What is Android?

Over the last few months, we’ve increasingly started to talk about Android, and about how Android could be the impetus that drives forward a new way of interfacing with your mobile device, and the many benefits this would bring. There may only a few handsets on the market at the moment that run on Android, but that is soon set to increase, so we thought this would be a good opportunity to look into this new operating system, how it came about and the possibilities it brings.

It all started with a rumour. We love rumours in the mobile industry, and one of the biggest around back in 2007 was the forthcoming expected release of a Google phone. Lots of people were predicting the features such a device would have, and there were even some mock-up shots of prototype Google devices floating around the net. What we eventually got, was the announcement in November 2007 of the Android Operating System, which Google had been working on, and later continued with the Open Handset Alliance.

The Open Handset Alliance is an alliance of multiple companies with interests in telecoms and electronics and software, including Google, HTC, Motorola, Samsung, Telecom Italia, T-Mobile, LG and Texas instruments, who were among the founder members. Later additions to the alliance include Vodafone, Sony Ericsson, Toshiba and Huawei, amongst others. The focus of this alliance is on the core strengths of each company, working towards a common goal of a feature rich mobile experience for the end user. The commitment is on openness, and sharing ideas and innovation, to make them reality. And central to this is Android, an Open Source mobile operating system, designed from the ground up, and able to offer software developers the opportunity to create mobile applications that enhance the functionality of a mobile device.

With all these major names working together, Android has every chance of success. What we have seen so far, in terms of handsets, is just the beginning of a wonderful chapter in the mobile industry, and this is only going to get more exciting as handsets are released with more and more features. Based on the open Linux kernel, Android is a flexible platform that can easily incorporate new mobile technologies as they emerge, and offers the opportunity for an ever increasing variety of innovative mobile applications.

And that is the future of the mobile industry, where buying a mobile device is going to be just as much about the applications that are available for it, as it is about the handset design and look. Where Android has the edge over competitors such as Apple’s iPhone here is the flexibility of design, and the innovation of a variety of mobile manufacturers. This will bring a greater number of designs, as Android products become more widely available in an ever increasing range of styles. As manufacturers release more Android devices, another key feature to the setup is the quality of the user interface that sits on top of the core operating system. This gives us innovations such as HTC’s Sense UI, as found on the HTC Hero, or the new MotoBLUR, found on the forthcoming Motorola DEXT.

One thing Apple showed us with the iPhone is that there is a strong desire among many users to be able to customise their devices with third party apps. Through the Apple App Store, millions of applications have been downloaded and installed on iPhones, leading to a new, much parodied catchphrase entering common usage. Need help finding a taxi? There’s an app for that! Need to work out how much of a tip to leave? There’s an app for that! And so on. With the Android Market, as with the Apple App Store, adding applications and games with such features is as easy as you could wish for, simply open the store on the device, search through a particular category and then download and install. Simple, quick, straight forward. That said, if there is one area where Android need to focus on its offering as easy a PC interface as we find through the iTunes App Store. Until that happens, the App Store will retain an edge in usability.

So, Android, as an operating system, is shown to be flexible, stable and open for future innovation. With a strong line up of leading manufacturers producing high end mobile devices running Android, we can fully expect 2010 to be the year when Android really makes the break into the mainstream market. And with networks releasing handsets branded with their own services, the benefits of tight integration of online services will become increasingly popular with end users. Gone will be the days when losing your phone meant losing all your contacts, due to people not backing up. Simple online integration will allow for this to be done automatically from the device, to your own secure online storage. Text messages will be saved online, photos can easily be shared via a multitude of online services, music can be streamed direct to the handset, with 1,000’s of tracks available for listening to offline, calendar entries can be stored online as well as on the phone, email can be accessed in an instant and all suitably synchronised for easy access.

Losing your device will no longer mean leaving your personal information open to others, as remote commands will instantly render the lost handset useless, and built in positioning may even reveal the location of the device, so it can be retrieved. Otherwise, once a replacement has been obtained, all your content can be downloaded and reinstalled to the new device. And that’s just what we can do now! Add in all the additional features third party apps will bring, and you can start to see the appeal of the Android system, and just why it could easily become *the* leading operating system for smartphones in no time at all. A statement for sure, and one that Nokia, with Symbian, Microsoft with Windows Mobile and Apple will be keeping a close eye on.