What is Android?

Android is an operating system originally intended to target mobile market. Now, there are wide verity of electronics that runs Android like: netbooks, tablets, Voip phones, land phones, gameconsoles, MIDs, ... etc.

This platform is based on Linux Kernel. Linux is also another powerful operating system that is used in many business solutions and started to be adopted for personal everyday use as well.

Android was originally developed by Android inc. which was purchased by Google. Later, Open Handset Alliance was formed . This alliance contains 65 firms and is responsible for developing Android. However, the main company that develops android is Google.

02008-10-22The first Android device was released on October 22, 2008. It was T-mobile G1 (HTC Dream) in released in USA. By end of week 2009, there was 20 Android phone models worldwide.

The latest major update was 2.1 (Eclair) following 2 previous major updates: 1.5 (Cupcake) and 1.6 (Donut).

Android has so many features. Personally I believe it is the most flexible customizable mobile operating system.

Home screen:
You can set different kinds of short cuts not only for apps, you can also add contact Direct Dial, Direct message, Bookmarks, Music playlist, settings, and more. These are the standards. Apps -your app may be- can add more. You can also make folders and change background.
Totally unique and cool feature is widgets. Widgets are like small programs that you put in the home screen to talk as much space as the developer wants it to and change dynamically.

Market:
I uploaded an app to the market Yesterday. it was published with in minutes and about 300 people downloaded it with in 12 hours.
If you ever developed an app for the iPhone you will know what does this mean to you as a developer. iPhone app store take days or even months for an app to be approved an published. That in case apple did not decide to reject your app without giving any reasons. The story does not end in here. They can remove your app whenever they decide to do so. With Android market, the story is different and what is even better is that users can install other markets or even install your app directly with no problems.

There are so many features that I cannot cover here. Let me stop here so that I can start making tutorials.