What is an android phone post

What is Android and what is an Android phone?

10th February 2014

Android is now a decade old and the most popular mobile operating system in the world. You’ll find it on mobile phones, tablets and even on TVs and in cars. So what actually is Android? Here’s all you need to know about Google’s mobile OS.

Here we’ll help you to understand what Android is, what it can actually do, what are the best Android devices you can get, how do you use Android apps and plenty more besides.

What is Android?

Android is a mobile operating system which is found on a variety of modern devices, the most popular being smartphones. On top of that, you’ll also find Android on tablets, TV streaming boxes and other portable gadgets.

Android is basically a piece of software which allows your hardware to function. The Android OS gives you access to apps, including many of Google’s own creation. These allow you to look for information on the web, play music and videos, check your location on a map, take photos using your device’s camera and plenty more besides.

Without Android, none of this would be possible.

Android phones are highly customisable, so they can be altered to suit your personal tastes and needs. For instance, you can set your own wallpaper, themes and launchers, which completely change the look of your device’s interface. You can download new applications to do all sorts of things like check your Facebook and Twitter feeds, manage your bank account, order pizza and play games.

How to get started with Android

Check out our guide on how to set up an Android phone, for an idea of what you’ll need to do to get started. One of your first tasks will be to create a Google Account (or sign in with an existing one). This gives you email functionality and also provides a great way to backup your contacts, save your files online and so on.

The benefit of this is that if you lose your phone, all of your numbers and important data will be saved. The next time you get an Android phone (or other device) and sign in with your Google Account, all of your contacts and numbers will be displayed in your new phone’s address book immediately. No need to transfer them over or back them up anywhere else.

In fact, you can sync your personal info across all kinds of Android devices. This includes favourite websites, calendar entries and purchased apps. This is all backed up seamlessly, in the background.

What apps can I get on an Android phone?

There are millions of apps and games available to download from the Google Play store (formerly Android Market). There are camera apps that allow you to take pictures with artistic effects and music players which allow you to stream songs from the web or create playlists. You can customise the appearance of your Android handset with a number of wallpapers based on pictures you’ve taken yourself or downloaded from the internet too.

An example of a widget on the home screen of an Android phone. This one lets you access music playback from Spotify without having to open the application.

There are also various on-screen widgets to download which allow access to, and the alteration of, settings on your phone, without the need to dive through menus as you would on non-Android devices. You can pretty much create your own system of shortcuts and menus to better suit how you uniquely use your phone.

You can also download a huge range of games for your Android phone to keep you entertained on the go. Here are our favourite Android games of all time.

Asphalt Overdrive is a simple to play, tricky to master racing game.

How can I download apps onto an Android phone?

The majority of apps can be downloaded from the Google Play store (the equivalent of Apple’s App Store), which includes a mix of free as well as ‘premium’ apps that you have to pay for. Some apps have ‘lite’ versions which are free, in the hopes you’ll enjoy them enough to upgrade to the full premium version. Others – like Pokémon GO – are free but include adverts or the ability to make in-app purchases.

The same account that lets you backup your contacts can also have financial details added to it, giving you the ability to purchase content from the Google Play store directly. You can pay either by debit or credit card and initial setup takes less than five minutes from a computer.

Although there are well over a million apps available to Android users in the Google Play Store, some developers choose to make their apps available to download from their own sites or alternative app stores. In order to download them, you have to change some settings on your phone before visiting these sites on your Android device’s web browser. By downloading apps outside of the Google Play Store, you do run the risk of attack in the form of data theft or by leaving yourself more susceptible to viruses, so be careful if you choose this route.

Should you upgrade or change your Android phone; log into your Google account and you’ll be able to download your previously owned apps again, without being charged. In recent years, Google has expanded Google Play to offer more than just apps, with books, magazines, music and movies available for purchase and download in much the same way too.

Who actually makes Android phones?

Any handset maker is free to make an Android phone if they want to. The likes of Motorola, HTC, Samsung and Sony, Acer, Alcatel, Asus, Huawei, LG and ZTE have all made Android phones (and tablets). Blackberry has put out several Android phones since 2015, including the Priv and the KEYOne. And Nokia is enjoying a resurgence in 2017, thanks in large part to its new Nokia 3, 5 and 6 phones which run Android OS.

Does Google make any Android phones?

Although Google owns the OS (Android), the company has not made any of the smartphones on which it runs in-house (it did make the Android-powered Pixel C tablet in 2015). However, it has partnered with various handset manufacturers over the years to make its own-brand smartphones under the ‘Nexus’ name.

