Android is one of the biggest contenders in the mobile phone market now, with more than 2 billion active users globally. So what do you need to know about Android? Read on to find out!
What Is Android?
Android is a mobile operating system. Google created this OS, and it’s available on various devices like smartphones, tablets, and smartwatches. The difference between this OS and iOS or Windows Mobile, for example, is that it’s based on Linux rather than a proprietary UNIX-like kernel.
How It Began
Android was released in 2007. Google announced it as an OS for mobile devices that would include a mobile device and a mobile browser. This OS was designed to be robust and flexible to run on various devices and handle various apps. It would have a robust OS to run on older hardware and support a long time later. It would also be open source so that other developers could create applications for this OS, and then the users could choose to install those applications.
At first, Android was meant to be used by the Google Phone, a mobile phone developed by Motorola. The Phone was never released, which caused the company to abandon Google’s development of Android. This move marked the beginning of a series of missed deadlines and issues with this operating system.
In October 2008, when Google released the Android Market, it was clear that they had made mistakes with this operating system. They were still not committed to its success. It was further confirmed when the company announced that it would no longer develop anything for a mobile phone in 2009, which caused developers to doubt whether this OS would ever be commercialized or not.
In 2009, Microsoft released Windows Mobile 6.5, the last beta version of their Windows Mobile operating system. After this release, they stopped developing new versions of Windows Mobile and finally announced that they would no longer develop anything for these mobile devices.
In 2011, Google began to look at other mobile operating systems. One was Maemo, an open-source project run by Nokia, a Linux-based OS that could run on various devices, including smartphones, tablets, and smartwatches.
Android went through many changes during its development. It started as an OS for mobile devices but eventually became a significant competitor to Windows Mobile, Windows, and iOS. The company is now looking at other operating systems and, in 2015, announced that they would not continue developing Android 6, as you no longer needed that version for their devices.
You’ll need to update your device’s firmware regularly to keep up with this operating system.
