What is Android?

What is Android?

Android is an open source operating system (OS) mainly used for touchscreen mobiles, tablets, etc. Its a Linux based OS first developed by Android Inc. Android Inc., was founded by Andy Rubin, Rich Miner, Nick Sears and Chris White. Google funded Android Inc., and later bought it in 2005. Android Inc’s original idea was to develop an advanced operating system for digital cameras. But digital camera’s market was not as big as that of mobile phones. When they realised it, they started working on an advanced OS for smartphones and devices.

The first Android Phone:

T-Mobile G1 (also known as HTC Dream) was the first Android phone that was commercially released. This smartphone was manufactured by HTC. T-Mobile G1 was released in October, 2008. It was a slider phone. Its successors are HTC Magic and HTC Desire Z. 

T-Mobile G1:

Google Play (Previously known as Android Market):

One of the main reasons for Android’s popularity is it huge Play (Android Market). The Android Market was released on October 23, 2008 (It was renamed as Google Play on March 6, 2012). It has more than 800,000 apps (as of February 2013). Users can download music, electronic versions of books/magazines (e-Books), movies, applications, games etc. The Play Store hit 50 billion downloads in July 2013.

Other Android devices:

Android is also used on other devices like, laptops, smart TVs, watches, cameras, headphones, music players, gaming consoles, wearable technology (like Google Glass, Sony Smart Watch etc). Ouya a gaming console that runs on Android became very popular.

Google Glass worn by Sergey Brin:

Samsung Smart Watch:

Android is the most popular mobile OS:

Operating System	1Q13 Shipment Volume	1Q13 Market Share	1Q12 Shipment Volume	1Q12 Market Share	Year over Year Change
Android	162.1	75.0%	90.3	59.1%	79.5%
iOS	37.4	17.3%	35.1	23.0%	6.6%
Windows Phone	7.0	3.2%	3.0	2.0%	133.3%
BlackBerry OS	6.3	2.9%	9.7	6.4%	-35.1%
Linux	2.1	1.0%	3.6	2.4%	-41.7%
Symbian	1.2	0.6%	10.4	6.8%	-88.5%
Others	0.1	0.0%	0.6	0.4%	-83.3%
Total	216.2	100.0%	152.7	100.0%

(Source: IDC)

As you can see Android is the most popular OS as of 2013.

Android Releases till March, 2013:

Android alpha

Android beta

Android 1.0

Android 1.1

Android 1.5 Cupcake

Android 1.6 Donut

Android 2.0 Éclair

Android 2.0.1 Éclair

Android 2.1 Éclair

Android 2.2-2.2.3 Froyo

Android 2.3-2.3.2 Gingerbread

Android 2.3.3-2.3.7 Gingerbread

Android 3.0 Honeycomb

Android 3.1 Honeycomb

Android 3.2 Honeycomb

Android 4.0-4.0.2 Ice Cream Sandwich

Android 4.0.3-4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich

Android 4.1 Jelly Bean

Android 4.2 Jelly Bean

Android 4.2.1 Jelly Bean

Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean

(Note: Android Alpha and Android Beta were pre-commercial releases)