[From left to right] Google Nexus One (HTC), Google Nexus S (Samsung), Samsung Galaxy Nexus, Google Nexus 4 (LG), Google Nexus 5 (LG), Google Nexus 6 (Motorola), Google Nexus 5X (LG), Google Nexus 6P (Huawei), Google Pixel (HTC), Google Pixel XL (HTC)

Google’s Nexus phones were typically the first to receive new updates and were considered to be the flagship Android phones, even though some other Android devices sported larger screens, better cameras and more powerful hardware.

In 2016, Google shelved the Nexus brand name and replaced by launching two new phones called the Pixel and Pixel XL. For all intents and purposes, these new phones enjoy all the same benefits as the Nexus devices did and are essentially the spiritual successors to the Nexus line.

You can expect to see some new Pixel 2 phones in 2017.

Android updates

Google is constantly working on new versions of the Android software. These releases are infrequent; at the moment Google is releasing a big Android update once a year. Check out our handy, comprehensive guide to every Android version out there.

Versions usually come with a numerical code and a name that’s so far been themed after sweets and desserts, running in alphabetical order.

• Android 1.5 Cupcake
• Android 1.6 Donut
• Android 2.1 Eclair
• Android 2.2 Froyo
• Android 2.3 Gingerbread
• Android 3.2 Honeycomb – The first OS design specifically for tablets, launching on the Motorola Xoom
• Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich: The first OS to run on smartphones and tablets, ending the 2.X naming convention.
• Android 4.1 Jelly Bean: Launched on the Google Nexus 7 tablet by Asus
• Android 4.2 Jelly Bean: Arrived on the LG Nexus 4
• Android 4.3 Jelly Bean
• Android 4.4 KitKat: Launched on the LG Nexus 5
• Android 5.0 Lollipop: Launched on the Motorola Nexus 6 and HTC Nexus 9
• Android 6.0 Marshmallow: Launched on the LG Nexus 5X and Huawei Nexus 6P
• Android 7.0 Nougat
• Android 7.1 Nougat: Launched on the HTC-made Google Pixel and Pixel XL
• Android 8.0 Oreo: Rumoured to be launching on the Google Pixel 2 and Pixel XL 2

The latest public version, Android Nougat, makes the OS even faster than ever with a feature called ‘instant apps’. It also offers improved battery life with Doze on-the-go and adds native VR support. Here’s what’s changed between the different Android versions.

When does Google announce new versions of Android?

As previously mentioned, Google tends to put out a fresh new version of Android once a year (although minor updates roll out constantly).

When it comes to Android, Google often releases a beta version in the first half of the year. This often coincides with Google I/O, a big developer event held annually around May. At Google I/O we usually find out more about the new Android update, including the best features and any UI improvements.

Like Android phones, Android tablets come in all shapes and sizes. These can range from the 7-inch screen of the Asus-made Google Nexus 7 to far larger displays, such as the 10-inch display found on the Nexus 10.

Somewhat confusingly, some older Android tablets; like the original Samsung Galaxy Tab, launched running Android 2.2 Froyo – a version of Android designed for phones, whilst Android 3.0 Honeycomb was the first release of the OS specifically for tablets.

Older Android tablets which didn’t run on 3.0 Honeycomb couldn’t benefit from things like the redesigned YouTube app, improved widgets and certain tablet-specific apps like SwiftKey for Tablets.

This fragmentation between Android phones and tablets was eliminated with the launch of Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, which was designed to operate on either type of device and scale accordingly. Android Jelly Bean introduced a number of improvements for both the smartphone and tablet experience over the likes of ICS (Ice Cream Sandwich) and that trend continues with the latest release, Android 7.0 Nougat, which brings features like split screen support to the table.

Do Android updates cost anything?

Android updates are free to download and install. Updates bring a number of new features and changes to Android each time. Generally, with each update, the speed and overall performance of Android is improved upon.

Most of the high-end Android phones are scheduled to receive updates first. Most Android phones will have at least one update during their life cycle, with some having two. A life cycle is usually around 18 months, but depending on the phone this can be longer. These updates differ from app updates, which are smaller, incremental releases for individual applications installed on your Android device.

How do I update my Android device to add new features?

Android updates are normally received OTA (Over The Air), that is, sent directly to your Android phone without the need for a computer. Normally, once your Android phone or tablet is due to get an update, you’ll see a notification in the bar at the top of the screen. You’ll then be prompted to connect to WiFi to avoid incurring extra data charges – updates can be quite big and downloading them over a mobile data connection isn’t advised as it may result in expensive data charges.

