google gave third-party developers the freedom to both use Android as the operating system of choice for their devices and to create unique original applications that could run on the system. As a result, Android provided an opportunity for variety that iOS simply could not match.
Although there are many different kinds of Android-powered smartphones that may look and work differently than one another, they all share some common features. All Android-powered smartphones include customizable displays, touchscreen control, and Wi-Fi connectivity. Regardless of manufacturer, all Androids also offer access to a massive library of applications made available through the Google Play store. Like Apple's App Store, Google Play provides users with a wide array of applications that allow them to take full advantage of their devices' capabilities and do everything from watching movies to playing games, connecting to social media, shopping, and more. Unlike the App Store, however, Android's open source nature allows for a much wider variety of applications made by independent developers. While this is clearly advantageous in some ways, it also has some negative consequences. Most notably, there are far fewer restrictions on Google Play applications than there are on App Store applications, leaving more room for bad applications and applications infected with malware. Regardless, the wider variety of applications makes Android a more versatile alternative to iOS.
Since the original version of the Android OS debuted publicly in 2008, it has seen many updates. The first of these was 2009's Cupcake update, which began the long-running tradition of Android updates being named after foods. More importantly, the release of Cupcake led to the debut of the modern Android phone. Other early updates now considered legacy versions of the Android OS included Donut (2009), Éclair (2009), Froyo (2010), Gingerbread (2010), Honeycomb (2011), and Ice Cream Sandwich (2011). The first contemporary update was 2012's Jelly Bean, which improved Android's user-interface design and introduced multiuser accounts. Subsequent updates, including Kit Kat (2013), Lollipop (2014), Marshmallow (2015), Nougat (2016), and Pie (2018), have further improved both the Android OS and overall Android user experience. Marshmallow, in particular, granted users more control over application permissions, while Nougat introduced multi-window support, direct-reply notifications, and bundled notifications, and Pie introduced custom gestures for different actions.
While these updates have done much to improve the Android OS, they are somewhat hampered by one of the operating system's biggest problems: fragmentation. Fragmentation refers to the difficulty that Google has in getting Android updates to all its users in a timely manner because there are so many different devices and manufacturers involved in the process. Its later updates, specifically Pie, however, have worked to solve this issue. Despite these challenges, Android remains on the cutting edge of mobile operating systems technology. It is used to power everything from smartphones and tablets to smart televisions, smart cars, and wearables like smart watches and Google Glass.
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