It was only a few years ago that Apple launched the iPhone, which was thought of to be the ultimate tool in mobile telephony. What with the rapid, almost mind numbing advancement of technology, iPhones have become a thing of the past. Smarter, better, and more technologically equipped mobile phones are available now, which are far better than the iPhone in a number of ways. Apple had its iPhone, and now Google has its Android phone. Android phones are the new generation smart-phones. They utilise the best technology that is available, and provide a number of features that would be unthinkable for a mobile gadget to possess. Android phones are the ultimate gizmo. And they are increasingly becoming extremely popular.
Most of us have heard about the Android phones but do not have a clear idea about what they are all about. Android basically refers to an operating system on a mobile platform, based loosely on the Linux kernel. Android Inc. is the name of a firm based in Palo Alto, California, which provided different sorts of software for mobile phones. Google acquired this company, and thus ventured into the mobile phone market which it had hitherto avoided. Recently, Android has been taken over by the Open Handset Alliance, which is basically a joint venture, between a number of mobile phone companies which offer open standards for all mobile devices. In the Android operating system software developers write managed code using Java. The unique feature of Android phones is that they are controlled by Java language libraries that have been developed by Google. Android phones have become extremely popular worldwide. Earlier this year Google had announced that almost 16000 Android handsets were being shipped per day, and the number has increased with the passage of time.
A few of the many unique features of the Android phones include Multi-touch features, an Android Market, an Environment for development (which include tools for debugging and enhancing performance, and various plugins), Additional support for hardware, Java operating system support, Media support (Android supports a large number of file formats), amazing storage, connectivity, and other facilities. The Android operating system is indeed well equipped. It supports all networking technologies that are available including GSM, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, CDMA, UMTS, EDGE, and many others. It also offers fast switching between the operating systems. The first marketed phone model that used the Android Operating System was the HTC Dream. Nowadays, a number of handsets offer Android. The other feature of Android include hardware speeds customized and optimized according to specific user requirements, more resolutions support, Support for Microsoft Exchange, Flash and Digital Zoom support, Motion Event facilities for Multi Touch, Live wallpapers and a superior internet keyboard.
Now the Cupcake update has improved the Android OS by leaps and bounds. The Android OS now boasts of the ability to record and view video clips using the Camcorder specification, easy upload of videos on YouTube, a new soft keyboard which features an Auto-complete feature, Automatic connection availability to Bluetooth devices within a certain range, and a number of other such unbelievable features.