Updates are generally one-stage processes and relatively straightforward, but in some cases, you may need to backup/save any media (photos, movies, music) or apps you’ve downloaded before updating.

When beta versions of Android are announced, you can download them early to any recent Google-branded phone (e.g. Nexus or Pixel handsets). Right now Android O is available to download in beta. Here’s how to update your Android phone, for everything you need to know.

How can I change the look and feel of my Android phone desktops?

Android phones from the likes of Huawei, LG and Samsung all sport a very different look and feel to the stock Android found on Google’s own Pixel phones. That’s because each manufacturer tends to add their own software overlay to Android, known as a ‘launcher’, which changes the design of the home screen, additional desktops, app logos and so on.

Luckily, if you feel like refreshing your Android phone’s software design, it’s incredibly easy to pull off. Just check out our guide to changing your Android launcher to learn how.

What is Android TV?

As the name kind of suggests, Android TV is based on the same Android software found on mobile phones but tweaked to work on TV streaming devices. For example, the Nvidia Shield TV runs off Android TV. This smart box connects to your telly and offers you full access to apps, games and the web. You can even perform searches for all kinds of content.

Check out our complete guide to Android TV for all that you need to know.

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What is Android? Here’s everything you need to know

By now, most people know there are two prominent mobile operating systems: Google’s Android and Apple’s iOS. There used to be a lot more, but now pretty much every major mobile device runs one or the other. Being that this is a site with “Android” in its name, we might have visitors who wonder: “What is Android?” That’s actually a huge question, and we aim to answer it as thoroughly as possible here!

Even if you’re a smartphone pro, there could be a lot to learn about Android in the sections below. But if you’re new to the world of smartphones — or just the world of Android — this is the perfect place to get up-to-speed on the world’s most popular operating system.

What is Android? Here are the basics

Android is a mobile operating system that has been around for nearly 15 years. You’ll primarily find it as the base operating system of phones and tablets around the world. Additionally, there are other operating systems that natively support Android applications, including Chrome OS and Windows 11.

Search giant Google owns Android. However, the system is open source, which makes it freely accessible to anyone, even for commercial use. This makes Android very different from Apple’s iOS, macOS, and Microsoft’s Windows, which are all closed-source platforms.

Android is by far the world’s most popular operating system. Estimates suggest it runs on 2.5 billion active devices across the globe, with over three billion users — or roughly 39% of the entire global population. This dwarfs Apple’s iOS by a significant margin and even tops Microsoft’s Windows, which is the second-most-popular operating system globally.

There are over three million applications that work on Android. Most of these apps can be found on the official Google Play Store, but you can also sideload apps from the web. This variety makes Android phones very powerful and customizable — but also susceptible to viruses and other types of malware.

If you don’t know what some of these terms mean, don’t worry: we’re going to explain everything in more detail!

What is an operating system?

If you ask “What is Android?” you’re likely to hear back, “It’s an operating system.” That answer is only useful if you know what an operating system is!

In brief, an operating system is computer software that works to integrate hardware and software resources. It allows for different types of hardware to work together while simultaneously providing a platform for various bits of software to work with that hardware and, consequently, other pieces of software.

If that’s still confusing, think of the analogy of a stage play. To put on a play, you’ll need a stage, lights, microphones, and other pieces of hardware. You’ll also need actors, stage crew, ushers, and other workers, which would be analogous to software. In this analogy, the director of the play would be similar to an operating system, as they would act as a conduit that instructs everything on how to work together. Without the director, you’d just have a ton of unused hardware with a bunch of people running around with no idea what to do.

In the case of smartphones, Android acts as the “director” for the unique hardware in your phone and the apps you’ve chosen to install.

Where you’ll find Android — from phones to smartwatches

When most people think of Android, they think of phones. While it’s true that most Android devices are smartphones, there are plenty of other devices out there with Android on board.

Tablets are the most obvious secondary Android device. After all, they are just big phones, in many respects.

Android also appears on smartwatches. If you own a watch that runs on Wear OS, that is an Android-based operating system. What is an Android-based operating system? That’s when someone takes Android and tweaks it to make it something different but still based on the same core code.

There is also a TV platform, appropriately called Android TV. We also can’t forget about Android Automotive, which is Android-based software that powers vehicles. However, don’t confuse this with Android Auto, which is a way for smartphones to integrate with dash systems in cars.

Finally, there are other operating systems out there that are not based on Android but do support running Android apps. Recent versions of Chrome OS allow for this. That means pretty much all Chromebooks on the market also support Android apps. Starting in late 2021, Windows 11 will also support Android apps.

The early beginnings of Android

Believe it or not, Android started out as software for cameras. Andy Rubin and his team developed Android starting in 2003 by using core code from Linux, another open-source operating system. The idea was to make a universal operating system that all camera companies could use.

However, during the later development of Android, Rubin realized that smartphones were the future. He decided to revamp Android as a smartphone operating system instead. The idea didn’t attract much investment since Windows Phone, Symbian, and other phone operating systems were already dominating the market. Rubin and his team almost stopped development when they ran out of money.

In the end, a generous monetary gift from a friend kept the team going and Google swept in and bought Android for about $50 million in 2005. The Android team worked under Google to develop an operating system that worked well on mobile phones with physical buttons and full QWERTY keyboards.

However, the arrival of the iPhone in 2007 forced the team to go back to the drawing board. They revamped Android again to also work with touchscreens. This resulted in the HTC Dream, also known as the T-Mobile G1, the very first commercial Android phone. It had a touch screen and a QWERTY keyboard, as seen above.

Since then, there have been thousands of Android phones and it is now the most popular operating system in the world.

Android is open source, but what does that mean?

When something is open source it means the copyright owner allows its use for any purpose, without any need for financial remuneration. As mentioned earlier, the core code of Android is based on open-source software called Linux. This means that Android, by definition, must also be open source.

To better understand this, let’s look at the opposite: closed-source software. Apple’s iOS is closed source, which means that no one can use it unless the copyright holder — in this case Apple — gives permission. If you were to obtain the source code of iOS and release it on any device, Apple could sue you for infringement on its ownership.

With open-source software, this limitation is gone. Instead, the person or company using the software simply needs to abide by a set of rules related to the licensing of that software. Our own Gary Sims explains these rules in the video above. In brief, this means that their “new” software must also be open source and they must make the code easily available to anyone who would like to use it.

The open-source nature of Android is one of the main reasons it is the most popular operating system in the world. Since anyone can use it for free, it’s incredibly easy for companies of all sizes to create terrific products without needing to invest in creating their own operating system. This is why you find Android in all manners of electronics from all sorts of different brands.

You might be wondering why Google is OK with giving away this product for free. The explanation is actually pretty simple, some aspects of Android you use on your phone are not open source. As you’d imagine, these are some of the most vital apps and services made for Android.

What is Android’s Google Play Service?

The core of Android is open source, which we call “stock” Android. This software lands as part of the Android Open Source Project (AOSP). This is Android in its purest, most basic form.

However, the Android you get with almost all smartphones has tons of other software incorporated that is not open source. Most of this software falls under a system called Google Play Services. This brings Google-branded products to Android, including the Google Play Store, Gmail, YouTube, etc.

In other words, you can use AOSP software all you like for free, but you can’t use Google all you like. Just like with Apple’s tight control of iOS, Google tightly controls Google Play Services. To use it, you need a license and to agree to let Google earn money from your products.

Even though most of the world closely associates Google and Android, there are plenty of Android-based devices out there without Google Play Services. For example, Google does not allow most of its products in China. If you go there, you can easily find Android phones without Google. There will be app stores, apps, and all sorts of familiar features, but not from Google. A more US-centric example would be Amazon’s Fire tablets, which utilize a custom version of Android called Fire OS that substitutes Google apps for Amazon’s own in-house options.

Throughout most of the world, though, Google is inseparable from Android. This is by design. Android’s dependence on Google earns the company billions.

Who maintains Android?

The answer to this question has a few facets. In brief, Google employees maintain the core Android experience. They are responsible for adding new features, updating old ones, and making sure Android follows open-source principles.

However, there’s more to it than that. Most manufacturers also “skin” Android, which means they create their own software that lives on top of Android. This is why the Android you find on a Samsung phone and the Android you find on a OnePlus phone function similarly but look very different. Each manufacturer maintains its own Android skin.

There’s also the question of distributing Android. Obviously, your phone comes with a version of Android when you first take it out of the box. But how does it get updates? Depending on how you bought the phone, an update could need to pass through multiple rungs. First, it needs to come from Google. Then, it needs to get tweaked by your phone’s manufacturer to make sure the skin still works well. Then, it may need to go through your carrier, because it also usually customizes phones it sells.

This long chain of events is one of the big reasons why Android phones don’t see updates as often or for as long as iOS devices. For iPhones, Apple controls everything. There are no skins and carriers have little ability to interfere with how iOS looks and works. In essence, Apple can push an update to every iPhone around the world quickly and easily with little influence from carriers or other companies. Android phones don’t have this luxury.

Android versions: A brief history

As of today, there have been 18 versions of Android, with 11 major releases. The most recent stable version of the operating system is Android 11. We expect Android 12 to land later in 2021, at the end of August or the beginning of September, which will make it the 19th version and 12th major release.

Originally, Google named Android after “sweet treats.” Each treat name happened in alphabetical order, starting with the letter “C” in 2009. However, Google abandoned this trend in 2019 with the launch of Android 10.

Here are all the major Android releases:

• 2009 — Cupcake (v. 1.5)
• 2009 — Donut (v. 1.6)
• 2009 — Eclair (vs. 2.0, 2.0.1, and 2.1)
• 2010 — Froyo (vs. 2.2 through 2.2.3)
• 2010 — Gingerbread (vs. 2.3 through 2.3.7)
• 2011 — Honeycomb (vs. 3.0 through 3.2.6)
• 2011 — Ice Cream Sandwich (vs. 4.0 through 4.0.4)
• 2012 — Jelly Bean (vs. 4.1 through 4.3.1)

• 2013 — KitKat (vs. 4.4 through 4.4W.2)
• 2014 — Lollipop (vs. 5.0 through 5.1.1)
• 2015 — Marshmallow (vs. 6.0 through 6.0.1)
• 2016 — Nougat (vs. 7.0 through 7.1.2)
• 2017 — Oreo (vs. 8.0 and 8.1)
• 2018 — Pie (v. 9.0)
• 2019 — Android 10
• 2020 — Android 11

Android 11 introduced several new features related to messaging, privacy, security, and accessibility. However, it looked mostly the same as Android 10 and Android 9 Pie before it.

With Android 12, we expect Google to revamp the way the operating system looks and feels. There will also be even more features and controls related to privacy and security.

If you are curious which version of Android you have on your device, head to Settings > About > Software Information.

Android apps: How you can get them

Assuming you have a device with Google Play Services on board, the easiest and safest way to get Android apps is to use the Google Play Store. This comes pre-installed on all Google-supported phones, tablets, and other devices. Just open the app and search for whatever game, program, media, or other product you’re looking for. Many of them are free, but some will require payment.

If you don’t have a device with Google Play Services, you likely have access to a different app store. The most common example of this is Amazon devices, which come with the Amazon App Store pre-installed. Another example is modern Huawei devices, which will have App Gallery. Consult your device’s manufacturer if you are unsure as to which app store you should be using.

Regardless of your device’s particular app store, you can also manually install Android apps by downloading them from the open web. This is called “sideloading.” Generally, this practice is safe. However, there is an inherent security risk to sideloading apps as they do not need to meet the safety requirements enacted by app stores. As such, you should only sideload apps from trustworthy sources.

If you are looking for some suggestions of apps you should install, we have plenty of articles to help with that:

Android vs iOS: The mobile OS battle

We’ve already touched a few times on what makes Android different from Apple’s iOS. However, we want to point out that the two operating systems have become much more similar than different over the years.

In the early days of the smartphone industry, Android and iOS were wildly different. Each OS offered features the other didn’t. They also didn’t look at all similar. This dichotomy created an “Android vs iOS” culture that still pervades today.

Really, though, there are only a handful of things Android can do that iOS can’t (and vice versa). Google and Apple have been cribbing from each other so much over the years that the two operating systems are closer than ever.

The only distinct difference between the two is how much control Apple has over iOS — and how Google doesn’t have that same level of control over Android. It is impossible to sideload apps on an out-of-the-box iPhone, for example, and there’s only one app store (the Apple App Store). Apple also tightly controls the kinds of apps developers can make for iPhones.

By contrast, we’ve already discussed how easy it is for you to install Android apps from other stores or even from the open web. Additionally, Google allows you to choose which apps you use for pretty much every smartphone function, from your browser to your messaging apps to your keyboard.

The advantage to Apple’s model is that iOS is more uniform, safer, and allows devices to see updates for long periods of time. The downside, of course, is that the user doesn’t have as much say as to what they can do with their device.

If you are moving from an iPhone to Android, we also have a guide to help with that transition, as you can see here.

If you came to this article asking yourself, “What is Android?”, we hope you’ve found your answer! Be sure to bookmark this page, as we will update it with new information regarding Android versions as they launch.

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